Deborah Tropp-Thompson
Partner
Deborah S. Tropp-Thompson is a founding partner of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. Ms. Tropp has represented numerous insurance and private clients in complex trials and is known for her expertise in insurance defense/civil litigation. Her main practice includes defense of personal injury cases involving auto, trucking, medical malpractice, elder abuse, products liability and premises liability. Ms. Tropp also represents clients in employment litigation, business litigation, and healthcare law.
Ms. Tropp’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor degree from McGeorge University School of Law. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Tropp received the Order of the Barristers Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy.
Jeff Braun
Partner
Jeff I. Braun is a founding partner in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP and also founded the firm’s Las Vegas, Nevada office. Mr. Braun represents numerous clients in the fields of general liability, products liability, governmental tort claims, business litigation, employment discrimination and professional malpractice. He has extensive experience in the defense of catastrophic accidents and premises liability.
As an experienced trial attorney, Mr. Braun has successfully defended his clients in courtrooms throughout California and Nevada. His primary clients include insurance companies and self-insured entities. From 2014 to 2019 he was selected by his peers as a Southern California Super Lawyer becoming one of only five personal injury defense attorneys honored in Orange County. In 2018 he was selected as one of America’s Top 100 Civil Litigators.
Tracy Breuer
Partner
Tracy L. Breuer has been with McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP since 2006 and she focuses on general liability, insurance defense and business litigation.
Ms. Breuer received her Juris Doctor from Willamette University College of Law, Salem, Oregon in 2005 and Bachelor of Art magna cum laude from California State University, Bakersfield in 1998 with majors in Psychology and graduating with distinction in Criminal Justice. While attending law school, she was an editor for the Willamette Law Online, “U.S. Supreme Court Service” edition, and served as an active volunteer for several organizations, including the Civil Law Clinic. Ms. Breuer is licensed to practice law in California. She is a member of the State Bar of California and Orange County Bar Association.
Kendall Craver
Partner
Kendall L. Craver is a partner practicing in the Orange County, California and Las Vegas, Nevada offices of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. Ms. Craver concentrates her practice in the areas of general liability, premises liability and insurance defense. She also has experience in the areas of medical malpractice defense, employment law, insurance coverage, business transactions and business litigation and represented clients engaged in the default servicing, banking, mortgage lending and mortgage servicing industries in litigation matters.
Ms. Craver received her Juris Doctor from Whittier College School of Law, Costa Mesa, California in 2009 and Bachelor of Arts from Santa Clara University, California in 2006 with a major in communications.
Nicole C. Barilla
Senior Associate
Nicole C. Barilla is a senior associate practicing in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. Ms. Barilla’s experience includes both transactional and litigated matters in the areas of insurance defense, general liability, premises liability, public entity law, professional liability, insurance coverage, business contracts and negotiations.
Ms. Barilla received her Juris Doctorate from Chapman University School of Law, located in Orange, California in 2006 and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2002. While in law school, Ms. Barilla served as an editor of the Nexus Law Journal and Magister of the Phi Delta Phi international legal honor society.
Jayd Banuelos
Senior Associate
Jayd Banuelos is a senior associate practicing in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. She currently focuses her practice in the areas of general liability and insurance defense. Ms. Banuelos' prior experience includes representing clients in the areas of commercial litigation, general contract and business disputes, judgment enforcement, and creditor's rights representation in both state and federal courts in California.
Ms. Banuelos received her Juris Doctor from Whittier College School of Law, Costa Mesa, California in 2016, and Bachelor of Science from Concordia University Irvine, California in 2013 with majors in psychology and sociology.
Carly J. English
Associate
Carly J. English is an associate practicing in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. She currently focuses her practice in the areas of general liability and insurance defense.
Ms. English received her Juris Doctor from Chapman University, Fowler School of Law in 2021 and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama in 2016 with majors in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She is licensed to practice law in California and admitted to practice law in United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Darrion Jackson-Laws
Associate
Darrion Jackson-Laws is an associate attorney practicing in the Orange County, California Office of MTB. He is licensed to practice in California and in the State of New York and currently specializes in personal injury, premises liability and general liability. His prior experience includes business litigation on the consumer rights front litigating Identity Theft, Class Actions, and Credit Reporting claims.
Mr. Jackson-Laws received his Juris Doctor from Western State College of Law in May of 2020, and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis in Law, Politics, and Policy from California State University, Long Beach in 2016. He is licensed to practice in California and will soon be admitted to practice in the State New York. Darrion is also admitted to practice in the Federal United States District Court in the Central, Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California.
Stephen P. Reider
Associate
Stephen Reider is an associate attorney practicing in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. His practice focuses on insurance defense and general liability.
Mr. Reider's broad prior experience includes business litigation, professional malpractice defense, consumer debt defense, immigration law, Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy filings, and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court.
Mr. Reider received his Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University School of Law in 2012, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from University of California Riverside in 2008.
Sarah A. Pavlik.
Associate
Sarah Pavlik is an associate in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun LLP. She is a dedicated trial attorney who focuses her advocacy in the areas of general liability, insurance defense, and civil litigation. Ms. Pavlik’s prior experience is diverse but notably fierce, from fighting for surviving family members to help obtain the Number One Wrongful Death Verdict in California in 2019 to fighting for climate action while serving as a law clerk Congressman Mike Levin and helping to establish the OC’s first cleantech trade association. She is especially proud of her dedication to fighting for the rights of victims of domestic violence and abuse; hundreds of ‘survivors’ have benefited from her effective, compassionate and strategic advocacy.
Ms. Pavlik graduated with honors from Western State University College of Law in 2011. She earned a B.S. in Biology with concentration in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Peace Studies from Butler University in 2008, where she earned a full scholarship to play Division I soccer and spent a semester living in a rainforest studying the spatial epidemiology of the Tasmanian devil.
Ms. Pavlik has also taught as an adjunct professor at law schools (Pepperdine, Whittier, Southwestern, etc.) and supports her local bar and community through the Public Counsel, Orange County Bar Association (where she serves on the Education Committee), Childhelp, City of Hope and Laguna Beach’s PTA.
Crystal L. Rorabaugh
Senior Associate
Crystal L. Rorabaugh is a senior associate practicing in the Orange County, California office of McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. She currently focuses her practice in the areas of general liability, premises liability, and insurance defense. Ms. Rorabaugh has extensive experience in law and motion, including at the appellate level, and has argued dispositive motions in courthouses throughout California.
Ms. Rorabaugh received her Juris Doctor summa cum laude from the University of La Verne College of Law as the valedictorian of the 2016 class, and a Bachelor of Art from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida in 2006 with a major in linguistics. While attending law School, she earned over 13 CALI awards for excellence including torts, contracts, sales, property, and constitutional law. Ms. Rorabaugh is licensed to practice law in California. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the California Women Lawyer’s Association, the California Lawyer’s Association, and the Orange County Bar Association.
Mike Sarrao
Counsel
Michael J. Sarrao and the Law Office of Michael J. Sarrao at Irvine, California, is Of Counsel with McNeil Tropp & Braun, LLP. Mr. Sarrao has over 16 years of experience handling complex business litigation in state courts in Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties and federal courts throughout California. He has represented Prime Healthcare Services, one of the largest health systems in the nation, its subsidiaries and affiliates, as general counsel; serving as chief legal officer in the acquisition and financing of multiple hospitals with total consideration in excess of $750 million.
His representation extended to handling disputes involving health plans, independent practice groups, insurance companies, regulatory agencies and billing reimbursement.