Personal Injury Lawyers & Workers' Comp Attorneys in San Francisco Bay Area • Los Angeles • Orange County • San Diego • San Jose • Sacramento

Steven J. Bell

Before attending law school Steve worked in the field of occupational safety and health as a private consultant. During this time he had safety responsibility for construction of a number of wind tunnels for NASA. Later, his knowledge of chemical safety earned him employment as an in-house safety engineer in the semi-conductor industry. He then attended the Santa Clara School of Law, graduating in 1986. He passed the California State Bar later that year and then began private practice representing individuals and families who had suffered harm due to the negligence of others. He followed in his father’s footsteps concentrating in representing those harmed in construction accidents. He has continued with this focus through today. In this regard he draws on his prior experience in occupational safety and health and nearly 30 years of litigating cases in many counties throughout California. His years of experience in this very special area of the law has given him a unique knowledge base in the practical aspects of construction and the very complex legal concepts involved in these cases. Due to his wealth of experience in construction safety, he has also been asked to assist in cases in other states. Steve handles all aspects of these cases, which require knowledge of both the civil litigation and workers’ compensation systems.

Steve is a member of several legal associations including the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys of California and the American Association for Justice. Additionally he has received a rating of “AV,” the highest peer reviewed rating given through Martindale-Hubbell. He is recognized as a “Super Lawyer” and in 2013 was awarded the “Golden Advocate” award for his work on a serious injury construction accident case in San Bernardino.

Steve believes in community service and has spent a great deal of time volunteering in various youth sports organizations including AYSO, PALS, youth ice hockey and synchronized swimming. He currently enjoys a variety of outdoor activities including surfing and mountain biking.

Melanie J. Carr

Melanie practices in the areas of workers’ compensation and public employee retirement law. She has been committed to advocating for injured workers since 2000, when she began her career at Jones Clifford, LLP. She is certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in workers’ compensation law and is a member of the California Applicants’ Attorney Association. Melanie volunteers as a staff attorney with Legal Aid At Work (formerly known as Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center) and lectures regarding workers’ compensation and disability retirement law.

Melanie received her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University, where she graduated with honors in 2001. She obtained her juris doctor from the University of San Francisco in 2007 and was admitted to the State Bar of California the same year. While at USF, Melanie was an active member of the Labor and Employment Law Student Association and served as a technical editor of the Maritime Law Journal.

As the daughter and granddaughter of retired San Francisco firefighters, Melanie is especially sympathetic to the needs of safety officers. She lives in San Francisco with her two children.

Christopher H. Dahms

Christopher is a Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation with over three decades of litigation experience. He advocates solely on behalf of injured workers. The focus of his practice is fighting for first responders who have suffered industrial injuries and those who are seeking industrial disability retirements. His success covers a range of both presumptive and non-presumptive cases, heart-cardiovascular, orthopedic, PTSD and COVID injuries, and includes monetary awards and lifetime medical treatment. His clients have prevailed at the trial level, in Superior Court, and before the California Court of Appeal.

Christopher is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Rhetoric and Political Science. He graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law. During law school he was an extern for California Supreme Court Justice David Eagleson and a member of the USF Law Review. His current memberships include the California Applicants’ Attorney Association and the California Lawyers Association.

Christopher has traveled around the world. He lived for two years in a village in Nepal while serving with the Peace Corps. He trekked by himself into and through the Himalayas, reaching and ascending Mount Gokyo. He has traveled into gorilla habitats in Rwanda and monitored the first post-civil war presidential election in El Salvador. He has run with the bulls in Pamplona. He spent a night in a boxcar while traveling across India and traded watches with a Russian World War II veteran while crossing the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Express.

He is now the father of two frequently wonderful children. That, by far, is what makes him the most proud.

Christopher C. Dehner

Chris was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived until he went off to college at Santa Clara University. After graduating Santa Clara in 1994 with a major in political science, he attended Hamline University Law School in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he earned his juris doctorate in 1998. After being admitted to the California bar in 1998, Chris worked for a short period of time with a small personal injury firm in San Francisco. He then began his career in workers’ compensation in 1999 when he went to work for Laughlin, Falbo, Levy and Moresi, LLP in their Walnut Creek office.

Chris became a member of Jones Clifford, LLP in 2000 and a partner in 2002. Currently, he is the firm’s managing partner. He primarily practices in the areas of Workers’ Compensation and Public Employee Retirement law, specializing in representing safety members injured on the job. Chris has extensive experience in litigating disability retirements as well. He is a certified specialist in Workers’ Compensation law and a member of the State Bar of California Workers’ Compensation Section. Chris is also a member of the California Applicant’s Attorneys Association, for which he served as San Francisco Chapter President from 2002-2004. Chris also lectures on workers’ compensation matters and he has worked for the California Board of Legal Specialization on drafting questions for the Legal Specialization Exam.

Chris lives in San Francisco with his wife, Andrea, their three children, Darcy, Finley and Brendan, and their dog Libby. His free time is spent with his family including coaching soccer. From 2010-2016 Chris served on the Board of Directors for Support for Families of Children with Disabilities, a non-profit organization in San Francisco that provides information, education and support to families that have children with special needs.

Alexander R. Ennis

Alex practices in the areas of workers’ compensation and public employee retirement law. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of San Francisco School of Law.

In 2009, Alex relocated to the Bay Area. He earned his juris doctor in 2013 from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he competed in national and intrascholastic moot court competitions and worked as an associate editor for the USF Maritime Law Journal. Alex won CALI Awards for Excellence in Legal Ethics and in Environmental Law, International Trade, and the WTO.

Alex was admitted to the California Bar in 2013 and practices in the areas of workers’ compensation and public employee retirement law. Prior to joining Jones Clifford, LLC in 2014, Alex served as Law Clerk to the General Counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission, where he represented the Commission in administrative hearings, evaluated applications for rehearing, and drafted appellate briefs.

Alex lives in San Francisco, where he enjoys sports, camping, hiking, reading, travel, and spending time with friends. He has lived and worked in the United States, Cambodia, and Italy.

Alexander W. Hansen

Alex practices in the areas of workers’ compensation and public employee retirement law. He is a certified specialist in workers compensation law, and has worked since 2005 in that area, both on the Applicant and Defense side. From 2012 to 2013 he served as the San Francisco Chapter President of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association.

Alex received his Bachelor of Arts from UC Davis, where he graduated with honors in 1997. After graduation he volunteered with the Peace Corps, and taught English in the country of Malawi. He then moved to New York and worked as an elementary school teacher at PS 192 in Manhattan. He obtained his juris doctor from the University of San Francisco in 2005, and was admitted to the State Bar of California the same year.

A fifth generation San Franciscan, Alex lives in Glen Park with his wife and two sons. In 2012, Alex and his family started The Augie Fund, a non-profit organization that provides free glasses and lenses to Bay Area children whose families face financial challenges. The Augie Fund currently helps pediatric patients at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Oakland Children’s Hospital.

Ann Munene

Ann practices in the areas of workers’ compensation and public employee retirement law.  She is a graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law with a concentration in Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution.  She earned a dual undergraduate degree in Legal Studies and Psychology with a minor in Rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley.

While in law school, Ann clerked for United States District Judge Jeffrey S. White in the Northern District of California.  Ann also served as a law clerk at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center’s disability rights program and LAS-ELC’s workers’ rights clinic.  Ann also won CALI awards as the Top Student in her Trial Advocacy I class and Legal Externship Program.

Additionally, during law school, Ann served one-year terms as an assistant submissions editor and submissions editor for the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review (HICLR).  As a Kenyan immigrant, she wrote an article on “The Right to Strike – Sustainable Constitutional Reform: Comparative Case Studies of Workers’ Strikes in the Kenyan Public Sector” which was published in HICLR’s 2013 winter issue.

Prior to joining Jones Clifford, Ann was as a Ralph S. Abascal fellow, then a staff attorney at Legal Aid of Marin, primarily providing workers’ rights advocacy to underserved and vulnerable Marin County residents.  She prosecuted wage theft, discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims in Federal and State Court.  Additionally, she prosecuted wage claims at the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement.  Ann also provided community workshops and legal clinics to educate individuals on their employment rights.  For her work with Legal Aid of Marin as a workers’ and tenants’ rights advocate, Ann was one of two finalists nominated for the 2017 Marin Trial Lawyer President’s Award at the Annual Judges Dinner. Ann was awarded the Marin County Bar Association’s Ann Diamond Young Lawyer Award for 2023 in honor of her commitment to providing legal services to underserved communities.

In her free time Ann enjoys spending time with her family and community.

Ross J. Psyhogios

Ross practices in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death, including complex vehicular collisions, defective products, and construction-site accidents.

Ross grew up in northern Wisconsin and has made San Francisco his home for the past ten years. After receiving his B.A. from the University of San Francisco in 2010, he earned his juris doctor in 2013 from the University of San Francisco School of Law. While in law school, Ross served as a business editor, and later the index/survey editor for the USF Maritime Law Journal. He also traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Labor to implement labor migration and remittances best practices.

Ross dedicates his legal skills and passion to the service of others, and is proud of the strong relationships and accountability he builds with his clients to achieve the best results. Before joining the firm in 2016, Ross represented tenants throughout the Bay Area facing wrongful evictions and tenant harassment from negligent landlords, where he gained formative civil litigation experience.

Ross is currently a member of the Hellenic Law Society of Northern California, the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and the San Francisco Bar Association. He also maintains his Merchant Marine License, and sails on Lake Superior every summer. Ross is an avid outdoorsman, and in his free time enjoys skiing, surfing, and hiking.

Kenneth M. Sheppard

Kenny practices in the areas of workers’ compensation law and disability retirement law. He is certified by the State Bar of California as a specialist in workers’ compensation law, has been recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers each year since 2010, and has a “Superb” 10.0 rating by Avvo. He is the immediate past chair of the State Bar of California’s Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee, and also serves on the Board of Representatives of the California Lawyers Association, the second largest voluntary association of attorneys in the country.

Kenny lectures extensively on the topics of workers’ compensation law and disability retirement law. He is a contributing author and editor for the California WCAB Noteworthy Decisions Reporter published by LexisNexis, the California Workers’ Compensation Practice Guide published by Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) and the Employment Litigation Practice Guide published by the Rutter Group. He additionally serves as an editorial board member for Mathew Bender & Company, Inc., a volunteer staff attorney for Legal Aid at Work, and a volunteer coach for the UC Hastings Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution.

Kenny obtained his juris doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2003. While at Hastings, Kenny was an editor for the Constitutional Law Quarterly, and was also a judicial extern for the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, formerly of the United States District Court.

In his spare time, Kenny volunteers as a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. He is currently raising his twelfth guide dog puppy, a Black Labrador named Geode.

Alexander Wong

Alex was born and raised in San Francisco and attended the University of California at San Diego, receiving his BA cum laude in 1990. In 1991, he served as a Coro Foundation Public Affairs Fellow, after which he attended and graduated from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. In 1992-1993 Alex was a Student Regent of the University of California.

After being admitted to the California Bar in 1994, he served as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, specializing in workers’ compensation matters. He joined Jones Clifford in 2000, became a partner in 2002, and is certified by the State Bar of California as a Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law. He served as Chair of the State Bar Executive Committee on Workers’ Compensation in 2001-2002. He was an editor and co-author of the legal treatise: California Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice (St. Claire) from 2004-2013, and is a frequent lecturer on California Workers’ Compensation matters. In 2014, he received the Applicant’s Attorney of the Year Award from the State Bar of California, Workers’ Compensation Section. In 2017, he received the Applicant’s Attorney of the Year Award from the San Francisco chapter of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association. He has also been consistently selected as a “Super Lawyer” for over a decade, and is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

From 2000-2002, Alex was Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party. He also has served as a trustee of Urban High School in San Francisco, and a trustee of Town School for Boys. Alex is committed to diversity and inclusion work in the independent school community, is a cofounder of Diversity in Governance (DiG), and has presented at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) conference, California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) conference, and People of Color Conference (POCC). Alex enjoys fishing, food, and all things Scottish. Now he devotes his free time to his wife, Allison, and their two children, Samantha and Evan, with whom he makes his home in San Francisco.