Lara Merrigan has almost two decades of experience in practicing law under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and its extensions, including the Defense Base Act. Since 2007, approximately 90% of her practice has arisen under these Acts. She has handled hundreds of cases and advocated at every level from the initial claim filing at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs through the United States Supreme Court. She has first-chaired multiple trials and taken hundreds of depositions. Ms. Merrigan is a published author on issues involving the Longshore Act and has presented at over 30 conventions or symposia.
Ms. Merrigan is a leader in her community. She is a former President of the DOL-Joint Bar Association, an organization consisting of practitioners on both sides of Longshore Act cases. She remains an elected Board member. She was also appointed as one of three Longshore Act Co-Chairs for the Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group (“WILG”), the largest claimants’ advocacy organization. She serves on the Department of Labor’s West Coast Longshore Act Symposium steering committee and its East Coast Defense Base Act Symposium steering committee.
Ms. Merrigan’s practice is international. She frequently represents claimants injured at the ports and shipyards of her home state of California, and she has handled claims arising on each of the seven continents and on the high seas.
For the first eight years of her career, she worked on the defense side, representing employers, carriers, and shipowners. Along the way, she gained a deep understanding of how Longshore Act claims are defended and investigated, as well as unique insight into how employers and their insurers value settlements.
In 2015, Ms. Merrigan started her own firm to represent injured workers. Since then, she has secured benefits for many claimants in often difficult cases. When she accepts appellate cases, her role is often stepping in after trial in an effort to persuade the court above to reverse a denial of benefits.
Ms. Merrigan is a trained mediator, having completed a 40-hour mediation course at Harvard Law School’s Executive Education Course Program on Negotiation. She has mediated cases both as a defense attorney and a claimants’ lawyer, so she is familiar with how the process generally plays out for both sides.
Martindale-Hubbell awarded Ms. Merrigan its AV Preeminent® rating, which Martindale-Hubbell explains is: “The highest peer rating standard. This rating signifies that a large number of the lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.” Martindale-Hubbell has provided the public with information on attorneys since 1868. Additionally, WILG has presented Ms. Merrigan with the Longshore Excellence in Practice Award (awarded to only one practitioner per year), the Distinguished Service Award, and the Rising Star Award.
In law school, Ms. Merrigan’s focus was on litigation and advocacy. She completed multiple non-required courses both during and after law school that taught techniques for trials and depositions. She maintained a rank among the top ten students in her law school class for her entire tenure, graduating in the top 5%. She was a proud recipient of the Arthur C. Zief, Jr., scholarship, as well as financial grants for her work on the Maritime Law Journal and as a school-appointed tutor to assist other students. She completed an externship with California Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard.
Prior to law school, she interned for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, the San Francisco Mayor, and a United States Senator. She also taught skiing and snowboarding for several years. She rode on the equestrian team in college and still enjoys riding in her spare time. She was born in Switzerland and remains an avid traveler.
