Vanessa L. Efremsky is a partner in the Sacramento office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the General Liability Practice.

Vanessa has been a lawyer since 1998. She prides herself on personally handling each case from inception to resolution in order to give her Clients the attention they deserve. With an eye towards trial, she thoroughly prepares each case. She has earned continual praise from her Clients on her determination, compassion and dedication. In 2020-21, Ms. Efremsky was selected to Super Lawyers. In 2014, she became one of the few female shareholders in the defense industry at Donnelly, Nelson, Depolo, Murray & Efremsky. Ms. Efremsky has substantial litigation and trial experience and has conducted and defended hundreds of depositions involving medical malpractice, dental malpractice, products liability and elder abuse, and tried to verdict. She has represented hospitals, surgery centers, dialysis facilities, first responders, nursing and long-term facilities, as well as individual physicians within a variety of specialties throughout Northern and Central California. In addition to work in federal and state court, her practice also includes defending the interests of Clients in disciplinary actions initiated by the Medical Board and Dental Board of California as well as other allied health professional boards. Ms. Efremsky also has experience representing clients in the pharmaceutical and financial industry working with companies such as Novartis, Abbott, Ally Financial (formerly GMAC), Freddie Mac, and Bank of America in commercial litigation.

In her spare time you can find her spending time with her family and animals enjoying the great outdoors.

Professional Presentations

• Contra Costa County Mock Trial volunteer, annually from 2010 to present Presentation Malpractice 101 at John Muir Health Family Medicine residents, August 2018 
• Contributing author to ED Legal Letter, The Essential Resource for Emergency Medicine Malpractice Prevention and Risk Management, Emergency Department Visits & Cell Phones, June 2018 
• University of San Francisco School of Law, Advocacy Program, Guest Faculty June 2018 
• Presentation on Tips on Avoiding Malpractice, John Muir, October 2017 
• Speaker on Pitfalls of the Electronic Medical Record, John Muir, June 2017 
• Presentation Duty to Report Loss of Consciousness, John Muir, April 2017 
• UCSF Mock Trial instructor, Emergency Medicine Residency Program, 2016 
• Invited speaker at Stanford Medical Center to ED Department on medical errors, 2016 
• Participant National Institute of Trial Advocacy, San Francisco 2011 
• Regular lecturer at Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital & Stanford Medical Center to residents, fellows, and faculty on various legal and risk reduction topics. 
• Participated in DART sessions at Stanford - a scientific and structured decision-making process to determine accurate case reserves and trial strategy. 
• Participant in PEARL program at Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital - a program designed to manage unexpected outcomes while reducing risk and claims costs. 
• Participant in Pilot Program with Sutter Health - Electronic Medical Records in Litigation. 
• Participated in implementation of BETA Communication and Resolution Program.

Admissions

• State Bar Admissions
  • California

Awards & Honors

Nominated to Super Lawyers 2020 forward

Education

CSU Fresno

1993

San Joaquin College of Law

1997

Representative Matters

Litigated a broad spectrum of cases throughout career, including medical malpractice, personal injury, asbestos, toxic mold, multi-district class actions, motor vehicle accidents, and catastrophic injury cases. Selected clients include individual physicians, Beta, Coverys, CVS Health, Hudson, John Muir Physicians Network, MIEC, Norcal Mutual, Sedwick, Stanford Health Risk Authority (TRA), Stanford University Medical Indemnity and Trust Insurance Company (SUMIT), Sutter Health, The Regents of the University of California.