News - Justin Chou Joins Firm Partnership
With 12 years of experience and 16 trials to verdict, Mr. Chou joins the Commins masthead.
After four years of working as Of Counsel for Commins and Knudsen, effective February 1, 2024 Justin Chou was elevated to the position of shareholder. Mr. Chou brings extensive trial and litigation experience to the newly renamed firm of Commins, Knudsen & Chou, P.C.
Mr. Chou graduated from UC Berkeley with distinction in 2008, then earned his JD from Berkeley Law in 2011. After passing the California Bar, Mr. Chou served as a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County, where he tried fourteen (14) jury trials, only five of which resulted in guilty verdicts.
In 2013, Mr. Chou left the Public Defender’s Office to pursue a career in classic car restoration. He became a full-time apprentice for Conrad Stevenson, a Berkeley-based Alfa Romeo restoration legend. At Mr. Stevenson’s shop, he performed sheet metal fabrication, rust repair, engine service, suspension setup, and all the other aspects of frame-off restorations.
In mid-2014, Mr. Chou returned to the practice of law by joining Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, a celebrated and historic San Francisco personal injury law firm. There, he handled complex 6- and 7-figure personal injury cases involving motor vehicles, premises liability, defective products, toxic exposure, and medical malpractice. In 2018, he won a $1,000,000 jury verdict in Shi v. City of San Jose, a case stemming from a retired foreign ex-patriot who was killed when a negligently maintained tree fell atop him in a public park.
Mr. Chou first joined his long-time friends David Commins and Kit Knudsen in 2020, bringing his personal injury practice to the firm and assisting his colleagues in other civil litigation matters. In 2024, just a month after becoming a partner of the firm, he and Mr. Commins obtained a $1,144,000 judgment in AAA arbitration against an embezzling and disgruntled employee.