Michelle Lynn Carder

In addition to being one of the more accomplished federal and state court law and motion attorneys in Orange County, Michelle L. Carder has successfully arbitrated, tried, and argued on appeal numerous cases ranging from insurance coverage and bad faith to real estate and general business disputes. Ms. Carder is a "client's lawyer" who has built a reputation for developing novel, unexpected legal arguments which minimize exposure for defendants and maximize probabilities of success for plaintiffs. She is known for her top flight writing and oral advocacy skills, which have resulted in an outstanding record of winning seemingly unwinnable cases, as a matter of law, before or during trial. As an insurance coverage lawyer, Ms. Carder has provided critical advice to national insurance carriers and guidance and presentations to Fortune 500 companies in connection with complex, high exposure cases and pre litigation coverage disputes. She has served as coverage counsel for first and third party coverage matters venued in California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Arizona, Virginia, Florida, and South Carolina.

Ms. Carder first met Gerald A. Klein and Mark B. Wilson in 2002 as an opponent. Impressed with Ms. Carder's extensive knowledge of insurance coverage and her fearless approach to advocacy, Klein & Wilson continued over the years to consult with Ms. Carder to the benefit of their clients. Equally impressed by Klein & Wilson's unparalleled legal ethics and reputation as outstanding trial lawyers, Ms. Carder decided to join the firm in 2015, adding her experience as an insurance litigator to the firm's already impressive depth.

Prior to joining Klein & Wilson, Ms. Carder spent more than 17 years with the firm Hines Carder, where she was instrumental in building the firm's successful insurance coverage and bad faith litigation practice. While practicing at Hines Carder, Ms. Carder won numerous summary judgment and dispositive pre trial motions that postured cases for trial wins and extremely favorable settlements. She was lead counsel for the trial resulting in the firm's first insurance bad faith defense verdict in 2014, winning the matter after the close of evidence on directed verdict. Ms. Carder has successfully argued appeals before the Second District Court of Appeal, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and has also tried and arbitrated legal malpractice and business litigation matters. Before joining Hines Carder, Ms. Carder was an associate at two plaintiffs' firms where she practiced in the areas of general tort, medical malpractice, and insurance bad faith. While working as a plaintiff's lawyer, Ms. Carder first chaired bench and jury trials, deposed hundreds of witnesses, and arbitrated dozens of cases before finishing her third year of practice.

Ms. Carder obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law where she was a member of the Moot Court Honor Board and served as the Washington State Attorney General's law clerk for the trial of the seminal Native American treaty rights case, United States v. State of Washington. Ms. Carder received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

In addition to her successes as a lawyer, Ms. Carder has been an accomplished equestrian. She won the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association all around championship twice, was a world championship finalist, and won state championships and top three national rankings in multiple events. Ms. Carder also served four years as President of the Old Towne Preservation Association, a non profit organization dedicated to preserving the historic and economic viability of California's largest national register district.