Profile: Adam Carlson

Ultra-competitive personality gives him an edge in complex cases that require extra effort, like products liability

2026 February

Attorney Adam Carlson considers himself a “student-athlete.”

As a managing partner in the Walnut Creek office of Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook, he applies his student mindset to learning everything he can about the industries behind his cases. He’s taken coursework on business negotiations to better broker favorable settlements. He learned Spanish to more readily communicate legal jargon to Spanish-speaking clients. And he further develops his legal expertise through professional development programs.

Meanwhile, in the early morning hours of most days, Carlson trains for triathlons. The intense multi-sport exercise is good for his mental and physical health and is an outlet for another key aspect of his personality: his competitive nature.

“I am competitive. I say that I’m the most competitive person in the world. And anyone who dares to think that they’re more competitive than me, I challenge them to a competition to figure out who’s more competitive,” Carlson quipped in a recent interview.

He schedules his workouts for 6 a.m. or earlier, before being swept up in the daily demands of work and family.

“Everyone knows the saying ‘early bird gets the worm,’ but in triathlon, the early bird gets the podium,” he said.

Carlson said his athletic endeavors also give him a unique vantage on clients who’ve been injured, thus diminishing their quality of life. He’s more empathetic when arguing on their behalf. 

“Being able to run, cycle, whatever it is, getting out there and doing my hobby actively and physically,” he explained. “It really helps motivate me for my clients who perhaps have lost the ability to do those things in their lives.”

The deep dive

Carlson has been with Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook for almost 13 years, the last eight as a managing partner. His practice focuses on serious injury cases, wrongful death, and civil rights matters. In the area of serious injury or wrongful death, he specializes in premises and products liability.

Products-liability cases give him a chance to dig into research, often finding relevant facts in defendants’ own public filings. 

“With those cases, what I really like is getting involved and figuring out what they knew and when. What should they have done at the time? Meaning, what did they know about the problems with the product? Was there enough time for them to do something to prevent my client from being injured?” Carlson explained. “You have to go deep digging, looking into patents, perhaps, that the corporation has filed over the years. Because the way the patents are framed, it discusses solving a problem, and sometimes the problems that they solve happen to be a part of the product that you’re involved in.”

For instance, in a recently concluded products-liability case that culminated in an undisclosed settlement for the plaintiff, a 30-year-old man was permanently injured while using an industrial product in the workplace. The man lost the use of his dominant right arm.

While researching the product, Carlson found a key piece of evidence.

“I found a patent that was really damning for the defendant, and it broke the case wide open,” Carlson said.

Carlson’s casework often involves holding major entities accountable. In a widely reported 2019 case, Carlson, along with Megan Burns of Mirador Law, represented two families who were injured when a tree collapsed in downtown Martinez during a busy farmers market.

Carlson and Burns proved that the city of Martinez hadn’t properly planted a tree or maintained it over a period of years, creating a hazardous condition on public property. The pair secured an $8.1 million verdict in Contra Costa County Superior Court on behalf of their clients.

Meanwhile, Carlson more recently represented the family of pedestrian Christopher Walker, who was struck and killed by an on-duty Fresno police officer who was allegedly speeding and distracted by his cell phone.

The police department investigated the crash internally and tried to blame the crash on Walker, according to Carlson. He claimed the police department’s investigation was a cover-up, as it didn’t include body-camera footage or data from the officer’s cell phone.

In December 2025, Carlson reached a $3.25 million wrongful death settlement with the city of Fresno on behalf of Walker’s family. The Fresno Police Department maintained there was no intentional wrongdoing by officers.

Carlson said his areas of practice allow him to fully immerse himself in a variety of heady topics.  “I feel like when I get into a certain case, I sort of become the case. I start living the case, and it goes with me everywhere I go,” he said.

Always learning

Carlson has studied the art and science of negotiation, including through Harvard Business School’s “Negotiation Mastery” online program. Taught by Professor of Management Practice Michael Wheeler, Carlson said the class – along with insights culled from his business-world friends – has shaped how he approaches client negotiations. Settlements are business deals as much as they are legal cases, he said.

“The decision-makers work for businesses; they’re not lawyers. They work for insurance companies; they work for corporations. And so, I wanted to be able to understand how they think, how they operate,” Carlson explained.

He’s also taken an online marketing course through Yale Business School to better understand how to promote his business in the digital age. Meanwhile, Carlson seeks case-specific education, such as when he took admitted-liability coursework while handling the tree-injury case against the city of Martinez.

He encourages new attorneys to seize as many educational opportunities as possible.

“Chances are, whatever issues you’re dealing with, it’s not the first time someone has dealt with it, and there’s likely an educational course out there to help you. So, I highly recommend seeking out educational courses specific to any issue you’re dealing with,” he said.

Education and mentorship have always been vital to Carlson’s professional growth. Before joining Casper Meadows as a lawyer, he worked for the firm as an intake assistant, fielding calls from potential clients.

“Then I had to hand the case off to the lawyer. And I was like, wait, I want to help them. I want to take it the rest of the way,” Carlson said. “It was a light bulb moment, like, ‘Oh, I want to be a lawyer. That’s what that means.’”

Was a public defender

Carlson has a bachelor’s degree in international studies, with a minor in mathematics, from Middlebury College in Vermont. After earning his law degree at the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2008, he joined the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office. For four years, he represented indigent clients in court proceedings such as pretrial conferences, pretrial motions, and jury trials.

It was while at the public defender’s office that he decided he needed to learn Spanish.

“I had so many Spanish-speaking clients, and I felt like I wasn’t connecting with them through an interpreter,” said Carlson. “And so, I now continue to represent a number of Spanish-speaking clients and can connect with them on a more human level.”

At Casper Meadows since 2013, Carlson said he’s always learning from his fellow attorneys. Founding firm partner Andrew Schwartz has been particularly inspiring, Carlson said, as he navigates a lawsuit from discovery to trial while keeping a keen focus on the client.

“The law stuff has been great, and he knows a ton about how to work cases up and try cases. But really seeing how he compassionately approaches these individuals has really left a mark on me,” Carlson said.

Inn of Court member

Carlson also counts among his mentors Judge Charles Smiley, who has been an associate justice of the First District Court of Appeal since February 2025. Smiley, who previously served as a judicial officer on the Alameda County Superior Court, recommended that Carlson seek out networking opportunities when he moved from the public defender’s office to the private sector.

Smiley suggested Carlson join the Earl Warren chapter of the American Inns of Court, which provides networking and mentoring within the Alameda County legal community.

“He got me into the group, and it just turned out that I really loved it,” Carlson said.

Carlson has been a member of the Earl Warren Inn of Court since 2015, serves on the board, and previously served as mentorship co-chair, president-elect, and president.

He enjoys the costumed mock trials and educational opportunities the group creates. A recent program had a “Wicked” movie theme, complete with Dorothy accused of murdering the Wicked Witch of the West, with Carlson as Judge Oz on the bench. The underlying lesson was trial objections during court proceedings.

“It’s entertaining and educational,” he said.

The Earl Warren Inn of Court has also allowed him to flex his creativity in filmmaking, a side hobby that he’s found useful in professional organizations and in his practice. For the networking group, he coordinated the production of “Joker: Mens Rea,” a film that explored the Batman villain’s criminal intent while considering how mental illness is considered in the criminal justice system. The full-length film covered topics like competency to stand trial, self-representation, and diversion programs. The Earl Warren Inn of Court watched the movie on the big screen at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland.

Crafting mediation videos

Carlson also makes 10- to 30-minute films for almost every mediation he handles, weaving together videotaped depositions with other evidence such as photographs to demonstrate the case findings he has established so far.

“It’s way more compelling to watch a video, where the videotape deposition is a damning admission by the defendant, versus writing it in a mediation brief,” he said, explaining that he uses an editing software called DaVinci Resolve. “While there are companies out there that will do that for you, nobody knows my case better than me.”

Carlson said the films have provided substantial leverage in settling cases, particularly to maximize his clients’ compensation.

Beyond the Earl Warren Inn of Court, Carlson holds memberships in the State Bar of California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the Contra Costa County Bar Association, the Alameda-Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers Association, and the Consumer Attorneys of California.

He teaches a trial practice course for the Contra Costa County Bar Association and is often asked to speak to law school classes about negotiation skills in lawsuit settlements.

Carlson said he values the time he gets to work with others in the legal field and with clients on a deeply human level. It’s that personal touch that sets his practice apart.

“That’s been an important piece of the client representation. They’ve been wronged, they didn’t consent to what happened, and they’re a victim. And you are the one who they’ve chosen to fight for them in this sort of opaque system that they know nothing about,” he said. “When you connect with them on a human level, including sort of letting them in on who you are, it goes a long way.”

Jennifer McEntee is a freelance writer based in San Diego.