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Christopher D. Carico

Partner, Carico Johnson Toomey LLP

 841 Apollo Street, Suite 450, in El Segundo | 310-545-0010 | cjtllp.com

South Bay native Chris Carico has been recognized as among the top in his field by Super Lawyers Magazine, Best Lawyers in America, and in the Los Angeles Times. Carico joined partner Phil Toomey to form Carico Johnson Toomey LLP with one goal—to create a South Bay law firm that rivals the best in California in quality and expertise. In 2007, the two South Bay attorneys, friends and professional colleagues for 20 years, decided to combine their expertise to create a boutique law firm in the South Bay with highly-specialized attorneys, who can compete in the courtroom and negotiation table with the top downtown law firms. Today the firm has nine attorneys, five specializing in trust and estate matters and four specializing in employment and business law.

SOMETHING BETTER

“I’m inspired by the challenge of figuring out a way to do something better. By ‘better,’ I mean clearer, quicker, for less cost and/or with a better result. Example: I have found that most estate planning documents are drafted in legalese, understandable to experienced estate planning attorneys but few others. I saw this as an opportunity to do something better, drafting estate planning documents that most clients can read and understand.”

INSPIRING MOMENT

In 1994, Carico became the first attorney in Manhattan Beach to obtain certification from the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization, as a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law. His litigation expertise came later. “To round out my trust and estate experience, I still needed litigation experience to effectively represent clients in contested trust and probate proceedings. I stumbled upon the little-publicized Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Trial Advocacy Project (or TAP), which involved 10 weeks of training followed by three jury trials as a volunteer prosecutor. Thanks largely to a great instructor, Los Angeles City prosecutor Michael Schwartz, the light went on about advocacy. In Michael’s words, ‘We all needed to become street fighters for our clients.’”

GOOD ISN’T ENOUGH

“There is no better feeling than knowing we have done the best possible job for a client. They should not have to settle for merely good representation. They should be able to get great representation without having to leave the South Bay.”

For more information, visit cjtllp.com.