Richard S. Sterger

I founded Sterger Law Group on a simple belief: that the people who need a lawyer the most deserve one who actually shows up for them — in the courtroom and throughout every step of the process.

I am a trial attorney. I handle criminal defense, immigration, and personal injury litigation, and I take cases to trial. That willingness to fight — rather than settle for whatever is convenient — is what distinguishes the firm and what my clients count on.

Personal injury litigation now occupies roughly half of my practice. I do not intake personal injury cases directly — instead, personal injury attorneys associate me and my team in when a case is headed to trial or involves genuinely contested liability. Over time, we have built a litigation and trial support team specifically suited to that work, and those referral relationships have become a meaningful part of how the firm operates.

Before law, I spent over a decade building businesses that generated more than $2 billion in revenue for Fortune 100 companies in the mobile device industry. That background taught me how institutions think, how they protect themselves, and where they are vulnerable. I bring that understanding into every case I take — whether I'm facing a prosecutor, an insurance company, or a government agency.

I came to the law through a winding road, shaped in part by a personal history that gave me an early and lasting understanding of what it means to navigate systems that weren't built with you in mind. That experience informs how I approach my clients — with patience, without judgment, and with a commitment to making sure they understand what is happening at every stage of their case.

Outside the office, I travel with my wife Alesha — and sometimes the kids — scuba dive, ski, and can occasionally be found on a hiking trail, usually at Alesha's suggestion. When we want to genuinely unplug, we retreat to our off-grid cabin in the Sangre de Cristos outside Taos, New Mexico.

I graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and am admitted to practice in California and Minnesota, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Central Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I represent clients throughout the United States.  Sterger Law Group is based in San Diego.

Areas Of Practice

Admitted To Practice

• California, 2021
• Minnesota, 1998
• California Supreme Court
• Minnesota Supreme Court
• US District Court, Central District of California
• US District Court, Southern District of California
• US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  
  

Education

• University of Minnesota Law School
• JD - Juris Doctor
• Antioch University
• BA - Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Philosophy

Professional Memberships

• American Immigration Lawyers Association
• Faculty, Trial Lawyers College
• Consumer Attorneys San Diego
• Trial By Human

Languages

• English