President and Managing Shareholder
Now in his 44th year of practice, Bob Packer first joined La Follette, Johnson, De Haas, Fesler & Ames (Los Angeles) upon graduating from law school in 1976. While serving as the Legislation Editor of the McGeorge Law Review, Bob wrote the first comprehensive analysis of the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (“MICRA”). He became a shareholder and was elected to the Board of Directors in 1981. In 1986, he joined David M. Harney, Esq. (then considered the premier medical malpractice plaintiff’s attorney in California) in the practice of law during which he tried a variety of medical malpractice injury and death cases on behalf of the injured patient or family of the deceased. In 1997, he re-joined La Follette Johnson as a shareholder.
In September 2016, Bob along with Ted O’Leary and Paul Corson, opened Packer, O’Leary & Corson, A Professional Law Corporation, in Glendale, California. The firm is dedicated to the defense of all categories of Health Care Professionals and Medical Centers in Civil Litigation. The firm also specializes in representing health care professionals in matters before California Licensing Boards.
Bob holds the rank of Diplomate in the American Board of Trial Advocates (“ABOTA”). ABOTA is comprised of the finest civil trial lawyers in the country and is made up of both plaintiffs and defense attorneys and is dedicated to the preservation of the right to a jury trial in civil litigation, as guaranteed by the 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is equally dedicated to fostering the highest level of competence, civility and professionalism in the legal community. A member must try at least 100 jury trials to a conclusion to achieve the highest and most prestigious rank of Diplomate. In 2016, Bob was President of the Los Angeles Chapter of ABOTA (the first and largest Chapter in this National organization of 6000 trial attorneys) and now is serving a second three-year term on ABOTA’s National Board of Directors.
In 2013, Bob was elected to membership in the California Medical Legal Committee. This organization is limited to 70 medical malpractice defense trial attorneys; with 35 members from Southern California and 35 from Northern California. Membership is by invitation only.
Bob is licensed to practice before all State and Federal Courts in California. He has tried cases in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Kern, Inyo, Mono, San Francisco and Sonoma Counties. He was called upon to try jury trials in Boise, Idaho and Denver, Colorado, pro hac vice. He has successfully arbitrated cases for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and the Cooperative of American Physicians. On numerous occasions, he has been asked to be the defendant’s party-designated arbitrator in medical negligence claims and has presided over many voluntary mediations involving issues of medical negligence. He has provided lectures to the Los Angeles County Medical Association and Errors and Omissions indemnity providers, The Doctors Company, CAP/MPT and Dignity Health.
Bob is personally rated “AV-Pre-Eminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, and is a 2020 Los Angeles “Super Lawyer”.
Bob is currently serving his third term as a member of the Vestry of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino, California and spear-headed the $500,000 renovation and enhancement of the church’s Aeolian-Skinner Pipe Organ, completed by Rosales Organ Builders, the creators of the world-renowned organ at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Education:
- University of California-Los Angeles B.A. in English Reformation History-1972 (awarded cum laude)
- University of the Pacific-McGeorge School of Law – J.D. – 1976. Life Member: Roger J. Traynor Scholastic Honor Society; Legislation Editor – Pacific Law Journal (now, McGeorge Law Review)
Societies:
- American Board of Trial Advocates (1993-present; Past President, Los Angeles Chapter (2016); Member: National Board of Directors (2016-2023)
- California Medical Legal Committee (2012-present)
- Association of Southern California Defense Counsel
