CLEARLAKE — The City of Clearlake now has attorney services accessible in its own community. Jesse B. Chrisp, Esq. recently established the only law office located in the city.
Chrisp, a 2008 graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law, now provides private service in addition to his service through Lake Legal Defense, which is contracted to provide public defender services for Lake County.
Chrisp, who grew up in the Clearlake area, said he has strong ties to the community and his intention is to offer services that he thinks have been lacking locally. “Lakeport has many great attorneys but I think that Clearlake itself was underserved and with its population, a need for local representation was apparent,” he said. “Most attorney offices are in professional buildings and I think often times our local community doesn”t have direct access to an attorney. When people can easily access an attorney who is familiar with Lake County I think they are more likely to seek that service.”
Chrisp said he would eventually like to establish small offices in the Lucerne, Nice and Clearlake Oaks areas.
Chrisp said that personal injury is an area of great interest to him. “I take issue with what I found to be a lack of understanding with people who are forced to deal with insurance companies,” he said. “After talking with several potential clients I realized that our local community was often times being severely taken advantage of by insurance companies who were suppose to provide coverage in the event of an accident. Many people who are dealing with insurance companies found themselves at a substantial disadvantage because they did not understand how the insurance companies were building a case against them.”
Chrisp said a local attorney who is familiar with area demographics such as the highways and law enforcement, is better equipped to provide solid representation when dealing with insurance companies. He said in such cases he can provide services on contingency. “In Clearlake, I didn”t know of anyone doing that and I saw a need,” he said.
Chrisp said that education and understanding of the law is very important, which is why he brought a criminal procedure clinic to the community in April. The free clinic provided information pertaining to citizens” rights, proper conduct for interacting with law enforcement and other legal information. He said he plans to offer similar clinics in the future.
“I think the first clinic was very productive. The people who attended asked really good questions,” Chrisp said. “When it was finished, I think they had a good understanding of how to effectively assert their constitutional rights.”
The Law Office of J. Chrisp is located at 14655 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake. The attorney can be reached at 1-877-JCHRISP (524-7477) or by e-mail at Jessechrisp@gmail.com.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
