Scott Ritsema

Scott Ritsema is a partner and trial lawyer at Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys in Newport Beach, California, where he represents catastrophically injured people, with a focus on auto defect cases such as seatback, airbag, seat belt and roof-crush failures, as well as serious motor vehicle and premises claims. He has been a partner at the firm since 2008.

Ritsema spent roughly the first decade of his career defending corporations and insurers before switching to plaintiff work in 2001, experience he draws on when facing those same opponents. He has taken more than 20 trials to verdict, completed more than 50 arbitrations and handled more than 25 cases that together produced over $100 million in recoveries and judgments. He led the firm team that obtained a $30 million judgment for a 25-year-old man who suffered a catastrophic brain injury in a motorcycle crash. In 2012, he and Brian Chase were named Consumer Attorneys of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California.

Raised largely in Newport Beach, Ritsema earned a psychology degree from UCLA in 1984 and his law degree from UC Davis in 1988, graduating in the top 10% of his class and receiving the Order of the Coif. He was admitted to the State Bar of California the same year. He supports Mothers Against Drunk Driving and takes part in the Susan G. Komen walk for breast cancer research.