principal biographies
The McElfish Law Firm team
Raymond D. McElfish
RAYMOND D. MCELFISH, ESQ: OWNER AND FOUNDER OF THE FIRM
Born in Wichita Kansas and raised in Cumberland, Maryland, where I interned in high school with a civil attorney now Maryland Circuit Court Judge Gary Leisure. I attended college at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland earning a bachelors degree in Economics with minors in Econometrics and Philosophy in 1988 while working for 4 years as a law clerk for the international law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in Washington, D.C. After college, I attended law school at Boston University School of Law where I earned my J.D. degree in 1991. During my 3 years of law school, I worked as a part-time law clerk for a Boston law firm and spent my summers as a summer associate at Simpson, Thatcher & Bartlett in New York City.
After law school, I opened my own practice in New York City representing motor carriers and bus companies handling baggage claims and small claims matters in the very beginning. Since 1992, I have represented national and regional motor carriers, trucking companies, TPAs, insurers, including primary, excess and reinsurers, in the field of transportation and insurance law in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I have handled all aspects of transportation and insurance litigation including personal injury, product liability, coverage and regulatory. I am a member of the New York and Massachusetts State Bar Associations and am admitted to all four Federal Districts in New York and the District of Massachusetts. In 2002, after 10 years of practice, I took the California State bar and moved to Los Angeles while monitoring and traveling often to the New York Office, now managed by Ms. Teresa A. Gruber. I am now a member of the California State and Federal Bars and opened satellite offices in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, California since 2003.
Jeffrey C. Lynn
Jeffrey C. Lynn is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts of California.
Mr. Lynn has over twenty-five years of experience in transportation law and coverage litigation. He has represented customs brokers, interstate and intrastate motor carriers, cargo carriers and operators, non-vessel operating common carriers, trucking and marine insurance companies and overnight and expedited shippers in all types of claims, including those under the Carmack Amendment, Carriage of Goods by Sea Act and the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions in addition to claims involving personal injury, first-and third-party liability matters, regulatory compliance and environmental issues.
Tyrone Toczauer
Los Angeles attorney Tyrone Toczauer has more than 25 years of experience in the areas of construction defense, professional liability defense, and medical/dental malpractice. His litigation expertise ranges from extensive personal injuries to elder abuse claims. He has represented clients from case inception, through mediation, arbitration and trial.
In construction defense matters, he has represented developers, lenders, suppliers and contractors, and has handled every aspect of construction litigation and claims. In medical/dental malpractice claims, he has represented physicians, nurses, dentists and oral surgeons, as well as county/government, independent and private facilities and hospitals.
ASMIK JASMINE GEVORKYAN, ESQ.
Asmik Jasmine Gevorkyan is an associate at McElfish Law Firm, P.C., where she combines her talents and background in service to her clients.
Ms. Gevorkyan represents wide array of clients, ranging from individuals to corporations, insurance carriers and third party administrators, based in varying parts of the country. She focuses her practice on Personal Injury cases and handles wide range of complex litigation matters in both the state and federal courts, including car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, wrongful death, brain injury, slip and falls, dog bite injuries, premises liability, medical malpractice, dangerous products/products liability and other general business contract and tort claims.
Jose Masso
Los Angeles attorney Jose Masso focuses on the defense of self-insured companies, trucking companies, and insurance carriers in cases of personal injury, wrongful death, passenger claims, property damage, baggage claims, employment, and product liability. He has extensive experience in appellate work and has drafted multiple appeals in Oregon and California. He also prepared a Petition for Review to the Oregon State Supreme Court, and a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court for Writ of Certiorari.
While in law school, Jose served as an Oregon Rule 9 clerk, where he defended persons accused of DUI, sex abuse, RICO, and other felony and misdemeanor crimes.
Robert Simpson
Los Angeles attorney Robert Simpson has more than 20 years of experience with cases involving catastrophic injury, including wrongful death, brain injuries, and catastrophic injury requiring numerous surgeries and lengthy hospitalizations. He has also tried a variety of premises liability cases, including those dealing with hazardous activity cases involving liability for leased premises, and hidden perils adjacent to private property. He represents a broad client base, including commercial shopping centers, theater chains, convenience stores, major supermarkets, restaurants, and several self-insured businesses.
Robert earned his law degree from Southwestern School of Law and has a BA from Cal State Northridge. He is admitted to practice in all California state courts and the Central District of the federal court of California
ALYSSE D. HOPKINS
New York attorney Alysse D. Hopkins has been with the McElfish Law Firm since 2006 and is currently of counsel. Her core focus is defending insurance cases of premises liability and collisions. She is well-known for her detail-oriented approach to analyzing cases for a successful outcome and ensuring that all of a carrier's concerns are addressed.
Alysse graduated cum laude from Binghamton University and earned her law degree from Pace Law School in New York. She is a member of the New York and New Jersey state bar associations and is licensed to practice in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York and the New Jersey District Court.
Olga Potanas - Paralegal
Olga Potanas is a New York board-certified paralegal with extensive experience in insurance defense, probate, corporate real estate and family law matters.