about

Photo courtesy of Henry Zbyszinski

ABOUT BALAM

Hi, I am Balam Letona, a Santa Cruz local, a trial lawyer and a proud member of our unique community. My legal career began in 2003 when I joined the Watsonville Law Center as their first consumer attorney. Back then, I shared my ambition of opening my own office right here in Santa Cruz County with my boss, and she still hired me, giving me valuable experience in consumer law.  A few years later I opened my office first in Salinas, then Aptos and later Santa Cruz. Soon after I represented a husband and wife from Gonzales, CA that ended in one of the largest verdicts against a debt collector.  That was my first taste of a jury trial. About six months before the trial I had graduated from the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming. The college was three and half weeks and it changed my life.  At the college I learned that the only way I can tell someone else’s story is if I first know my own. Ever since I graduated from the Trial Lawyers College I’ve done my best to learn and grow as a trial lawyer. Before I went to law school I was an elementary school teacher. My children have all attended  Santa Cruz City Schools. Outside of the office, I enjoy cooking, spending time with my family, practicing yoga, attending trial skills seminars, doing improv, exercising, surfing when I can, and coaching wrestling.

Our Mission

We are committed to representing individuals who have been harmed by vehicle manufacturers. We are ordinary people that strive each day to remember who we are and be present. We provide honest and caring representation. We treat everyone with dignity and respect. We resist and reject corporate values that put economic efficiency, profit and amassing wealth over the well-being of people. We will do the hard work necessary to understand your case, speak the truth and present your case to a jury.