When someone faces a DUI charge, they often feel like the only person in the room without a voice. At The Law Offices of Taylor & Taylor, the person who makes sure that does not happen is Christopher Taylor, our managing attorney and operating partner. He leads our team in courtrooms across Southern California, and he also leads with something clients feel right away: he listens.
In his bio video, Chris talks openly about why he chose this work and what it means to stand next to someone the system would rather ignore. Before you read more about his background and role, we invite you to hear from him directly.
Why Chris Taylor Fights For People Who Feel Alone
In the video, Chris starts by sharing what has driven him since childhood. In his words, it mattered to him “since I was a young kid, to stand up for the accused, to stand up for the person that was all alone, to stand up for the person that no one wants to listen to.” That is not a slogan. It is the way he approaches every client who walks into our office after an arrest.
He understands how it feels when the system closes in. Law enforcement seems set against you, the prosecutor builds a case, and you start to feel like no one in the process actually wants to hear your side. As Chris puts it, “When you're in this system, especially as a defendant, you get this feeling that no one is listening to you.”
That feeling shapes how he practices law. He describes his role this way: “The ability for me to be that one person that's listening to you, that's taking your interest at heart and really trying to push those in the court and being the shield for that individual in this system is a great feeling.” When clients meet him, they sense that commitment right away. He does not just review police reports; he takes time to hear what happened, how the case affects work, family, and future plans, and what a fair outcome looks like from the client’s point of view.
Chris also speaks about the reality many people never think about until a crisis hits. “Nobody cares about being accused of a crime until you're accused of a crime,” he says, “and then you want the person that listens to you and is willing to fight for you despite what everybody else is saying.” That belief runs through our entire firm, but you can see it most clearly in the way he leads.
From Honors Student To Managing Attorney
Chris’s path to The Law Offices of Taylor & Taylor started long before he took on the role of managing attorney. He grew up seeing the work of his father, our founder Lawrence Taylor, and then built his own record step by step.
He graduated from Santa Clara University in 2001 with honors in Political Science. Even then, he focused on how courts interpret and apply the law, writing his honors thesis on “Judicial Interpretation.” That early focus on how judges think still matters today in the way he analyzes motions, evaluates legal issues, and prepares cases for trial.
After Santa Clara, he attended the University of San Diego School of Law. There, he received the American Jurisprudence Award for his performance at the top of his class in Criminal Procedure. That subject sits at the heart of criminal defense work. It covers how police can investigate, how prosecutors can use evidence, and how courts must protect constitutional rights. The same rules he studied in detail are the rules he now uses to challenge unlawful stops, searches, and arrests in DUI cases.
Chris also distinguished himself in the courtroom early on. He represented his law school at the National Mock Trial Competition and placed second among students from law schools across the country. He graduated in 2004 in the top 30% of his class, combining strong academics with hands-on trial experience.
Years In The Trenches Of Criminal Defense
Long before he joined our firm, Chris spent years standing next to people facing some of the most serious accusations the state can bring. During law school, he earned an internship with the Office of the San Diego City Attorney and then spent two years with the San Diego Public Defender’s Office, working with seasoned criminal lawyers on felony trials. In his senior year, he served as a legal extern to an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeals, gaining a close view of how appellate judges review trial court decisions.
After graduating and passing the Bar exam on his first attempt, he accepted a position with the Orange County Public Defender. For the next nine years, he represented thousands of clients charged with offenses ranging from misdemeanors to murder. He did not just appear for a hearing or two; he guided people through an unfamiliar system, explained options, and stood with them in front of juries and judges.
In his final two years at that office, Chris took on an additional role as Supervising Misdemeanor Attorney. In that position, he trained and managed other deputy public defenders handling misdemeanor cases, including DUI matters and DUI-related vehicular homicides. That experience sharpened not only his own trial work, but also his ability to mentor attorneys and set high standards for how clients should be treated.
Bringing Leadership & Listening To The Law Offices of Taylor & Taylor
Chris joined his father’s firm in early 2013. Today, he serves as a partner and our Managing Attorney. In that role, he helps guide how we approach DUI defense across our Southern California offices. At the same time, he continues to represent a limited number of clients facing DUI charges in Orange County.
Judges and prosecutors in that county hold him in high regard, a respect he has earned over many years of measured, honest advocacy. He understands that credibility in the courtroom helps clients, whether he negotiates a resolution or takes a case to trial.
His work has also received recognition beyond the courthouse. In October 2015, Coast magazine named him to its “Orange County Top Attorneys” list. In 2016, peers selected him as a “Rising Star” among Southern California attorneys for attaining a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement in the DUI defense field.
Chris continues to stay current with legal and scientific developments in DUI and criminal defense by attending seminars presented by the National College for DUI Defense, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the California Public Defenders Association, and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He has also lectured on jury trial tactics and pre-trial motions to suppress evidence, sharing practical strategies with other lawyers—much like our firm’s broader commitment to educating the legal community.
How Chris Reflects Our Firm’s Values
At The Law Offices of Taylor & Taylor, we focus our practice on defending people accused of DUI throughout Southern California. Many of our clients have never been in trouble before. They worry about their license, their job, and their family, all while trying to make sense of court dates, paperwork, and DMV deadlines. Chris’s perspective in the video captures how we approach those moments.
- He sees the person, not just the case file. When he talks about “the person that no one wants to listen to,” he underscores our promise to treat every client as an individual with a story, not as a case number.
- He acts as a shield in a system that can feel stacked against you. Law enforcement reports and prosecution theories can feel overwhelming. His goal, as he says, is to be “the shield for that individual in this system,” taking on that pressure so clients can start to breathe again.
- He combines heart with deep, long-term courtroom experience. His years as a public defender, his leadership roles, and his ongoing trial work mean that the compassion you hear in the video rests on a strong foundation of real-world practice.
His outlook also mirrors our larger mission. We wrote the book on DUI defense, and we maintain an in-house team that focuses on the technical side of these cases. But all of that knowledge means little if we do not first understand what a case means for a client’s life. Chris keeps that truth front and center in how he manages our team and how he handles the select cases on his own docket.
Get To Know Chris Before You Call
Choosing a lawyer is personal. You want to know who will stand beside you, speak for you in court, and guide you through one of the hardest experiences you may ever face. That is why we share Chris’s story and his own words in this video.
If you watch, you will hear from someone who takes pride in defending people others are quick to judge, who values listening as much as arguing, and who understands how heavy it feels when “everybody else is saying” you are guilty. Those values shape the way he leads our firm and the way our team shows up for clients every day.
If you or someone you care about faces a DUI charge in Southern California and you want to speak with a team led by an attorney who will listen first and fight hard, you can contact The Law Offices of Taylor & Taylor at (562) 330-4173. We are here to help you find your footing and to stand as your shield in a system that can feel anything but fair.
