Helped Clients Recover Over $25 Billion. Since 1979.
Helped Clients Recover Over $25 Billion. Since 1979.
Frederick “Fred” Schenk is the founding Managing Partner at The Schenk Law Firm. A former letterhead partner at the CaseyGerry law firm with over 45 years of legal and trial experience, Schenk has secured multi-million dollar verdicts, settlements, and arbitration awards for victims of corporate negligence, particularly in asbestos litigation, wrongful death, and automobile accidents. He is consistently recognized by Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers and Super Lawyers, and has received numerous awards for his outstanding work.
Schenk’s areas of specialization include asbestos and mesothelioma, catastrophic injury and wrongful death litigation, automobile accidents, bicycle accidents, construction negligence, head/brain injury and social media addiction litigation.
He co-authored the LexisNexis California Automotive Litigation Handbook, one of the leading litigation guides in the area of automobile negligence litigation for both the plaintiff as well as the insurance defense bar. Schenk achieved the largest San Diego verdict to date—against asbestos manufacturer Owens Corning Fiberglass—rendering the largest ever asbestos punitive damages and economic loss verdict in San Diego. In 2023, he was appointed by Judge Carolyn Kuhl of the Los Angeles Superior Court to the plaintiffs’ steering committee in the Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings lawsuit against large social media companies, including Meta, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.
For the second time, Schenk is serving as president of the 22nd District Agricultural Association’s Board of Directors which manages and operates the Del Mar Fairgrounds and San Diego County Fair on behalf of the State of California.
He previously served as the board president from 2013 to 2015. The nine-member Board is appointed by the governor of California, and Fred has served under three governors. He is a past president of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), San Diego Chapter and past president of the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego and earned a lifetime emeritus board seat with the Consumer Attorneys of California. Between 2000 and 2002, Fred served as president of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center of San Diego.
For the past 15 years, Schenk has been a member of the board of governors of the American Association for Justice. Schenk has been recognized by the Association for his extensive pro bono work through their Trial Lawyers Care® program — an initiative to encourage, recognize, and organize trial lawyers who contribute to their communities through volunteer and charitable activities that serve the public good. In 2004, Schenk undertook probono representation of a family who lost a loved one in the tragic 911 attack on the World Trade Center buildings. Schenk obtained a seven-figure resolution on behalf of the survivors for which he accepted no fee for his work.
Schenk’s many awards include Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers” and in 2022 became a Hall of Fame inductee, Best Lawyers in America list (2006–2024), of which he was awarded Lawyer of the Year, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (2014, 2018), San Diego Super Lawyers list (2008–2024) and the San Diego County Bar Association Community Service Award (2016).
Fred received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1978 and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1975. He is a member of USD School of Law’s Board of Visitors and serves on the executive committee as well as the USD School of Law’s campaign committee. In November of 2024, Schenk was honored as a recipient of the USD School of Law’s Distinguished Law Alumni Award, the highest recognition presented to alumni of the USD School of Law.
Raised in Los Angeles by immigrant parents, he speaks fluent Hungarian. In his spare time, he enjoys Padres Baseball and playing pickleball, as well as traveling with his wife Shari and their family.