Exploring life and business with Ron Zambrano, Partner and Employment Chair at West Coast Trial Lawyers.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ron Zambrano.

Hi Ron, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I always wanted to help people. My parents always instilled in me that we should stand up for others and for what was right, even when it seems hard. Combined with their work ethic (my dad was working 3 jobs at one point to put me through private school), I felt an obligation to work hard so that I could help others. Admittedly, I did not know exactly how to execute that vision, but I felt a strong calling to service.
My decision to go to law school was part sliding-doors and part self-realization. I graduated from USC without any real sense of how to use the tools and intellect my parents had worked so hard to shape through private education. I was a bit lost in my early 20’s. My best friend from high school was the son of a lawyer. His sister was also a lawyer, and her husband was a lawyer. So, of course, envisioning him as a lawyer was natural whereas I never saw myself in that role. Not because I didn’t like the law, but more from the naive misconception that latino immigrants whose parents worked at or near minimum wage don’t become lawyers. It was an artificial ceiling I had created for myself. However, when I visited my friend while he was in law-school, and saw that his classmates were no different than me, the ceiling disappeared. I took the next LSAT and went to law school the following term.
My exposure to employment law was also a bit by accident. I initially wanted to practice immigration law, but my introduction to immigration law during a summer clerkship left me disillusioned. Too many false promises to make money, versus really helping people. Then I tried family law . . . ouch! Watching families being torn apart because one or both parties involved have arrested development was hard to take. Especially where kids were involved. I couldn’t stomach it. Compounding things was timing. It was the fall of 2007, the housing bubble popped and the Great Recession was in its full throes. The family law firm I worked for at that time told me sources of fees were leveraging home prices, and that was now over. As a result, I had six months to find another job. It was a tough and transitional time in my legal career journey. Sallie Mae sent letters asking for its first payment for my law school loans. I needed to work, whether I was helping people or not.
Craigslist was still the way to search for work, back then. I sent many, many resumes. Thank God I was fluent in Spanish as that opened doors a bit quicker for me, I believe. I applied to a small plaintiff’s employment law firm in Long Beach. I knew nothing about employment law. I interviewed with the owner of the firm who seemed like a very nice man, and I thought we hit it off. I was right. He called me about 30 minutes later while I was driving home to offer me a job. I said yes on the phone. I fell in love with employment law there. I was able to help people at the most vulnerable times in their lives not involving a death or terminal illness. People on the cusp of losing insurance, not being able to pay rent, came to us for help when they lost their job for being sick, complaining about harassment or because of the color of their skin. I had found my calling, so to speak.
I stayed at that firm for 11 years until I was recruited to join West Coast Trial Lawyers. I felt things at the old firm were not what they were from a leadership perspective and felt it was time to move on. A decision I made with my wife, I agreed to leave the firm of 10+ years to start an employment practice with two people I spent a cumulative of 4 hours with. I put my faith in them. Them in me. And I have been committed to returning their faith since.
Starting right before the pandemic made it hard to hit the ground running. But we’ve come out the other side of the pandemic with a great team, great cases and a leadership that embraces taking risks at trial and encourages growth. The result is victories in both arbitration and trial – with two seven-figure verdicts just this year. I’m proud to be part of such an elite and well-respected legal team at West Coast Trial Lawyers.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I personally was the biggest obstacle in terms of not realizing the importance of knocking down and opening doors. At first, it was being open to the idea that “someone like me” can be a lawyer similar to all the lawyers I knew growing up. I did not know any lawyers that looked like me or my parents, or who were immigrants, or ate like me or spoke like me. It took meeting my friends’ law school colleagues to move past that ceiling and self-doubt I had for myself. Then, once I passed the bar, became a practicing lawyer and put myself in places where I would grow, I really flourished and found my calling and my passion. WCTL is by far the best environment for this. I’m 17 years post-bar, and I’m still growing. It’s not only knowing the law or sharpening my skills that motivates me each day, I try to learn something new from every interaction I have with a judge, an opposing counsel or a client. What do I like or don’t like they did? Things I admire and want to emulate are as equally important as picking up on and avoiding those things I will never want to do to others or for my clients. It comes down to doing what’s right, respect for the profession, and respect for others.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about West Coast Trial Lawyers?
West Coast Trial Lawyers was founded in Los Angeles, CA by renowned attorneys Neama Rahmani and Allen Patatanyan. Backed by more than 25 years of combined legal expertise, our firm has secured over $1.7 billion in settlements and verdicts for thousands of injury victims across California, Arizona, and Nevada. And we’re ready to do the same for you.

What’s our secret? Delivering the highest level of service and personal attention to every client we represent. Unlike other law firms, you have direct lawyer access on your very first call. And we’re available 24/7, ensuring you receive the guidance, care, and legal representation when you need it most.

Headquartered in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, WCTL has multiple offices throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and Washington state, giving you all the resources to handle your case wherever you are.

What are your plans for the future?
AI must be embraced by our profession or we’ll be left behind. Especially the Plaintiff’s bar. AI is an accelerator in the legal field. What took tens of hours of document review now takes 10 minutes. What took an afternoon to review and ponder now takes 5 minutes. This will not go unnoticed by large corporations that have the “army of attorneys” who will point out to their retained law firm they will move on to a firm that bills less hours because of AI unless the firm embraces AI. The defense bar would overwhelm plaintiff’s attorneys by simply out-manning us. It’s 1 of us versus 3 of them. Now it’s the same number, plus AI. There’s no avoiding it. AI won’t replace us any time soon. But you will be replaced if you’re not using AI. Fortunately for me and my team, West Coast Trial Lawyers has embraced AI and remains at the forefront of this ever evolving technology.

Another industry trend specific to employment law is that the income gap is leading to larger jury awards. The post-COVID workforce came out the other side being more aware of how corporations are not that loyal to them. There’s a correlation of the bigger the company, the less likely they are to “really care” about the well-being of their employees. Rather, there’s a resignation that priority number 1 is shareholder profit, not workforce well-being. There’s also a sense that the contract between the company and employee has shifted to the employee’s detriment. In this backdrop, there’s a trend in juries giving bigger awards where there is evidence of the company acting with little to no regard for employee well-being. Corporate defendants are getting absolutely whacked by juries who see evidence of employees losing their livelihood (income, health insurance) when the employees have the audacity of getting sick, or doing the right thing and reporting unlawful behavior.

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