Attorneys

Cynthia McGuinn focuses on prosecuting and trying to verdict large damage exposure, complex injury, and consumer cases. A number of her cases have resulted in jury verdicts in excess of $10,000,000. Upon request, Ms. McGuinn associates with other attorneys and undertakes trial substitutions to assist other lawyers and clients in complex civil litigation matters.

From 1981 to the present Ms. McGuinn has specialized in representing injured persons, consumers and children in personal injury, wrongful death, professional negligence, and product liability matters against public and private entities. She has developed a specialty in jury trial work and regularly tries to verdict single and multi-plaintiff cases for wrongful death and catastrophic injury. Her representation in industrial injury cases includes airline mechanics, doctors, dentists, ironworkers, operating engineers, boilermakers, electricians, carpenters, models, masons, painters, tile setters, laborers, truck drivers, librarians, and salespersons. She has extensive trial experience litigating complex matters and has litigated to resolution over 1,000 cases.

The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association honored Ms. McGuinn as the 2003 Trial Lawyer of the Year. In 2004 she was inducted as a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an organization in which membership is limited to 600 lawyers worldwide who are nominated for fellowship based on superior trial and appellate advocacy skills, character and integrity, and services rendered in promoting the legal profession's best interests. In 2005 she was honored as one of the Top 75 Women Litigators in California. In 2006 she was honored as one of the Top 50 Women Litigators in California. In 2006 she was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization in which fellowship is extended by invitation to experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility, and collegiality.

Ms. McGuinn is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, where she sat as director of the national board from 1999-2002 and is the 2008 president of the San Francisco chapter; the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, where she sat as a member of the board of directors from 1989-1999; the Consumer Attorneys of California, where she sat as a member of the board of directors in 1996-1997; Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, State Bar of California, and the Bar Association of San Francisco.

In addition to her litigation work, Ms. McGuinn acts as a court-appointed arbitrator at the request of San Francisco County and is an author and frequent lecturer to universities and legal organizations on the subject of trial practice. A list of her publications and lectures is available upon request.

Ms. McGuinn was born in 1949 in Ohio and raised in the Midwest. In 1978 she settled in California where she attended and graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco, receiving her Juris Doctorate in 1981. Her avocations include horses, cycling, scuba diving, skiing, reading, traveling, and Italy. Her community-based service work is devoted to developmentally disabled children.

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