San Mateo, CA—Terry O’Reilly, one of Lawdragon’s top 500 lawyers in the United States, has begun his term as President of the Western Trial Lawyers Association.

O’Reilly, senior partner of O’Reilly & Danko in San Mateo, California, is a trial lawyer noted for his successes in aviation law. In October of 2007, he settled the Air Philippines 541 accident in Davao for $165 million dollars. Also in 2007, O’Reilly settled two additional air disasters, Adam Air 574 and Aruda 200, for a total of almost $400 million dollars.

The Western Trial Lawyers Association is the only trial group dedicated to education and to conviviality amongst very experienced trial lawyers. Membership is exclusive and limited to lawyers whose experience in trial allows them to help other lawyers. Unlike the more political trial lawyers groups, Western Trial Lawyers Association is not involved in politics and does no fund raising.

O’Reilly is one of the most honored trial lawyers in the United States. In 1999, he was invited to join the Inner Circle of Advocates, limited to the top 100 attorneys in the Unites States. In 2003, the Consumer Attorneys of California named O’Reilly “Trial Lawyer of the Year.” He and his partner, Mike Danko, have built a very successful practice not only aviation law, but also for major product liability cases.