February 20, 2026 (Los Angeles, CA) – Hawkins Parnell has five litigators from the firm's Los Angeles and Orange County offices selected to the 2026 Southern California Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. Elaine Fresch earned a spot on the Top 100 and Top 50 Women Southern California lists. Jerry Popovich was recognized in the Top 50 for Orange County.

Part of Thomson Reuters, Super Lawyers uses a patented process of independent research and peer input to select no more than 5% of the lawyers in Southern California to the Super Lawyers list and 2.5% to the Rising Stars list. 

Southern California Super Lawyers 

• Elaine Fresch is partner-in-charge of Hawkins Parnell's Los Angeles and Las Vegas offices. She has extensive experience representing construction and equine industry clients in high-stakes litigation and complex disputes, as well as in defending product liability and commercial litigation. She has such a long list of accolades, but she was recently recognized as a Legal Visionary by the Los Angeles Times, named among four finalists for the 2025 Outside Defense Counsel of the Year award by the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), and selected to the 2025 Leaders of Influence: Litigators and Trial Attorneys list by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
• Jerry Popovich is a partner in Hawkins Parnell's Orange County office. He handles dangerous litigation for high-profile clients involving product liability, toxic exposures, catastrophic injuries, and fatalities. Having tried over 80 cases, he is one of California's most recognized trial lawyers when the stakes are highest. The LA Times has named him one of Southern California's most influential litigators, and Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers has selected him on the Top 50 in Orange County or Top 100 in Southern California lists more than 15 times. He is a fellow or member of numerous honorary societies for trial lawyers, including the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, and ABOTA. 
• Ryan Sellers is the partner-in-charge of Hawkins Parnell's Orange County office. He is a first-chair trial lawyer who defends large corporations and businesses from the transportation, construction, and retail industries in litigation involving catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, products liability, and commercial disputes. He also represents public entities, licensed professionals facing claims of wrongdoing, and business owners in trade secret disputes.  

Southern California Rising Stars

• Juan Aragon is a trial lawyer and litigator in Hawkins Parnell's Los Angeles office who handles a wide array of construction, employment, corporate, and commercial disputes, including cases involving breach of contract, construction defect, and trade secrets. He was named to the 2026 "One to Watch" list by Best Lawyers in commercial litigation. 
• Nicole Ortiz is an experienced litigator in Hawkins Parnell's Orange County office. She represents insurance carriers, corporations, small businesses, and public entities in a variety of matters arising out of personal injury, catastrophic injury, transportation, and premises liability. She has been named to the Best Lawyers "One to Watch" list from 2023 to 2026 in commercial litigation, mass tort litigation, and product liability litigation.

About Hawkins Parnell & Young

Hawkins Parnell & Young is a national defense litigation firm that has represented many of the largest and most well-known companies in high-risk litigation and business disputes. The 250-strong litigation team works with clients to develop winning defense strategies and, if necessary, try cases to verdict in all 50 states.