Bogenschutz, J. David

Debra F. Bogaards is a successful trial attorney with 30 years of experience in helping people win their case. She specializes in plaintiff's catastrophic injury, brain injury, and wrongful death as well as elder abuse cases. She also assists clients going through the litigation process as personal counsel.

In the past couple of years, Ms. Bogaards has mediated an elder abuse case pre-litigation within 2 ½ months of an 85-year-old mother's death ($550,000), as well as an elder abuse case involving an 80 y.o. father's death with extremely poor health ($400,000), a bad faith insurance case arising out of a life insurance policy ($500,000), a carbon monoxide poisoning case with only one day of exposure and no residual symptoms ($175,000), two complex wrist fracture cases with questionable liability ($265,000 and $175,000), and two sexual molestations of students.

Clients like Ms. Bogaards for both being responsive and for her good communication skills, such as explaining all aspects of the litigation process, from filing of the complaint, to the client's deposition, to mediation and trial. She makes clients feel reassured and comfortable with each stage of the process. In addition, Ms. Bogaards is aggressive, in that she fights for her clients. Yet, she is a consummate and polished professional. She is creative and with her defense background, she has phenomenal success in employing various strategies to achieve the highest settlement in mediation. She also gets personally involved with her clients and their cases. Bottom line, she gets results.

Ms. Bogaards has prevailed in 30 civil jury trials. She concentrates on technical, medical and scientific expert testimony, giving her an edge in trial. As a result, Ms. Bogaards has earned an excellent reputation in the San Francisco legal community.

Ms. Bogaards graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (accounting and finance) in 1978. She graduated from Hastings College of the Law in 1981. Thereafter, she earned a certificate in Advanced International Legal Studies from McGeorge School of Law (Salzburg, Austria) in 1983. Ms. Bogaards worked for a year at leading firms in Holland and England, before returning to the United States to begin her practice.

Ms. Bogaards was on the faculty of Hastings College of the Law's College of Trial Advocacy. Upon discontinuation of that program in 2001, Ms. Bogaards became a member of the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA). She also serves as an arbitrator, mediator and judge pro tem, for the San Francisco and Marin County Superior Courts. She is past president of Marin Women Lawyers. Ms. Bogaards served on the Board of Directors of Lawyers Friends of Wine and the Marin County Bar Association. Ms. Bogaards currently is in her eighth year on the Board of Directors of Legal Aid of Marin. She was also inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America in 2007, a national trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than half of one percent of American lawyers. She is a member of S.F.T.L.A. and C.O.A.C. Ms. Bogaards has been a member of the U.C. Hastings Foundation Board of Trustees since 2009.

Ms. Bogaards was married in DeRijp, Holland, a quaint 17th Century historically preserved town near Amsterdam, in 1983. She and her husband, Pieter Bogaards, also a lawyer, have two beautiful daughters; (Jamie, age 22, and Danielle, age 21.) She and her family reside in Mill Valley.