Partner
My goal is to always provide competent, effective and efficient solutions to litigation problems for my clients.
Phil Bonotto attended the University of California at Davis and graduated with honors receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Economics and Business Management in 1980. He then attended McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, and earned his Juris Doctorate degree with distinction in 1983. In Law School, Mr. Bonotto earned the American Jurisprudence Award for Evidence and was honored as a member of the Order of the Coif and the Traynor Society due to his scholastic and ethical achievements. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1983 and is licensed to practice in all of the courts of the State of California, the federal court for the Eastern District of California, and has argued cases before the First and Third District Courts of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.
Mr. Bonotto is “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level of peer review rating available to a practicing attorney. He is also an active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association, the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada, and the Sacramento County Bar Association. Mr. Bonotto was a founding partner in the Law Offices of Rushford and Bonotto and recently joined Gurnee Mason Rushford Bonotto & Forestiere as a named partner. His litigation practice includes representing and defending insurance companies, private parties and businesses in litigation matters throughout Northern California. He has tried cases in more than a dozen Northern California Counties and his practice stretches from the Central Valley to the Oregon border, Bay Area and California Foothills.
In addition to his extensive law practice, Mr. Bonotto currently volunteers to serve as a Judge Pro Tem and Panel of Arbitrators for the Sacramento and El Dorado County Superior Courts. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, hiking and fishing, and refereed college basketball for over 35 years before retiring in 2014.
