Kirk Pasich

According to Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Kirk Pasich is one of the country’s best-known and most respected lawyers. He represents insureds in a wide range of disputes with insurers and insurance brokers, and focuses on maximizing the value of clients’ insurance portfolios. Kirk has represented insureds in obtaining coverage for losses from civil unrest, earthquakes, explosions, floods, hurricanes, mass shootings, natural gas leaks, product tampering, terrorism, and wildfires. He also has helped insureds obtain coverage for business interruption losses, crime losses, cyber losses, event cancellations, and political risks. Kirk also has represented insureds in obtaining coverage for a wide range of claims, liabilities, and lawsuits, including bodily injury, directors and officers, intellectual property, products liability, and securities  claims.

Kirk has handled more than 60 trials and arbitrations and more than 60 appellate proceedings. Kirk has helped clients obtain more than $10 billion in insurance recoveries. He is a prolific author and speaker.

Kirk has been lead counsel in matters throughout California and in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont, as well as in Bermuda and England. Kirk has obtained several verdicts for his clients that have been ranked among the 10 largest jury verdicts of the year in California. He also has argued before California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, the Delaware Supreme Court, the Vermont Supreme Court, and the United States First and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Kirk has obtained key appellate decisions on insurance, the attorney-client privilege, procedural issues, and various other subjects.

Kirk also has handled substantial commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract, fiduciary duty and fraud claims, construction disputes, idea submission and copyright infringement claims, professional malpractice claims, real estate disputes, and tax issues. He also has served as an arbitrator, a mediator, and as an expert witness on insurance, attorneys’ fees,  and ethical issues.

PUBLICATIONS

Kirk is the author of more than 500 articles and columns. He has written insurance and entertainment law columns for the Daily Journal for nearly 35 years. His articles also have been featured in many other publications, including ABA Journal, ACC Docket, Advocate, Business Insurance, California Lawyer, The Corporate Analyst, Coverage, The Deal, Environmental Claims Journal, The Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, The Legal Times, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Lawyer, Mealey’s Litigation Reports, The National Law Journal, National Underwriter, The Ohio State Law Journal, Sacramento Digest, and the ABA Tort & Insurance Law Journal.. His articles have been cited and quoted by various courts, including the California and Arizona Supreme Courts.

Kirk has written or contributed to various books:

• The Attorney-Client Privilege in Civil Litigation (6th ed. ABA, 2023) (contributing author)
• California Insurance Law and Practice (LexisNexis, 2009) (contributing author)
• California Litigation Forms: Civil Procedure Before Trial (West, 2000) (contributing author and co-editor)
• Casualty and Liability Insurance (Matthew Bender 2003) (author)
• The Complex Insurance Coverage Litigation Handbook (ABA 2010) (contributing author and editor)
• Directors and Officers: Liabilities and Protections (LexisNexis 2003) (contributing author)
• The Drafting History Debate (Mealey Publications 1995) (contributing author)
• Entertainment Litigation (Oxford University Press 2023) (contributing author)
• Financing and Protecting California Businesses (CEB 2022) (contributing author)
• Los Angeles Disaster Assistance Manual (1992) (contributing author)
• New Appleman Sports and Entertainment Insurance Law & Practice Guide
• (LexisNexis 2016 and updates) (co-author)
• The Year 2000 and Beyond: Liabilities and Insurance for Computer Code Problems (CCH 2000) (co-editor and co-author)

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Kirk has spoken and made presentations on more than 100 occasions, including at programs sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Broadway League, California Continuing Education of the Bar, Executive Enterprises, IncrementalAdvantage, the Institute for Corporate Counsel, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Loyola Sports Law Institute, Mealey’s, Practising Law Institute, RIMS, the UCLA Entertainment Law Symposium, and the USC Gould School of Law.

He also has taught legal education programs on a wide range of subjects, including eliminating bias in the legal profession, ethics, insurance, intellectual property, and lawyering skills.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Kirk has been a member of the American Bar Association, the ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS).

Kirk has served on the board of directors for The Alliance for Children’s Rights and as a volunteer attorney in the adoptions of foster children since 1997. He also has served on the boards of directors of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, The National Academy of Jazz, and The Woody Herman Foundation, as a member of the board of editors, Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, and as a member of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame Committee.

MEDIA

Kirk has been interviewed on Fox Business Channel regarding insurance coverage for wildfires, Fox News “Weekend Live” regarding insurance coverage for hurricane losses, the CBS Nightly News, and the ABC Nightly News. He also has been quoted in most of the country’s major newspapers, in various industry publications, including Daily Variety and Business Insurance, and in publications and radio broadcasts in other countries.

OUTSIDE THE FIRM

For many years Kirk was the co-owner of the famed Mystery Bookstore, one of the oldest independent bookstores in Los Angeles. He is the co-owner and co-founder of Blue Élan Records, an independent record label with a Grammy nomination, and KZZ Music, a music production company. He has three grown children, is an avid rock ‘n’ roll fan and music collector, and is deeply involved with UCLA Women’s Basketball.