About Kirsten Fish

Kirsten M. Fish joined Needham Kepner & Fish LLP in 2002 and became a partner in 2007. She concentrates her practice on personal injury, wrongful death, and elder abuse litigation, with particular depth in financial elder abuse and nursing home cases. Fish graduated summa cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law and holds a B.S. in Chemistry with honors from UC Davis. She is the co-author of "Litigating Financial Abuse Actions Against Institutions, Agents and Fiduciaries" in CEB's California Elder Law Litigation: An Advocate's Guide, and has co-authored additional published works on financial elder abuse and nursing home sexual assault.

She has received the 2023 Robert E. Cartwright, Sr. Award from the Consumer Attorneys of California in recognition of excellence in trial advocacy and dedication to teaching, the 2023 CAOC Presidential Award of Merit, the 2014 CAOC Street Fighter of the Year award, and the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association's Trial Lawyer of the Year award in 2014. She has served as President of the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association (2012-2013), on the Consumer Attorneys of California Board of Governors (2014 to present), and taught Legal Research and Writing at Lincoln Law School in San Jose for 14 years. Fish is also admitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Proven verdicts and settlements

$20.58 millionVerdict

Kirsten Fish of Needham Kepner and Fish was counsel of record for the family in a published 2021 California Court of Appeal opinion that defeated MBK Senior Living's bid to force the MuirWoods Memory Care elder-abuse case into arbitration, preserving the right to a jury trial. That case later went to a Sonoma County jury, which in 2024 returned a $20.58 million verdict for elder abuse and neglect that led to four falls, a broken hip, and the eventual death of a resident with dementia.

Sonoma County Superior Court · 2024Premises LiabilityRead the full story →
Verdict

Kirsten Fish of Needham Kepner and Fish secured a published California Court of Appeal ruling holding that a memory-care facility could not force an elder-abuse lawsuit into arbitration because the resident's daughter had no legal authority to sign away her mother's rights.

California Court of Appeal, First District (A163312) · 2021Premises LiabilityRead the full story →

Craig Needham and Kirsten Fish won a published appellate ruling establishing that a nursing facility could not force a stroke patient into arbitration based on an agreement her daughter signed without legal authority.

California Court of Appeal, Sixth District (H038736) · 2013Premises LiabilityRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

Santa Clara University School of Law
J.D., Summa Cum Laude
University of California, Davis
Undergraduate

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of California, admitted 2001

Other attorneys at Needham Kepner & Fish LLP

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other San Jose firms

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$65 Million to One Survivor in $102.5 Million Verdict Against Union School District Over Teacher Abuse
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$111.7 million · GJEL Secures $111.7 Million for Patients Who Underwent Needless Heart Surgery at Redding Medical Center
Jacoby & Meyers Accident & Injury Lawyers
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$6.68 million · Grocery Chain Ordered to Pay $6.68 Million After 56-Year-Old Slips on Grape at El Monte Food4Less

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.