Brett Schreiber

Founding Partner  ·  Singleton Schreiber

Brett Schreiber is a nationally recognized trial attorney and Founding Partner of Singleton Schreiber, where he leads the firm's Personal Injury and Wrongful Death practice. For more than two decades, he has represented individuals and families harmed by corporate misconduct, defective products, dangerous roadways, and systemic safety failures — taking on the most powerful defendants in America and winning.

A series of firsts have defined his career — trying serious injury cases to verdict in his first years of practice, rising to leadership positions in national trial-lawyer organizations years before his predecessors, and earning honors typically reserved for attorneys decades his senior. In August 2025, he added perhaps the most significant first of all: lead trial counsel in Benavides v. Tesla, the first wrongful death case against Tesla to proceed to trial, resulting in a unanimous $243 million federal jury verdict — widely reported as one of the largest individual-plaintiff verdicts in the history of the American civil justice system.

Landmark Verdict — August 2025

$243 Million — Benavides v. Tesla

Brett served as lead trial counsel in the first wrongful death trial against Tesla arising from its Autopilot driver-assistance system. A Miami federal jury unanimously awarded $243 million — upheld in full by a federal judge in February 2026.

"Today's verdict represents justice for Naibel's tragic death and Dillon's lifelong injuries." — Brett Schreiber

A Career Defined by Firsts

Before founding Singleton Schreiber, Brett was a partner at Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire, a respected San Diego plaintiffs' firm. His path to the courtroom was anything but linear. He served as a legislative intern in the Florida Senate and later worked as a lobbyist — experience that gave him an early and enduring understanding of how law and policy intersect. He clerked with a boutique South Florida firm specializing in criminal defense, civil litigation, and family law; interned with the San Diego Public Defender's office; and clerked with a small appellate practice before committing fully to plaintiffs' trial work.

What followed was a career unlike most. Brett tried serious injury cases to verdict in his first years of practice — an accomplishment that takes most attorneys decades to achieve. He rose rapidly within national trial-lawyer organizations, earning leadership positions years ahead of his peers. And he accumulated a record of recognition — Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year designations, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego Trial Lawyer of the Year, Lawdragon 500, Super Lawyer, Top 40 Under 40 — that most attorneys don't see until well into their careers.

The Philosophy Behind the Practice

Brett is guided by the Hebrew principle of tikkun olam — "to heal the world." It is not a passive philosophy. Brett recognizes that to have the greatest impact serving communities, litigation and political strategy must work together. What happens in the state house directly affects what happens in the courthouse — and vice versa.

In practice, this means Brett does more than win cases. He works alongside local, state, and national elected officials and advocacy organizations to protect access to justice and ensure that the voices of the people he represents are heard both in the courtroom and in the halls of power. He currently serves as an Officer of the Board of Directors of Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) — one of the most influential plaintiff advocacy organizations in the country.

That integration of litigation and advocacy was on full display in 2024, when Brett was among the first attorneys to respond publicly to the January 2024 San Diego floods — hosting town halls with hundreds of affected residents, partnering with Alliance San Diego to bridge language and access barriers, and simultaneously pursuing legal accountability against the City of San Diego for its failure to maintain the stormwater infrastructure that caused the flooding.

Honors & Recognition

Brett has been recognized consistently for over 15 years — not just by peer organizations, but through the verdicts themselves.

Memberships & Affiliations

Beyond the Courtroom

Brett and his wife Shayna — a clinical psychologist — live in Ocean Beach, San Diego, with their four young children and golden retriever, Roshi. They surf, practice yoga, play tennis, and make the most of San Diego's outdoor life as a family. Brett's roots in this community run deep, and they inform everything about how and why he practices law the way he does.