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By David Gammill, California trial attorney · Last reviewed: October 11, 2026
Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers accepts trial referrals and co-counsel arrangements for trial from other attorneys. If you have a personal injury, wrongful death, or civil rights case in California that is headed for trial and you want a trial lawyer on it, or a matter outside your own practice that needs a firm that handles these cases every day, call 310-750-4149 and ask for David Gammill. The conversation is attorney to attorney, the same day where possible, and nothing is owed for it.
To discuss a case now, call 310-750-4149 or send a note with the basics: the parties, the date of injury, the venue if a case has been filed, and where the fee agreement stands.
Personal injury, wrongful death, and civil rights cases, at any stage. On the injury side that means car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, and bicycle crashes, premises liability, dog bites, and catastrophic injury cases, including claims against cities, counties, and the State for dangerous roads; our practice areas page lists them. On the civil rights side it means police shootings, excessive force, and wrongful detention cases under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Bane Act, against city police departments and county sheriffs across the state; our civil rights page explains how those cases are built. The firm’s office is in Torrance and most of its cases are in Los Angeles County, but it tries cases wherever the case is filed. The firm does not take medical malpractice or workers’ compensation cases.
The most common call is from a firm with a good case and a trial date. Sometimes the referring firm does not try cases; sometimes it does but the calendar, the defendant, or the size of the case calls for a second chair who has stood in front of juries recently. David Gammill is brought in as trial counsel on matters another firm has been handling, at any point from the first case management conference to the week before trial. The referring firm stays on the case in whatever role it prefers: it can keep the client relationship and the day-to-day, split the trial work, or step back to a monitoring role. The division of responsibility is agreed in writing before the work starts, and the client is told who is doing what.
If a client or a client’s family member comes to you with an injury, a death, or a police case and it is not what you do, we will take the call. A family lawyer whose client was hurt in a crash, a business lawyer whose employee’s spouse was killed on the freeway, a criminal defense lawyer whose client was beaten by the arresting officers: these are the referrals the firm receives most often. We evaluate the case, tell you plainly whether it is one we would take, and if it is, handle it from intake through settlement or verdict while keeping you informed at the milestones. If it is not a case we would take, we say so, and where we can we tell you who might.
Any division of a fee between Gammill Law and a referring or co-counsel firm is handled under California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1: the lawyers sign a written agreement to divide the fee, the client gives written consent after a full written disclosure at the time of that agreement or as soon afterward as reasonably practicable, and the total fee the client pays is not increased because of the division.
Because the record is a trial record. David Gammill served seven years as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney and has tried over 100 cases to verdict, first as a prosecutor and then as a trial lawyer for injured people; the firm’s attorneys bring more than 40 years of combined legal experience. The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Its results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict, and a $1 million excessive force result; every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The $21.1 million wrongful death verdict came in a Los Angeles County jury trial against the State of California over a highway crash cushion, after a $10,000 pre-trial offer; the full list is on the case results page. Defense firms and public-entity counsel know the record, and that changes what a case settles for before trial.
Send what you have; a complete file is not required for a first conversation. The useful items are the police or incident report, the medical summary, the insurance information for every vehicle or entity involved, any correspondence with an adjuster or defense counsel, the complaint and current scheduling order if a case is filed, and the client’s existing fee agreement. The first two things we check are the deadlines: the two-year statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, and, whenever a city, county, or state agency could be a defendant, the six-month claim requirement under Government Code § 911.2, which is missed more often than any other in referred cases. If you are preparing an expert for trial yourself, our Sanchez expert checklist is the firm’s own pre-trial tool and is free to download.
Yes. Most trial-counsel engagements start after a case is filed, and some start within weeks of trial. The earlier the call, the more the trial lawyer can shape discovery and the expert work, but a late call is not a reason not to make it.
That is set by the written agreement, and it is your call. On a trial-counsel engagement the referring firm commonly keeps the client relationship and the firm reports to both. On a full referral the firm handles the matter and keeps you informed at the milestones you ask for. Either way the client is told, in writing, who is doing what.
Yes, anywhere in California. The firm’s civil rights work already runs from the South Bay to San Bernardino County, and injury and wrongful death cases are evaluated on the facts, not the county.
Call 310-750-4149 and ask for David, or use the contact form and note that you are an attorney with a referral or a trial-counsel question. Consultations with the client are free, and the firm charges no fee unless it recovers.
This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes are fact-specific; consult a licensed California attorney about your own circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
