Henry Harmeling IV has been practicing civil litigation in California for over 25 years and is also licensed in Arizona. Henry is a seasoned civil-litigation attorney with a broad practice spanning business and commercial disputes, insurance coverage and bad-faith litigation, employment-related matters, real-estate disputes, and personal-injury cases. Henry has worked as a plaintiffs’ lawyer and also spent several years working for some of the nation’s largest insurance carriers, including State Farm, USAA, and Great American. Henry prides himself on practicing with integrity (the foundation of the legal profession), and on his ability to objectively assess and evaluate each case.
Henry brings a strong writing background, practical business insight, and decades of litigation experience to his practice. He is known for his analytical approach, clear communication, and ability to navigate complex factual and legal issues across a wide range of civil matters. Henry has been on the San Diego Superior Court mediation panel for over 15 years, and has also previously served as a judge pro tem.
Henry earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a sports writer and sports editor for the UCLA Daily Bruin. Henry credits the Daily Bruin with teaching him how to interview, how to write concisely, and how to write collaboratively, all skills that have transferred over into his legal practice. Henry earned his Juris Doctor in 1998 from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Henry lives with his family in North San Diego County. In addition to his love of surfing, body surfing, and belly boarding on traditional paipos, Henry’s true calling is surfing alaias — half-inch thick wood surfboards (no fin, no leash, buoyancy neutral) like the ancient Hawaiians used to ride. The goal of alaia surfing is what Hawaiians call “lala,” the controlled slide in the curl.