John J. “Jack” Veth is the managing partner in the California office of Speiser Krause.  He graduated from New York University’s School of Education in 1963 and began pilot training with the United States Air Force that same year.  While on active duty, Mr. Veth earned a Master of Science degree in Education from Troy State University and a Master of Public Administration degree from Auburn University.

 

In his twenty-year career as a United States Air Force pilot, Mr. Veth accumulated over four thousand flying hours as a Command Pilot.  He culminated his military flying career as an Aircraft Commander and Instructor Pilot in the record setting supersonic SR-71, Blackbird, strategic reconnaissance aircraft.  Following military service, Mr. Veth joined Northrop Corporation’s Development and Production Team for the Advanced Technology (Stealth) Bomber, the B-2, at Northrop’s Advanced Systems Division in Pico Rivera, California.

 

A 1987 graduate of Western State University College of Law, Mr. Veth was admitted to the California Bar the same year.  He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA).  Mr. Veth is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Bar Association, Past-President and member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Barristers; Past-Chair of the Aviation Section of the Orange County Bar; and member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association.  Mr. Veth served on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the litigation arising out of the August 6, 1997 crash of Korean Airlines Flight 801 on Guam and the January 31, 2000 Alaska Airlines crash off the coast of Southern California.  He also co-lead counsel in the SilkAir MI 185 and China Airlines 611 litigation.  He has handled product liability cases against Boeing Corporation, McDonnell Douglas Helicopters, Inc., Robinson Helicopters Inc., Cessna Aircraft, Inc., and was lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the litigation stemming from the Brazilian TAM Fokker 100 crash in Sao Paulo, Brazil which occurred in October of 1996.

 

Mr. Veth combines his experience in aviation with his legal education in a practice that includes aviation and complex tort law, personal injury, and product liability litigation.  He maintains contact with the academic community as an instructor for the University of Southern California’s School of Engineering, Aviation Safety and Security Department and the University of California Extension, Irvine.  His articles have been published in the Western State University Law Review and the Orange County Lawyer.  He has made numerous presentations at the annual conference of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, the Southwest Regional Aviation and Space Law Symposium, the SMU Air Law Symposium, the Lawyer Pilots’ Bar Association, and the ABA annual TIPS Seminar.  In addition, Mr. Veth is a past Editor of the Orange County Trial Lawyers quarterly publication: The Gave; was inducted into the Western State University College of Law Hall of Fame in May of 2004; was selected as the Orange County Trial Lawyers Product Liability Top Gun Trial Attorney for 2005; and was honored as the Western State University Alumnus of the Year for 2006.