ATTORNEYS
 Sam Hochberg, Attorney at Law
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Born in the Bronx, New York in 1950, Sam Hochberg was educated in the New York City public school system. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1968, he briefly attended Hunter College, part of C.U.N.Y, the City University of New York. At about the same time, Sam obtained his "hack license," and drove yellow cabs in New York City for about five years, on and off, and lived to tell many a cab story today.
After five years of cab-driving and an on-and-off college career, Sam was ready to move West. He graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 1976, with a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications. A radio broadcasting career that began in 1969 at a low-power college radio station led to several moves for jobs. One was spent in beautiful Sedona, Arizona, working as a DJ, radio salesperson, and producing commercials. Other radio jobs included hosting phone-in radio talk shows, and a four-year stint as the program director of an NPR station, KLCC-FM, in Eugene, Oregon. After interacting at KLCC on a more or less equal level with lawyers, he changed horses again and went to law school. Accepted at the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, Sam made the move from Eugene to Portland. MORE...
During law school, Sam mowed lawns, tutored minority law students, and, of course, continued with radio. For two years, he hosted an evening phone-in talk-show at the old KKSN-AM, a commercial station then in Portland. Later, for two more years, he co-hosted an eclectic Sunday magazine show, "House Blend," at Oregon Public Broadcasting Radio.
Since graduating and passing the Oregon Bar Exam in 1983, Sam's been running his own practice, representing people seriously injured by the negligence of others. As a newly-minted lawyer, he'd take practically any workable case, in almost any area of the law, at least as the law directly affects regular working people. Before long, his practice narrowed to three major areas: Personal Injury, Domestic Relations, and Criminal Defense. For many years, Sam Hochberg & Associates has been handling personal injury law almost exclusively, in addition to civil rights cases for motorcyclists, sometimes without fees. See a sampling of some of these pro bono and other motorcycle advocacy cases we've handled in our Motorcycle section.
Sam Hochberg has handled thousands of injury and wrongful death claims, most arising from motorcycle, auto, bicycle or pedestrian accidents. Sam has handled cases in many states by associating out-of-state lawyers. In 2001, he joined the Washington State Bar. With one of our Associates licensed in California, the firm offers a full West Coast reach.
Sam has also volunteered for the Senior Law Project of the Multnomah Bar Association, advising at senior centers. For five years, he served as a public member on the board of the Portland Saturday Market, the city's renowned open-air crafts market. He served four years on the Oregon State Bar Joint Council of the Bar, Press and Broadcasters. He serves currently on the Fee Arbitration Panel of the Oregon State Bar. He gives talks to motorcycle groups around the state, about the law and motorcycling. Also pro bono, he serves in an advisory capacity for the Oregon Confederation of Clubs, addressing the civil rights and safety of Oregon motorcyclists.
Sam is a member in good standing of the following organizations:
Looking back, Sam still says his best training for lawyering comes from those five years of driving a taxicab in New York City. It also gave him a lifetime of cab stories. Sam has lived in Oregon since 1977 and lives with his wife in Southeast Portland.
 Dylan R. Lawrence, Attorney at Law, Of Counsel to Sam Hochberg & Associates
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In August of 2004, Dylan R. Lawrence joined Sam Hochberg & Associates as an Associate. The son of two artists, Dylan grew up in Portland. He has a strong academic background and is a graduate of these educational institutions:
- Catlin Gabel School, Portland, Oregon
- Pitzer College, Claremont, California
- University of California, Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, California
Dylan came to us with over ten years experience at law firms in Northern California and Oregon, and is skilled at all aspects of injury law, from interviewing prospective clients to handling jury trials and appeals. Fresh out of Hastings College of Law, Dylan landed a job in San Francisco working for the late Melvin Belli, "The King of Torts." The colorful, internationally-known personal injury lawyer, Mr. Belli was the author of a number of books for lawyers as well as for the general public, including My Life On Trial. MORE...
Dylan credits his “legal street smarts” from his daily interaction with Melvin Belli. Handling phone intakes from out-of-state by day, every evening for nearly a year, he and this master of personal injury law would analyze each new potential case. After about a year, Dylan left the Belli firm to work for one of its alumni, John Hill. At the Hill firm, Dylan personally handled a variety of serious cases for injured people throughout the Bay area, including all types of vehicle and pedestrian accidents, medical malpractice claims and wrongful death.
After seven years of Bay area practice, Dylan moved back home to Portland. Working for the insurance defense law firm of Mitchell, Lang & Smith, he was exposed again to a wide variety of injury cases and legal issues, this time, from the insurance perspective. The knowledge gained from working for "both sides" gives him a useful perspective for our own cases.
While enjoying the intellectual challenges at the defense firm, Dylan's heart wasn't in it. Joining a small plaintiff's firm in Portland for the next several years he handled a particularly high volume of injury trials and arbitrations. Now, finally, Dylan has found his professional home at Sam Hochberg & Associates.
Dylan shares our strong commitment to help injury victims, and to protect them from the manipulations of the insurance companies. With Dylan on board, we can now handle serious and catastrophic injury cases and wrongful death claims in California, as well as Oregon and Washington. In jurisdictions beyond the West Coast, we continue to expand our relationships with other lawyers throughout the United States and Canada to assist our clients with injury claims.
Dylan and his family, including his wife and two young children, now make their home in the Portland area.
 Brian S. Ruff, Attorney at Law, Of Counsel to Sam Hochberg & Associates
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In July, 2007, with over eight years of active personal injury litigation practice under his belt, Brian joined the firm. Previously, he worked with injured plaintiffs at Merkel & Associates, and then spent five years between the Rickles Law Firm and Lachenmeier, Enloe & Rall, both well-regarded Portland area insurance defense firms. During those years, Brian also wrote a number of articles for an insurance defense trade publication, as well as presenting seminars for lawyers on the evidentiary and technical use of those "black box" data recorders now found in modern cars and trucks.
Brian brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to us and our clients, having worked (as did Dylan) for "the other side." Today, of course, Brian is dedicated to fighting against the insurance companies on behalf of our injured accident clients. MORE...
Brian was raised in a 'blue-collar' household in Los Angeles, the son of a meat-cutter. To pay for school, he managed a pizza restaurant, worked as a roofer, delivered flowers and drove a limousine, just to name a few. Brian is a graduate of Willamette Law School in Salem, Oregon. His undergraduate degree is from Cal Poly Pomona.
Brian also rode a scooter for several years during college, as his only form of transportation. Now that he's at Sam Hochberg & Associates, we're looking forward to seeing Brian back up on a motorcycle in the near future. Since joining our firm, he's already taken and passed a refresher motorcycle safety course with TEAM Oregon, ODOT's own award-winning rider education program.
Besides being a great lawyer, Brian also a fun guy to hang around with. In a relatively small office like ours, that counts for a lot. He and his wife and two young children live in the Portland area.
PARALEGALS
- Rhonda Newbury Email Rhonda
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Before Rhonda came to work for us in October 2005, she spent 15 years as a legal assistant and paralegal at a local law firm. When Rhonda was interviewed for her job, it seemed remarkable to find someone who stayed with the same firm that long. We also heard about her dedication to martial arts disciplines, and then the pieces started to come together. It became apparent we had an opportunity to hire someone with a solid work ethic.
At her previous 15-year job, Rhonda worked for one of the very few other lawyers in the area who handle more than the occasional motorcycle injury claim. Her boss at that firm was, like Sam Hochberg, a long-time motorcycle rider and enthusiast. Rhonda is not a rider herself, but she brings to the table her background with motorcycle cases. Our cases, of course, span the entire range of traffic-related injury claims, and Rhonda works with our clients on those cases as well.
Rhonda comes to us with some noteworthy baggage, given our motorcycle accident practice: In the early 1990's, her husband, Johnny Newbury was a mechanic and later the service supervisor at Columbia Harley-Davidson in Vancouver, and he was Sam's regular bike mechanic. Today, Harley and non-Harley owners alike get careful, first-rate motorcycle service and parts and accessories, at his own shop, "Johnny's Ol' Skool Motorcycle Repair," at 15th & Washington in downtown Vancouver, Washington. Johnny Newbury is also known for his artistry with restorations and custom work, "ground-up" builds and choppers, and performance work.
If you have the misfortune to get hurt in a wreck not your fault, motorcycle, bicycle, auto, truck or otherwise, our firm stands ready to help. And on the bright side, you might at least have the pleasure of working with Rhonda, one of the most careful, pleasant, bright and savvy people coming through our doors to work.
STAFF
- Gunny Hutcheson, Part-time Man in the Field Email Gunny
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 Gunny has been with us since 1993, making him our longest-term employee. Working mostly but not exclusively with our biker clients, he's there at the beginning stages of our involvement in some of our accident cases. He handles part of the early investigation, including pictures of the crash scene, the damaged bike or other vehicle, and of any visible client injuries. He's also a Gunnery Sergeant, Ret., with the United States Marine Corps, having served our country in the Korean conflict, as well as in Southeast Asia. Gunny has been a motorcycle rider since his first "Whizzer," barely more than a hefty bicycle, back in the '40's. He also works closely with Sam on our motorcyclists' rights cases, pro bono or otherwise.
Gunny also writes "The Gunny's Sack," a popular monthly column about motorcycles. Appearing in many motorcycle newsletters and other biker publications in Oregon and throughout the country, portions of “The Sack" sometimes appear nationally as well, both in Easyriders and V-Twin magazines, sometimes renamed "Two-Wheeled Tidbits." Sam is Gunny's editor and a sometimes-contributor, too. Get your own monthly "Gunny's Sack" in your email, by dropping a note to Bill Bish at NCOM, the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, at NCOMBish@aol.com.
Click here learn more about our firm's commitment to motorcyclists, and for links to some of the biker events in Oregon. You can meet Gunny at an information booth he sets up for AIM (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) and NCOM (National Coalition of Motorcyclists) at biker events and meetings. He'll give you information the firm puts together from time to time, advising the motorcycling public about legal issues of special interest to motorcyclists, as well as insurance issues. On our motorcycle page, you'll find more info and links to AIM, NCOM, the Oregon COC (Confederation of Clubs), and examples of our firm's commitment to handling cases advancing the rights, interests and civil rights of motorcyclists, pro bono or not.
Click here to view an archive of monthly "Gunny's Sack" columns going back through 1998. "Newsbytes" is also reprinted in part in Easyriders Magazine as "Coast-to-Coast Biker News." The online archive will continue to grow. Gunny has no plans to retire anytime soon.
- Lesle Witham, Bookkeeper Email Lesle
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Lesle joined our team in May of 2005, as bookkeeper. Our previous bookkeeper, Denise, had actually recruited and trained Lesle years ago, for a bookkeeping job at the Oregon State Bar. When it became time for Denise to leave us and do other things, she again recruited Lesle, this time to work for us. Having the utter faith we have in Lesle's care and skill lets us sleep a little better at night. We like that safe feeling. When Lesle is not bookkeeping for us, much of her time is devoted to her family as well as her children's school and sports activities.
- Sara Sorenson, Receptionist Email Sara
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Sara Sorenson is our full-time receptionist, with our firm since 2005. After about a year as the Administrative Assistant to our senior attorney, Sam Hochberg, we moved Sara to the phones instead. Sara continues, however, to wear a number of hats here, as she does in her personal life.
A lifelong Spanish-speaker - her mother is from Spain - Sara is a big help with Spanish-speaking clients. Precise and accurate communication is, of course, essential to handle anyone's case. Sara has a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish from the University of Oregon, she's lived in Spain, and speaks fluent conversational Spanish. Now that she's running the phones, Sara can immediately assist our Spanish-speaking clients when they call, and help move those cases along as they develop.
Sara was raised in the Portland area, although she spent some years in Spain as well. She's a guitarist and performer, and she passed – with flying colors, of course – the Spring 2005 version of the nationally acclaimed Team Oregon Motorcycle Safety Course. (The firm pays the tuition for employees to take a motorcycle safety course, as a perk.)
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