Frank N. Darras Named To The Expert Network

Frank N. Darras is the leading disability insurance lawyer in America with over three decades of hard-fought litigation experience. Headquartered in Ontario, California, Mr. Darras takes on the nation’s toughest individual and long term disability cases from all over the country. He is the founding partner at DarrasLaw, the country’s most honored and decorated disability firm. Mr. Darras specializes in representing disabled and disadvantaged clients in cases relating to insurance, insurance bad faith, individual disability, long term disability, and long term care. He is AV® Preeminent™ rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, named as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” for the last eleven years, one of the top 500 Lawyers in America by Lawdragon, a Top 100 Trial Lawyer, Super Lawyer since inception, and 2016 Insurance Lawyer of the year by Best Lawyers for Riverside County, California.

Mr. Darras was inspired to advocate for the disabled after getting into a serious accident that would forever change his life. Highly recruited out of high school to play football at a top university, Mr. Darras’ dreams of joining the NFL after college were dashed. Looking back, he recalls the string of events that led him to his career in disability law.

The summer going into my freshman year of college, I was loading semi-trucks on a dock and lost the tip of my index finger in a forklift jeep accident, which destroyed my college and pro-athlete aspirations. The extensive care and treatment gave me a real sense of medicine and insurance, and how peoples’ lives, both young and old, could turn on a dime with a tragic accident or illness. I knew I could make a difference and when I got out of school, I knew exactly what I wanted to do—I wanted to fight big insurance companies. I wanted to take down the billion dollar giants of the industry and help the sick, the less-abled, and the elderly. Leveling the playing field when it came to disability and long-term care litigation was my calling.

After the accident, Mr. Darras went to junior college and also became a paramedic in Illinois’ pilot paramedic program where he was the eyes and hands of Chicago’s largest trauma center in the field. He attended Western State College of Law at Argosy University in Fullerton, California, and graduated with his Juris Doctorate in 1986.

From 1987 to 2010, Mr. Darras worked as a name partner at Shernoff Bidart & Darras, LLP, until he opened his own firm, DarrasLaw, focusing on disability insurance and bad faith cases. His vision of becoming a powerful national litigation firm and the nation’s go-to attorney for real protection from the insurance companies for those with disabilities or who are in need of long-term care was immediate. Today, Mr. Darras dedicates his time to helping the sick, disabled, and elderly fight for their disability insurance, and has recovered over $800 million in wrongfully denied insurance benefits for his clients across the United States.

DarrasLaw also does a tremendous amount of work with professional athletes, helping guide clients through big, private policies that the team purchases or individually purchased policies by marquee players. Mr. Darras also has extensive experience representing business owners, doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, nurses, and employees in individual disability cases and corporate group disability cases, working tirelessly to recover the benefits they deserve.

As the leader in his field, Mr. Darras takes on America’s toughest cases in the most difficult jurisdictions and has repeatedly beaten every major disability carrier. He also has been paying close attention to the large number of college athletes who are coming to the firm for advice on which career ending disability policies are the best. He noted:

We’re seeing a tremendous amount of interest from colleges and universities along with the parents of prospective professional athletes looking for help trying to figure out what to buy, who to buy from, and then God forbid, if there is a problem, making sure they can collect the career ending or drop in draft slot benefits. Colleges are trying to enhance their recruiting by offering career ending coverage to players to stick around an extra year to come back and compete for a national title. Or, if you’re a top college basketball player where you’re usually one and done, and going to the draft, a career ending injury could cost the college player $100 million dollars in future earnings.

Mr. Darras is also deeply involved at the local community level and nationally shares his legal expertise through major media outlets like radio, TV, and news programs such as Fox Business, ABC News, CBS, and NBC. He also discusses current insurance news and tips through articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Darras also offers free claim advice and free insurance policy analysis to all at no charge so that everyone knows what insurance to buy and how to use it if disability or long-term care strikes.

Looking to the future, Mr. Darras plans to continue providing the highest quality national legal representation so that sick or injured people do not get cheated, tricked, or low-balled by their disability and long-term care companies. With a true passion for what he does and an already illustrious career behind him, Mr. Darras is literally in a disability league of his own. DarrasLaw will be an important player in the field of insurance law for years to come.

Detailed Career Information

Education

• Western State University College of Law (J.D., 1986)

Professional Memberships & Community Involvement

American Bar Association • 10 Million Dollar Annual Rainmakers Circle • California and U.S. District Court – Eastern, Central, Northern and Southern Districts of California (1987) • Supreme Court • Ninth Circuit • Court of Appeals • American Association of Justice • Western State University Law Foundation and Board of Trustees

Awards & Honors

Lawyers of Distinction, Certified Member (2016) • 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon (2006 – present) • Top 500 Plaintiff Lawyers in America by Lawdragon (2014) • U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Law Firms” (2014 – present) • “Best Lawyers in America” (2006 – present) • Riverside County U.S. News & World Report’s Insurance Lawyer of the Year (2015) • American Society of Legal Advocates Top 100 Lawyers (2015) • Super Lawyers Super Lawyer (2004 – present) • Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™ Rated • Top Lawyers in America by Corporate Counsel • Avvo Client’s Choice Award 10 Rating • Sustaining Life Fellow by American Bar Foundation (2012) • America’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Association of Trial Lawyers of America (2014) • Outstanding Lawyers in America • RUE Ratings Best Attorneys of America