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Q&A with Brian Sutter, Class of 2020
Associate at Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian
Brian Sutter practices in all areas of civil litigation, including personal injury, wrongful death, construction defect, and mass tort cases throughout California and Hawaii. As an associate at Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian (“BGA”), Brian represents fire survivors affected by the Thomas Fire and North Bay Fires in 2017, the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire in 2018, the Coastal Fire in 2022, and the Eaton Fire in 2025 in California as well as fire survivors affected by the Lahaina Fire in 2023 on Maui.
While in law school, Brian worked as a judicial extern to the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where he gained valuable experience working on cases involving consumer and employment class actions, and federal civil procedure. During law school, Brian also worked as a legal intern for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California where he worked on matters involving First Amendment rights, criminal procedural protections, and civil rights generally. Prior to law school, he worked for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer as a legislative correspondent and for U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman as a staff assistant. He also competed as an NCAA Division III college athlete in Cross-Country and Track & Field. Brian is also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Q: How did UC Irvine Law prepare you for your legal practice?
UC Irvine Law prepared me for my legal practice by teaching me how to write well and how to manage the day-to-day work of practicing law. Professor Trilby Robinson-Dorn’s first-year Lawyering Skills course taught me all the practical skills I use every day: from how to draft legal research memos and motions to how to navigate firm culture as an associate. Some of the most valuable lessons I learned were how to come prepared to meetings with partners and how most of your cases are won or lost on your written work. Writing with brevity, clarity, and efficiency have proved invaluable in my practice where time is of the essence.
I also really value Professor Ann Southworth’s Legal Profession course where I got to hear from and speak to a variety of different lawyers from different fields of practice. Professor Southworth’s chapter on Plaintiff’s lawyers changed my whole perspective on the field in which I now work. In fact, I met my current boss at a first-year Legal Profession seminar where he came to speak about the work, he was helping fire survivors of the 2017 North Bay Fires case against PG&E. This proved to be an invaluable connection as I have worked with over 10,000 fire survivor clients since we started working together.
Q: What do you like best about your work?
My clients have lost homes, belongings, livelihoods, and loved ones in these devastating fires. At my firm Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian, we work every day to change the corporate calculus of investor-owned utility companies like PG&E, SoCal Edison, and Hawaiian Electric so that they stop prioritizing profit over public safety. These utility companies can prevent these deadly fires by doing proper inspections, making timely repairs, and turning off the power when extreme fire weather conditions are on the way. I am proud to advocate for my clients who have just lost their most valuable assets in the fire and often cannot afford an attorney.
Few legal victories are as important or as tangible as walking through the rooms of a client’s rebuilt home after a utility-caused fire took everything from them.
Q: What was the best part about being a student at UC Irvine Law?
The best part of being a UC Irvine Law student was the faculty that I learned from. I am so grateful to have learned from such courageous advocates. Professor Mark Rosenbaum is a role model and fearless litigator who I admire greatly and continue to learn from. If you read an article about people’s civil rights or civil liberties being violated, you’ll likely see his name alongside a new case in which he is defending the rights of our most vulnerable members of society and holding the powerful to account.
I also met the love of my life, Ashley Becker ('20), at Admitted Students Weekend and we are engaged to be married this year. Our Community Property Professor, Hon. Tam Nomoto Schumann, will be our officiant at our wedding this fall.
Q: How do you stay involved with the UC Irvine Law community?
I love to come to campus for the Legal Profession seminar for first-year law students to speak to them about my cases in the Plaintiff’s bar. I also enjoy speaking to second- and third-year law students in an upper-level legal ethics course taught by Professor Southworth, usually focusing on ethical issues attorneys face practicing mass tort cases. I am also a member of the UC Irvine Law Alumni Association Governing Council. You can usually catch me at the alumni table at UC Irvine Law’s commencement ceremony!
Q: What are you most looking forward to at UC Irvine Law's Reunion on September 20?
I am looking forward to reconnecting with my classmates. We graduated at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and were unable to celebrate together. I haven’t seen many of my classmates in person since we unceremoniously walked out of class on a random day in March. I am excited to hear about all the impressive things they have achieved in the five years since we graduated.
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