Don Ernst

Don Ernst is a trial lawyer and the founder of Ernst Law Group in San Luis Obispo, California. He represents people who have been seriously injured, wronged or defrauded, and his work has grown from personal injury cases into catastrophic injury claims, class actions against insurance and mortgage companies and cases involving access to clean drinking water.

Ernst opened his practice in 1980 as Ernst & Mattison, which became Ernst Law Group in 2010. He has tried more than 100 cases to verdict. In one class action that was split into three trials, a San Diego judge ruled for his clients after the first phase, and the case later settled for an eight-figure sum. He served as president of the Consumer Attorneys of California, and in 1990 he founded the Central Coast Trial Lawyers Association and served as its first president. He also started the lawyer referral and information service in San Luis Obispo.

Ernst studied economics at Stanford University. He holds the rank of Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates and received the Edward I. Pollock Award. He helped draft the California Electronic Discovery Act, signed into law in 2009, and worked on rule changes allowing telephonic court appearances and on rules governing annuity sales to older adults.