Attorney Profiles

Jacqueline S. Vinaccia

        Jacqueline S. Vinaccia is a licensed California trial attorney specializing in legal fee analysis and audits.  She has assisted numerous large insurance companies, and business clients in handling and resolving numerous attorney fee disputes.

        Ms. Vinaccia received her undergraduate degree in political science from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1987.  In 1990, she received her Juris Doctor degree from University of the San Diego, School of Law, with honors in Trial Advocacy.

        In 1990, Ms. Vinaccia joined the Orange County and San Diego firm of DiCaro, Highman, D’Antony, Dillard, Fuller & Gregor, where she was elevated to trial counsel within the first year of her practice.   

        In 1993, Ms. Vinaccia joined the nation-wide law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP in its San Diego office, and was elevated to partner in 2000.  Ms. Vinaccia’s practice focused on several areas of litigation, trial practice and appeals, including:

        Ms. Vinaccia has represented clients in these matters through litigation, and dozens of successful arbitration awards, trial verdicts, and appeals (both bench and jury trials).

        As a logical derivative of her litigation practice and experience, Ms. Vinaccia began her legal fee audit practice while at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith in 1997.

        Ms. Vinaccia’s audit practice began first by assisting insurance companies with legal fee disputes, including Cumis counsel situations especially in the intellectual property arena, and then also assisting private clients with legal fee disputes.  She provided analysis and auditing of dozens of matters involving several million dollars in fees generated by various law firms through out the United States, while working at Lewis Brisbois.

        In 2007, Ms. Vinaccia joined Lounsbery Ferguson Altona & Peak LLP as the firm’s Senior Litigation Counsel.  Ms. Vinaccia continues to perform legal fee analysis for insurance companies and private clients, as well as maintaining her litigation and trial practice. 

        Since joining Lounsbery Ferguson Altona & Peak LLP, Ms. Vinaccia has provided legal fee expert services in California, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, several of which involved several million dollars in fees and two which required review of invoices of National Counsel for a single insured on large asbestos claims.  Her analyses have been cited by the US District Court for Western Washington and California Superior Court, and by various arbitrators throughout the United States. 

        To date, the analyses provided to clients have led to resolution of the cases in which fee disputes were involved.  Despite having taken literally hundreds of depositions of both percipient and expert witnesses and participating in the mediation process on behalf of her fee audit clients, she has not yet been deposed or provided live trial testimony.

        Ms. Vinaccia is a former member of the MANA de San Diego, A National Latina Organization, where she served two years as General Counsel.  Ms. Vinaccia is a member of the California State Bar Association, Litigation Section and the San Diego County Bar Association, Insurance and Bad Faith Section.
 

Representative Audit Clients

ACE Casualty Risk
AIG Technical Services, Inc.
Allstate Indemnity Company
Charter Oak Insurance Company
Chubb Insurance Company
KIA Motors America
Syntex Corporation
Travelers Indemnity Company
Utica National Insurance Company
XL Environmental Insurance Company

Presentations

“Reviewing Legal Bills for Reasonableness”
Presented to National Association of Legal Fee Analysis Los Angeles Attorney Fee Conference “It Pays to be Reasonable” (June 2010)

“The Profiting Paralegal: Ensuring Paralegal Fee Recovery Through Proper Billing Standards”
Presented to San Diego Paralegal Association (February 2010)

Webinar presented to KNOW Magazine (June 2010)
Presented to Orange County Paralegal Association (July 2010)

“The Insurer’s Right to Seek Reimbursement After Buss v. Superior Court”
Presented to AIG Excess Coverage Unit, Specialty Lines Unit and General Liability Unit (2000-2004)
Presented to ACE Casualty Risk Excess Coverage Unit, Specialty Lines (2003)
Presented to The Riverstone Group, Construction Defect and Catastrophic Loss Units (2002)

“The Duty to Defend”
 Presented to Lexington Insurance Company (2004)

“Reasonable and Ethical Billing Practices” MCLE given annually to Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP (1996-2007)

“Prospecting for Clients Using Social Media” Presented at the DESA (Demonstrative Evidence Specialist Association) Annual Meeting on May 21, 2010 in San Diego, California

Publications