Doug Borthwick's Injury To Family Law

From personal injury to family law, Santa Ana-based Attorney Doug Borthwick has advised individual and corporate clients for nearly three decades. Bringing a compassionate and caring ethos to his practice, Borthwick aims to reach mutually agreeable outcomes through mediation. He discusses his expertise, personal background and inspirations.

By Daniel Coats, California Business Journal

For Doug Borthwick Esq., owner and president of the Law Office of Douglas Borthwick, a passion for the legal profession can be summed up in two words: helping others. For more than a quarter century, the Ohio transplant has provided business, family, wage, personal injury, civil and insurance legal services to the California community.

Holding an AV Preeminent

His business clients have included transportation-related firms, such as trucking companies and auto dealerships, for whom he has provided legal counsel on corporate boards. He also advised Knott’s Berry Farm as it transitioned from a family-owned firm to a major corporation in the 1990s.

“When the Knott family owned the park, money wasn’t a factor,” says Borthwick. “When they were bought out and it became a corporation, finances became an issue. They preferred settling the cases due to cost concerns.”

Family law cases, particularly involving children, are among the most emotionally charged that Borthwick sees. “People come with heartbreaking stories about not seeing their kids or children not being taken care of properly,” he says. “The parent gets divorced and they now get to see the kids two weekends per month, for

“A lot of being a lawyer is dealing with different personalities and understanding the issues that people are dealing with,” says Borthwick. “Some have said that I am too caring and too compassionate, but that is what people like about me. This trait may be a bit difficult in litigation, but it helps me as an arbitrator.”

Looking back on the changes that have transformed the legal profession, Borthwick notes a cycle in insurance company practices in legal cases. “Over the past 20 years, there have been times in which the companies settle everything, and other times in which the companies, across the board, do not settle,” he says. “To adapt, we settle as much as we can while they are settling. The goal is to close the file and save expenses while resolving the case.”

In addition to leading his own practice, Borthwick has represented clients through OC Legal Help Inc., a Santa Ana-based third-party workplace arbitration service. “This serves people who can’t afford – either financially or emotionally – to go before a judge. We lower the fee and provide a venue for people to work things out. In these cases, both parties are committed to achieving a resolution,” says