For immediate release

Chapin Shea McNitt & Carter Enters New Phase as Shea McNitt & Carter

Chapin Shea McNitt & Carter enters a new chapter with the name of Shea McNitt & Carter, and wishes its esteemed founder, Edward Chapin, continued success as one of San Diego’s most renowned trial attorneys.

“Ed Chapin is an institution in the San Diego legal community, said Larry Shea II, Managing Partner of Shea McNitt & Carter. “His leadership and mentoring contributed to the development of many fine attorneys and to the growth and success of the firm he founded in 1987. We respect Ed’s decision to move on. It’s good to know we can still partner with Ed on cases in the future.”

Shea McNitt & Carter has 35 attorneys with offices in San Diego and Los Angeles. In 1995, the firm merged with the Los Angeles litigation firm of Carter & Chuang, led by San Diego native Richard Carter. This merger established the firm as a regional law firm and allowed it to strengthen its niche’, especially in the areas of high-exposure insurance litigation and insurance management consulting. The acquisition of the lead attorneys from McNitt, Schraner and Loeb in 1998 moved it closer to its goal of becoming a full-service insurance law firm.

“Our firm has traditionally been seen as one of the most entrepreneurial insurance firms in San Diego,” said Mr. Shea. We will continue to build a top-end California insurance firm with the community values that Ed Chapin and other leaders of the San Diego trial bar have stood for.”

The growth in tort litigation is motivating the insurance industry to seek less traditional, more sophisticated solutions for reducing litigation costs. Shea McNitt & Carter believes that the next phase will involve lawyers teaming with their institutional clients to deliver a full-spectrum defense product. This includes improving claims practices, coordinating litigation strategies, working with the courts to create a better model for dispute resolution, and maintaining a cadre of top defense lawyers who can try large cases.

“Large case litigation is too expensive,” said Mr. Shea. “Traditional solutions have failed to reduce the cost. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to build the next great law firm by working to solve these issues on behalf of our clients. For a group of lawyers who grew up with Ed Chapin’s entrepreneurial spirit, we simply can’t imagine doing anything else.”

In addition to Larry Shea, Richard Carter and Roger McNitt, the firm’s shareholders include Maria Roberts, Jeffrey Leist, Shirley Gauvin, Andy Loeb, Patrick Howe, Steve Renshaw, David Myers, Mark Schaeffer and Bruno Katz.

Contact:
Larry Shea
(619) 232-4261
lshea@sheastokes.com