CL
Biography
Catherine Lerer is a founding partner of McGee Lerer Ogrin, along with her husband, Daniel McGee, and one of California's most recognized personal injury attorneys. She has been named a Super Lawyer for 2025 and 2026 — a peer-reviewed distinction awarded to fewer than 5% of California attorneys. She has successfully settled more than 1,000 personal injury cases and has tried, arbitrated, and mediated hundreds more.
In 2023, Catherine obtained a ruling from the California Court of Appeals in Hacala v. Bird Rides Inc. establishing that micromobility companies have a legal duty to remove dangerous devices from public spaces and that injured pedestrians can pursue public nuisance claims against e-scooter and e-bike operators. The ruling created legal rights for pedestrians injured by improperly placed or maintained micromobility devices that did not previously exist in California law. It is one of the most significant plaintiff-side micromobility rulings in the country.
Catherine's case results include a contribution to a $122.5 million global settlement — one of the largest in California history — on behalf of victims of institutional sexual abuse in Santa Monica. Her personal injury practice has produced verdicts and settlements across car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle and e-bike accidents, pedestrian accidents, premises liability, and products liability. She has consistently obtained maximum compensation for her clients at every stage — through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and trial — and has never hesitated to take a case to the courtroom when insurers refused to pay fair value.
Catherine is recognized nationally as one of the leading legal authorities on e-scooter and e-bike accidents. She was cited by the Los Angeles Times in April 2026 as a California e-bike safety authority in coverage of the LA City Council's proposed e-bike trail ban. She has been featured in the Netflix and BuzzFeed documentary series Follow This (Episode 3: "Scooter Wars") and has been quoted or cited by the Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNN, NBC News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Denver Post, CBS Los Angeles, NBC Los Angeles, KTLA, LA Magazine, and Business Insider on micromobility safety and law.
Catherine has advised city officials — including mayors, city managers, transportation directors, and ministers of transport — in Brussels, Vienna, Toronto, Mesa (Arizona), Fort Collins, and Tacoma on e-scooter and e-bike safety policy. She presented to the European Road Safety Charter on micromobility safety regulations. She is also a contributing author for Advocate Magazine, the publication of the Consumer Attorneys of California.