In 2022, Berkeley trial lawyer Scott Herndon took a call from a woman who said she had been sexually assaulted by one of the most famous men in the entertainment industry. She had found Herndon via word of mouth. Over the next year and a half, Herndon and his client, “Jane,” embarked on a case that changed both of their lives.
“I was terrified to come forward with my story,” said Jane. “I needed a lawyer whom I could trust, who would be respected by opposing counsel, and who would protect my dignity above everything else. Scott did all of those things.”
The hard-fought settlement changed Jane’s life financially, and was a victory in every principle of the #Me Too movement. Having preserved her anonymity, she is at ease in public, supporting other survivors of sexual abuse and pursuing her dreams in Hollywood.
“Jane’s case was one of the most intense, important cases of my career,” Herndon said. “It put my law firm in Berkeley on the national map.”
Herndon’s law firm, founded in 2018, has been distinguished for his work in personal injury cases as well, including a mass shooting at a concert in Sacramento, and more than a dozen cases involving life-altering accidents.
One such case occurred when a client, “Paul,” was involved in a horrific cycling accident with an oncoming car. Herndon described the accident: Paul had woken up in the emergency room, with potentially life-changing injuries to his leg, elbow, neck and head. He remembered nothing about the accident.
Paul was picked up by first responders that night, lying near the shoulder, on the wrong side of the street. He was lucky to be alive.
The only witness at the scene of the accident was the driver, who claimed Paul had “raced him,” crossed into the driver’s lane and hit him head on.
The police report assigned liability to Paul. Things did not look good.
Herndon, his associate, and Paul visited the accident scene. They inspected the bike, and photographs of the car. They talked and talked. Then Herndon’s firm began the technological investigation that changed the case forever.
An avid cyclist, Paul had been wearing a GPS device from Garmin to record his ride on the Strava website. These electronic systems record speeds, routes, and habits such as obeying traffic laws — stopping appropriately at stop signs, riding within California’s basic speed law, and so on.
As Paul’s memory of his ride came into focus, alongside hundreds of similar rides that had been mapped previously on his Strava account, on the same route as the accident, the team came to understand how the accident actually happened.
The driver had sped up to turn before a stoplight changed, and swerved into Paul, who had been legally crossing the street to enter a bike path on the other side of the road.
Liability shifted to the driver. The police report was turned on its head. An impossible case, with an adverse police report and only one witness, had now been reversed. Paul’s case was ultimately settled for the limits of the driver’s insurance policy. Paul went from worrying about whether he would need to pay for the damage to the driver’s car, to having enough money to pay for his medical care, rehabilitate and purchase a home.
Herndon takes only a small number of cases per year, putting a great deal of research into each one, like the academic he is. He has a doctorate in philosophy and literature and taught for years at New York University, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. He later earned a law degree and worked as an attorney in San Francisco.
Now in his Berkeley law office, he brings together both the academic and legal backgrounds. The West Berkeley space, packed with books, feels more like a faculty office than a law firm. It has a view of the campus on one side and the bay on the other. Herndon’s legal practice is influenced by academic rigor, empathy, informed advocacy and skillful negotiation.
“The best way to practice law is both personal and political,” Herndon said. “A combination of informed theory and detailed investigation and storytelling. Our most basic goal is to protect our clients’ dignity while accounting for the things that make all of us human and equal under the law.”
Herndon is also proud of his commitment to supporting Berkeley and the East Bay. He has sponsored Cal football, coached in Albany’s little league, and served as a pro-bono resource for many local parents and businesses. He has proudly raised his college-bound son in public schools.
“There is no better place to live than the East Bay,” Herndon observes. “To also serve this community is the best of all possible worlds.”
