Attorneys
MANAGING ATTORNEY
F. Steve Ryneal
Fred Steve Ryneal, who has always gone by his middle name “Steve,” is the President and Owner of Ryneal & Ryneal, a Law Corporation. Steve has spent his entire life—except the years he was in law school in Los Angeles—living in Riverside and knows the Inland Empire like the back of his hand. He has dedicated his over 45-year legal career serving the people of his community by working exclusively in the plaintiff’s personal injury and wrongful death fields of law.
Steve obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Riverside and his law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. While in law school, he spent three years as the law clerk for the legal department of the then Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, mostly dealing with personal injury litigation against the railroad.
Steve’s father was a personal injury attorney in Riverside for over four decades. After passing the bar exam, Steve practiced law for about a year in Los Angeles before joining his father. They practiced together as Ryneal & Ryneal exclusively in the personal injury field until his father’s retirement in the mid-1990s.
One of his proudest moments as an attorney came when Steve was a relatively new lawyer. He obtained an $800,000 jury verdict in a product liability case where the defense had only offered $15,000 before trial. This gave him the impetus to believe that he could be a good trial lawyer. Since then, Steve has recovered millions for his clients during his long and successful legal career.
Steve considers himself a perfectionist and has always tried to bring that kind of attitude to the practice of law in the way he handles his clients and cases. He prides himself on his attention to detail, and always maintains regular personal contact directly with his clients. He says one of the biggest complaints against lawyers is a lack of communication between the attorney and client, resulting in the client frequently not being kept up to date as to what is going on in their case. Steve is always available to his clients by phone, e-mail, or letter. If a client calls and he is not immediately available, he makes it a point to call them back the same day or the next day, and they greatly appreciate that courtesy.
Steve is a member in good standing of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, and the Riverside County Bar Association. He is also a longtime member of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), both of which are plaintiff consumer organizations dedicated to the advocacy of consumer rights in personal injury type cases.
From his marriage, Steve has two children and now has four beautiful granddaughters. He is a sports enthusiast, especially when it comes to watching college football and professional golf. He also loves to play racquetball and golf with his buddies and is about a 10 handicap.
Education
LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL
Juris Doctor, 1972
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
B.A., 1968
Professional Associations
• Riverside County Bar Association
• State Bar of California
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
• American Association for Justice
Bar Admissions
• California, 1972
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1972
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 1992
FOUNDING ATTORNEY
Fred Ryneal (1918 - 2007)
A graduate of the University of MIssouri law school Fred Ryneal was one of the founding personal injury attorneys in Riverside and the Inland Empire. Beginning in the 1950s he practiced for decades defending the rights of injured clients statewide. His ongoing legacy continues to shape the spirit of dedication to the rights of victims that is fundamental to the heart of this law firm.