Torri Sherlin

Torri Sherlin is a shareholder in Baron & Budd’s Environmental Litigation Group, which she joined in 2018. She practices in the firm’s San Diego Office with a team that has resolved more than $1.7 billion for wildfire victims, including public entities, individuals, and businesses.

In 2020, Ms. Sherlin received the prestigious California Lawyer Attorney of the Year Award from the Daily Journal for her work on the most comprehensive public entity wildfire resolution in the state’s history. The settlement was reached on behalf of 23 public entities that suffered losses as a result of the 2017 Thomas fire and Montecito Debris Flows, and the 2018 Woolsey fire with Southern California Edison for $360 million. The resolution involved a historic agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services that reimburses federal and state disaster relief funds. Ms. Sherlin was instrumental in crafting and managing this first of its kind program with FEMA and Cal OES.

Ms. Sherlin’s favored niche is in public entity representation, which is a natural fit as several members of her family dedicated their careers to public entities, most notably her father, for the county of San Diego for more than 40 years, and her mother, for the San Diego Unified School District for more than 30 years. Continuing this rich heritage of public service, Torri Sherlin is proud to represent public entities, individuals, and businesses as plaintiffs in litigation.

Ms. Sherlin and Baron & Budd’s wildfire litigation team have been selected by more than 100 public entities to pursue litigation against utilities in wildfire claims, having resolved the claims of more than 70 public entities for over $1.7 billion, with the remaining in active litigation. She actively represents and has resolved cases on behalf of public entities of all sizes against utility companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), PacifiCorp, and Public Service Company of Colorado d/b/a XCEL Energy (XCEL). In addition, Ms. Sherlin is serving or has served as lead or liaison counsel for public entities in several judicial counsel coordinated proceedings or consolidated actions throughout the State of California and out of state, including four fire cases: the Mosquito Fire, Marshall Fire, Fairview Fire, and Eaton Fire.

Her public entity clients include: the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, Butte, Lassen, Siskiyou, and Boulder; the cities of Santa Barbara, Malibu, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Santa Rosa, Chico, San Buenaventura; and special districts such as Los Angeles County Flood Control District, the Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County, Ventura County Watershed Protection District, Ventura County Fire Protection District, Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Santa Barbara County Fire Protection District, Mountains and Recreation Conservation Agency, Conejo Recreation and Park District, Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, Montecito Water District, Calaveras County Water District, Thermalito Water and Sewer District, and several fire districts, among others. Ms. Sherlin also represents non-profit agencies, community associations, and community college districts in wildfire litigation.

In addition, Ms. Sherlin represents numerous school districts in litigation against JUUL Labs, Inc., the leading e-cigarette manufacturer, for creating an epidemic of youth vaping that has infiltrated schools across the nation, impeding student learning and putting the health and safety of students at risk. Ms. Sherlin represents more than 75 school districts across the nation in the JUUL litigation. As the mother of a young toddler, she cares deeply for the future of our next generation, and is dedicated to “Protecting What’s Right.”

The steadfast determination Torri Sherlin now brings to Baron & Budd once drove her competitive spirit as an NCAA collegiate athlete for three athletic programs. Ms. Sherlin competed on the women’s soccer, cross country and track teams at Concordia University in Austin, Texas, concluding her athletic campaign with a conference championship, regional rankings and individual American Southwest Conference All-Conference awards. In her free time, Ms. Sherlin enjoys exercising in the great outdoors, traveling, and spending time with her family.

Ms. Sherlin received her undergraduate degree in Behavioral Sciences from Concordia University in Austin. She received her law degree from the University of San Diego.

Presentations

• Co-panelist, “Trending and Policy Developments in Light of the Existential Threat of Wildfire Liability-Limiting Liability of Utilities and Contractors, and the Impact of Wildfire Funds,” National Wildland Fire Conference, April 2025
• Speaker, “Public Entity Wildfire Litigation & Recovery in the Aftermath of Utility Caused Wildfires,” Civil Law & Litigation Conference, County Counsels’ Association of California, April 2024