Christopher Dolan | Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyers 2026

Chris Dolan on Civil Rights and Access to Justice

What shapes a lawyer’s willingness to take on a difficult case? In its 2026 Top 100 Lawyers issue, the Daily Journal profiles Chris Dolan’s approach to civil rights litigation, including a case that resulted in a $36 million police misconduct settlement in Alameda County. The feature also examines the experiences behind his advocacy, his mentorship of younger attorneys and his views on the future of access to justice.

Christopher Dolan opened settlement talks knowing the odds against his client.

Devin Williams, an Alameda County sheriff's deputy, had shot and killed Maria Tran and her husband a month after deputies responding to a 911 call let him walk away with a fist bump instead of a report. Williams was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, a conviction that could have sunk any civil claim against the county that employed him. Dolan's team faced governmental immunity defenses built for exactly this kind of case. As Dolan describes it:

"Numerous governmental immunities for police officers, the fact that Williams was off-duty and he committed a criminal act, murder."

Discovery required multiple Pitchess motions to pry loose the deputy's psychological screening, bodycam footage and dispatch logs, work complicated by what Dolan calls "the 'thin blue line' of unified silence." The case settled for $36 million at JAMS with mediator Mike G. Ornstil, the largest police misconduct settlement in Alameda County history by a factor of three.

Dolan traces his approach to childhood, saying he grew up without an advocate as the youngest of five children. He has summarized his outlook this way:

"Know what makes a great Irish lawyer? Too many kids, shattered dysfunctional marriage, not enough to go around, fight like hell for a piece of what there was and never back down." He calls himself "a highly educated juvenile delinquent with street smarts and a Georgetown Law degree."

His current docket spans several areas of harm. He is litigating another police shooting against the City of Los Angeles, involving an 18-year-old shot by an LAPD officer in an unmarked car. He represents a freshman student in a suit against a college student accused of rape on her second day of school, a matter he takes pro bono. He is handling a Tesla Autopilot case tied to a head-on collision and trying a railroad crossing case involving multiple deaths.

Beyond casework, Dolan mentors 15 lawyers, runs an internship program at his firm and speaks at seminars and conventions. He writes ballot counter initiatives against efforts by companies like Uber to reshape liability law, often in coordination with CAOC.

Dolan points to a shift toward expanded government immunity as a moral hazard. On ballot measures, he said:

"I see big monied interests like Uber and tech companies abusing the initiative system to buy immunity at the ballot box."

He worries that remote court appearances limit courtroom experience for younger lawyers and that overworked defense counsel could misuse AI. At the same time, he sees AI expediting legal workflows in ways that could expand access to justice for people harmed by others' negligence.