Bio

John Kawai

John Kawai is a trial lawyer who represents injury victims and their families in lawsuits against insurance companies and other transnational corporations, governments, and other persons and entities with disproportionately vast resources.

Since 2016, John has been a key member of Nick Rowley and Courtney Rowley’s trial team, contributing to landmark verdicts and settlements across the country. His case experience includes:

• A $131 million dram shop verdict in Seattle (2017)

• A $10 million mild traumatic brain injury and loss of consortium verdict in Bakersfield (2021)

• A $12.25 million verdict in Des Moines for an erroneous cancer diagnosis

• A multi-party birth injury case that settled confidentially after one day of trial testimony

• A wrongful death and personal injury settlement ranked among the Top 20 Personal Injury Settlements of 2022 in the U.S.

• In 2024, a $27.5 million settlement for a dangerous condition of public property causing a traumatic brain injury to a middle-school student, and a confidential $41 million settlement

• In early 2025, three consecutive Los Angeles trials resulted in eight-figure verdicts, including:

  • $21.3 million verdict for a “low-speed” tractor-trailer crash victim (settled for $34.8 million)

  • $50 million verdict against Starbucks for negligence

  • $48 million verdict against a school district for failure to protect students from sexual abuse

John is equally proud of cases that advanced the law, including a record settlement for the family of a student who died by suicide after school bullying. He played a vital role in supporting the Fairness for Injured Patients Act, which led to California’s first reform of medical malpractice caps since 1975. John has also taken pro bono medical malpractice cases to raise public awareness of patient rights.

His areas of practice include medical malpractice, dangerous premises, fires, drownings, assaults, defective products, motor vehicle collisions, dangerous public property, and dog attacks. He represents victims suffering from catastrophic injuries, including death, paralysis, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations, chronic pain, disfigurement, and severe emotional trauma. John is also one of the few attorneys in the nation handling federal civil restitution cases for victims of child sexual abuse imagery.

John is licensed to practice law in California, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii, and Oregon, as well as in several federal courts.

Inspired by his mother, a physician living with a disability, John’s passion for personal injury law began early. In high school, he volunteered in hospital brain and spinal cord injury wards. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from UC Berkeley and his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where he joined the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society. Before focusing on personal injury, John clerked with prosecutors and worked pro bono to obtain reparations for Holocaust survivors. He is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming, and teaches with the Rowleys’ Trial by Human program.