Mark E. Gearheart

Attorney Mark E. Gearheart is the managing partner of Gearheart Sonnicksen law firm in Pleasant Hill, California. A nationally ranked trial lawyer with more than 40 years of total legal experience, Mr. Gearheart provides invaluable counsel and support to clients throughout the East Bay Area and beyond who seek their rightful workers' compensation benefits.

Certified by The State Bar of California's Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in workers' compensation law, Mr. Gearheart provides an unmatched level of advocacy to those who need the full amount of workers' compensation to support themselves and their families when they can no longer work. Over the course of his legal career, he has achieved remarkable success helping his clients obtain the maximum amount of finances they need, and he has handled claims involving compensation for permanent disabilities, dependents recovery for workers' deaths and more.

Honored for his outstanding professionalism and service, Mr. Gearheart has earned an AV Preeminent peer review rating* from Martindale-Hubbell along with consistent recognition from The Best Lawyers in America. He has also received the 2012 Applicant Attorney of the Year award from the State Bar Workers’ Compensation as well as the Workers’ Compensation Claimant’s Attorney of the Year Award for Oakland/East Bay Best lawyers in 2017 and 2018.

A 1977 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, Mr. Gearheart obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of California's Hastings College of Law in 1980. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and he is an active member of the American Association for Justice, the National Workplace Injury Law and Advocacy Group.

A leader in his field, Mr. Gearheart is also the past president of the East Bay Chapter and current board member of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association, and he is the co-chair of the CAAA Regulations Committee. He has also served as judge pro tempore for workers' compensation claims.

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