HALL OF FAME LAWYER
BEST LAWYERS – LAWYER OF THE YEAR 2025
AMERICAN BOARD OF TRIAL ADVOCATES
David Christensen founded Christensen Law in 2014 to give people hurt in serious accidents, and the families who care for them, the individualized attention a life-altering injury demands. Practicing since his admission to the State Bar of Michigan in 1991, he represents clients injured in car, truck, and motorcycle crashes and families who have lost someone to wrongful death, with a particular focus on traumatic brain injury. “I really enjoy taking care of people,” he says. “And I like beating large corporations on my clients’ behalf – to protect them when their lives have been destroyed and when insurance companies leave them vulnerable.”
A native of California, Dave earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from San Francisco State University, then both his master’s degree and his law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After first handling corporate legal matters, he turned to personal injury law and spent two decades at a large, high-volume firm, where he became a partner. He left to open his own firm in 2014 because he wanted a practice focused on personal client care and compassion. “With a large volume firm, you can’t have close relationships with clients,” he says.
Dave is, first, a trial lawyer. After a severe truck-versus-car crash left his client with a traumatic brain injury, he secured $17.8 million in damages, at that time the state’s largest jury trial award for a non-fatal traffic crash. “The jury’s verdict made it possible for me to have closure, have a new outlook on my life, to start the real healing process, let go of the anger and, ultimately, allowed me to see a silver lining,” his client, Vaylma Dorado, said during the trial.
The firm he built is guided by three principles displayed on the wall of its offices: Listen. Protect. Win. The lawyers and staff at Christensen Law pride themselves on being accessible and ready to listen to clients about their circumstances, stresses, and questions. “We strive to protect them – take over managing their medical care and relieve their burdens – to carry the weight of the circumstances for them,” Dave says. The firm’s dedicated lawyers always take a trial-bound approach in preparation, with a goal to secure the maximum judgments and settlements their clients will need for security in the future.
Dave believes in giving back to, and improving, the legal profession, and he is a recognized authority on Michigan No-Fault law. He has served as chairman of the State Bar of Michigan’s Negligence Law Section and as an officer on the Executive Board of the Michigan Association for Justice, where he chaired the No-Fault committee for many years. He has testified before the Michigan Legislature against bills that would weaken Michigan’s protections for injured motorists, and he speaks at state and national conferences on negligence and auto accident law.
Generous and tolerant in spirit, Dave believes in equality, as demonstrated by his work to widen access to justice well beyond his own clients. A member of the National Center for State Courts’ Lawyers Committee since 2008, he worked in 2013 with the Civil Justice Improvements Committee, commissioned by the Conference of Chief Justices, to develop model policies and rules that make state court systems more efficient and more accessible to the public. Closer to home, he chaired the Scope and Course of Discovery Subcommittee of the State Bar of Michigan’s Civil Discovery Court Rule Review Special Committee in 2016, a review of outdated rules that led to extensive changes in Michigan’s pretrial procedures.
Over more than three decades, Dave has watched families struggle to recognize and cope with brain injuries that a clear scan, a quick discharge or a well-meaning reassurance can miss. He wrote When Fine Isn’t: A Family Guide to Traumatic Brain Injury (Riley Lane Press, January 15, 2027) for those families. Written for spouses, parents, and adult children rather than for lawyers or clinicians, the book explains how brain injuries occur, which symptoms families most often miss, what imaging can and cannot rule out, how to find rehabilitation, and the insurance, legal and financial questions that follow.
Dave’s peers have recognized his work repeatedly. He holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, recognizing the highest legal ability and ethical standards, is repeatedly ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Lawyers”, and was named Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for 2019 and 2025 for representing plaintiffs in personal injury litigation in Detroit. He was one of only 25 attorneys named a “Leader in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2021 for his distinguished career, and he has been named one of the top 100 lawyers and top 50 consumer lawyers in Michigan. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a national association dedicated to preserving the Seventh Amendment right to a civil trial by jury and protecting an independent judiciary.
An Ann Arbor resident, Dave is active in his community. He is a member of the nonprofit citizens’ group Washtenaw Council on Alcoholism, serves on the board of directors of Spectrum Prevention Services in Ann Arbor, and is chairman of the board of trustees of HelpSource Agency in Washtenaw County, a private nonprofit serving people with substance abuse problems, teen mothers, and abused children. He is also a member of the University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center, which conducts research, education and public outreach to reduce the occurrence and burden of injury in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. When not in court, he is an avid marathoner and backcountry skier who enjoys spending time with his family.
Dave Christensen, Author, When Fine Isn’t – A Family Guide to Traumatic Brain Injury
Available in paperback and eBook on January 15, 2027
