Steve Young has conducted almost 200 Civil Jury Trials during 37 years as a lawyer. In 2013, the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association named him Trial Lawyer of the Year. He is a nationally certified Civil Trial Advocate (only 130 in California hold that credential) and is listed as a ” Top 100 Trial Lawyers.”
Mr. Young has created a niche practice specializing in “last minute trials.” His trial experience covers all areas of law from class actions to a first in the nation trial against a hedge fund over municipal bond arbitrage derivatives to bad faith to business disputes to personal injury.
He is a published author: “Medical Proof of Whiplash” (View excerpt: Obtaining better outcomes in medical litigation), and two volumes on employment issues in his Legal Guides for the Little Guy, entitled “I Quit My Job!” and “Fired From My Job!” He also writes fiction and poetry in his free time.
Mr. Young has spent years studying the art of persuasion including storytelling, deep metaphor, painting word pictures, neurolinguistics and behavioral and relationship psychology to find the most compelling ways to “stage” the drama that is trial.
NOTEWORTHY VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS
- 2015 – $31 MILLION JUDGMENT AGAINST AN ATTORNEY WHO TRIED TO STEAL HIS CLIENTS’ COMPANY: Mr. Young obtained a $31 million judgment against an attorney who tried to steal his client’s unique spirits company. Mr. Young proved the attorney set up a company with a similar name, usurped the clients’ supply contracts, and misappropriated the company’s receivables.
- 2015 – SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF COMPANY AGAINST EMPLOYEE’S WRONGFUL CLAIM FOR A MILLION DOLLAR BONUS: Mr. Young defeated a former employee’s fraudulent claim against Mr. Young’s client. The client sued to recover a 7 figure bonus in connection with an acquisition and merger valued at 9 figures. Mr. Young proved the merger was in negotiation months before the Mr. Young’s client hired the employee and that the employee actually spent his time at work setting up his own company.
- 2014 – GREEDY TRUSTEES LOOTED GRANDCHILDREN’S TRUST HELD LIABLE: Mr. Young represented a young man whose college education was to be paid from a trust until his father and grandparents looted the trust, taking all the money. Mr. Young obtained a $600,000 judgement representing the full amount taken, plus punitive damages.
- 2013 – SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF PONZI CHARGES: Steve Young successfully defended and obtained dismissal of a five-year long lawsuit charging an honest business man of running a $50,000,000 ponzi scheme. Mr. Young obtained a zero dollar mutual dismissal settlement after six days of jury trial.
- 2012 – THAILAND SEXPLOITATION CREATES HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT: Several employees of a large public agency delighted in talking about junkets to Thailand for sex with children. When the agency’s Human Resources department refused to enforce its zero tolerance policies, the victim brought in Mr. Young to try the case. Young charged that the talk and jokes created a sexually hostile work environment, and that other employees retaliated against her when the victim complained. After four days, the agency settled with the victim, paying a high six figure settlement.
- 2012 – THEY STOLE $4,600,000 FROM CHILDREN: In the first successful prosecution of a hedge fund in the United States, Mr. Young obtained a $4,600,000 verdict against a hedge fund who induced a trust to invest with gross misrepresentations that municipal bond arbitrage derivatives were a low-risk, high-yield secure investment. The trusts invested $6,000,000 and within four months had lost $4,600,000. At the end of the 30-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of $4.600,000.
- 2011- DEFENSE $10,000,000 BUSINESS CASE: A business owner found himself in the litigation gun sights after an international business venture unwound. The owner hired the Law Offices of Steven R. Young to defend him at trial. At the end of the twelve-day trial, Young obtained judgment exonerating his client and recovering substantial damages on a cross complaint.
- JULY 2010 – VICTORY ON 1,312 PLAINTIFF CLASS ACTION TRIAL: Redlands Community Hospital created a pay program that, for a period of six years, cheated the Plaintiffs out of overtime wages mandated by law. Mr. Young entered the case one week before trial and, after a month and a half in trial, obtained a unanimous jury verdict that the pay plan was an artifice and subterfuge to evade California’s overtime laws. Total damages assessed $17 million.
To view additional verdicts and settlements, please visit The Law Offices of Steven R. Young.
EDUCATION
- University of Utah, B.A., cum laude, 1977
- Pepperdine University School of Law, J.D., 1980
- Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers’ College, 1996
SELECTED LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS
- Panelist: “Latest Trends in Jury Selection” Presented by Orange County Bar Association (2003)
- Panelist: “Issues in Motion in Limine and Pretrial Practice” Presented by Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (2004)
- Panelist: “Trial Tips” at the 18th Annual Last Dash and Trade Show Continuing Legal Education Marathon, presented by the Orange County Bar Association (2010)
- Presenter: “Modern Jury Selection.” Mr. Young presented a 6-part webinar at Masteringthecourtroom.com, to teach attorneys the cutting edge approach to jury selection that Mr. Young developed.
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
- OCTLA Trial Lawyer of the Year (2013)
- Finalist, Consumer Attorneys of California, Street Fighter of the Year (2011)
- Boy Scouts of America – Orange County Council, Men of Character (2010)
