Two of the Inland Empire’s most prominent torts offices have merged. Forty-eight-year-old law firm Heiting & Irwin has joined forces with 8-year-old firm Rizio Lipinsky.
Rizio Lipinsky Heiting now has 14 attorneys practicing law. James Otto Heiting, Heiting & Irwin’s managing partner, is a senior trial attorney with Greg Rizio and Daren Lipinsky.
From Irwin & Heiting come Jean-Simon Serrano, Sara Morgan and Bill Bibb as trial attorneys. From Rizio Lipinsky come Darren Pirozzi, Eric Ryanen, Lynn Whitlock, Lauren Vogt, Taylor DeRosa, John Hyland and Kevin Collins as trial attorneys. Frank Licata is a contract attorney.
Irwin & Heiting won’t be entirely gone—Steve Irwin will still lead worker’s compensation cases at the firm, independent of Rizio Lipinsky Heiting.
Heiting is past-president of the California State Bar—and the only one elected from the Inland Empire. He has served as president of the Riverside County Bar Association. He co-founded the Leo A. Deegan Inn of Court, and was a charter member of the Inland Empire Federal Bar Association.
He served as president of, and is involved in The Other Bar, a statewide professional organization for attorneys who have recovered from alcohol and substance abuse issues, from 1991 to 1993.
Rizio served as CAL-American Board of Trial Advocates in 2024. He was awarded the Riverside Barristers Attorney of the Year award in 2023 due to his leadership among Riverside attorneys. He secured the largest personal injury verdict for a car accident in Riverside County’s history. He was awarded Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California in 2015.
On May 22, he will be arguing a case before the California Supreme Court.
Daren Lipinsky has worked in the Inland Empire for 25 years. He was awarded the Jennifer Brooks Lawyer of the Year award by the Western San Bernardino County Bar Association in 2022. He has been named one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America by the National Trial Lawyers organization and as one of the Top Lawyers in the Inland Empire by Inland Empire Magazine every year since 2010. The rating service Super Lawyers included him in their rankings, and the Consumer Attorneys of Inland Empire awarded him with the William M. Shernoff Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in 2022.
“Greg and I would both say that we have spoken to each other and watched each other over the years, and we’ve admired each other in regard to our service, ideals, our abilities to communicate, our leadership qualities. I’ve seen all of those things in him,” said Heiting.
“The idea of service to the community, service to the clients, putting the clients first, all of those things are equally important to both groups, and have been equally important to both groups for decades. You add on the service to the legal community—he’s been serving the young lawyers, especially,” Heiting continued.
“The best way to say it is, when you look at (Heiting) and (Lipinsky) and myself, you have three powerhouse lawyers in a small legal community that have a reach beyond our borders,” Rizio said, referencing their national and statewide advocacy and legal work.
None of either firm’s staff members are leaving in the merger, Heiting said. That’s a big deal, since many of his staff have been with him for over 20 years.
The firm is also a bit of a family affair. Heiting’s daughter in law, Katie Heiting, worked as a legal assistant at Irwin & Heiting, and his granddaughter, Bree Heiting, will be joining the Orange County Office as a summer law clerk.
On Rizio’s side, his son-in-law, Joe Ernatt, will be interning at the firm this summer.
“Having family being able to work with us is important,” Rizio said.
