Mr. Lear has over 30 years of litigation experience and has tried over 300 cases. He specializes in all aspects of trial work with emphasis on eminent domain, business litigation, and professional licensing defense. He regularly acts as a counselor to businesses regarding risk management and compliance. He is a recognized speaker at legal seminars and has presented MCLE credit-approved programs to many local bar associations and large associations like the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), The Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), California Association of Realtors (CAR), American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC). Mr. Lear serves as an arbitrator for the Los Angeles County Bar Association and has been qualified as an expert witness in state and federal courts. Mr. Lear is a 1983 graduate, cum laude, of Dartmouth College and a 1987 graduate of U.C.L.A. School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and the Moot Court Honors Program. He joined Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges immediately after law school and worked for four years as a “big firm” litigation associate before becoming a Los Angeles-based State Bar prosecutor. For three years, Mr. Lear prosecuted California attorneys, never losing a trial, before co-founding Gerry & Lear in 1994. In 2002, he founded Century Law Group LLP, now a six-attorney litigation boutique firm. In 2014, Mr. Lear was inducted into ABOTA. Through ABOTA, Mr. Lear is a faculty member of the Jack Daniels Trial School, which teaches trial skills to less-experienced attorneys. He has been named a SuperLawyer five years in a row (2017-2021). Mr. Lear is the immediate past President of the Association of Discipline Defense Counsel. In 2021, Mr. Lear was appointed by the State Bar Board of Trustees to chair the Effectiveness Committee of the blue-ribbon Ad Hoc Commission on Discipline.