Susan Oliver

Susan Oliver is a Partner at Tyson & Mendes’ San Diego office and leads a multi-attorney team. Her practice focuses on catastrophic personal injury defense, employment practices litigation defense, the defense of entity defendants where sexual torts are alleged, including sexual assault and child sexual abuse, and medical malpractice defense.

Ms. Oliver has extensive litigation experience, including representing individuals and businesses in state courts throughout California and in federal district courts. Ms. Oliver finds novel legal arguments and has been extremely successful in positioning cases for summary judgment, including two recent cases where summary judgment was granted, saving her clients over $100 million collectively. Ms. Oliver has experience arguing before the California Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. She is also adept at stepping into large cases late in the litigation process and providing extensive evaluations and readying the cases for a trial and a successful outcome.

Ms. Oliver obtained her J.D. from the University of Iowa in 1992, where she served on the Iowa Law Review and graduated with distinction. She obtained her B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1989, where she participated in the English Honors Program and graduated with distinction. Ms. Oliver is a member of the academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. In 2021, Ms. Oliver received Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for Personal Injury Litigation in 2021, the organization’s highest accolade. In 2023, she was recognized again by Best Lawyers for her exceptionalism in Personal Injury Litigation. She was also listed among San Diego Business Journal’s “Women of Influence in Law” and “Leader of Influence in Law” in 2023.

In her free time, Ms. Oliver enjoys spending time with her husband and children. She also enjoys reading, traveling, and Hawkeye sports.

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