Attorney David Barnier

David Barnier is a San Diego native with an undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley and a juris doctorate from the University of Southern California Law Center.

After receiving his law degree in 1995, David was offered a position at a "big firm" in downtown San Diego. However, the firm encouraged David to delay his start with the firm so that he could take a one-year clerkship with a judge in Reno, Nevada. David passed both the California state bar examination immediately after completing law school and while clerking in Reno, David passed the Nevada bar examination.

After learning the litigation trade from the inside during his clerkship, David began his big firm tenure in 1996, working as an associate on litigation matters focused on construction and the insurance industry.  In 1998, David worked on a large construction defect lawsuit for eleven months in Las Vegas, Nevada, utilizing his Nevada bar license.  

After completing work on the lawsuit in Las Vegas, David took a position at a smaller, twelve-attorney law firm in San Diego.  Between 1998 and 2007, David worked as an associate, developing his own client base and training himself in estate planning and contracts/transactions while remaining focused on litigation of business matters. During this time, David developed a specific expertise in a variety of areas affecting the construction industry. David has been interviewed on construction law issues by the Los Angeles Times and multiple business and construction trade periodicals.  

In 2005, a financial planner approached David with an invitation to participate on a weekly radio show addressing legal and financial issues affecting seniors.  David also presented at the financial planner's monthly seminars, explaining basic estate planning issues and offering free consultations to discuss the specific estate planning issues affecting his invited guests.  During this time period, David developed an expertise in the area of planning for Medi-Cal nursing home benefits and legal means to protect assets for distribution to heirs.

In 2007, David became a partner with the law firm, which then became known as Barker Olmsted & Barnier APLC.  

David's litigation experience caused him to earn an appreciation for transactional work, often referred to with a dash of humor by his litigation mentor as "pre-litigation" work.   His work on lawsuits involving construction contracts fostered his practice of preparing and reviewing construction contracts.  His work on lawsuits involving the sale of businesses led to a competence in negotiating and preparing agreements associated with the purchase/sale of a business.  David has developed a specialized niche in representing dental professionals on purchases and sales of dental practices, and related issues associated with such transitions, including lease issues, business entity issues, employee issues, and insurance issues.

In 2014, David and his law partners recognized diverging practices and determined that while their relationships would continue, they would pursue separate business models, and The Law Office of David Barnier was born.