CHRIS HOFFMAN

Chris is an experienced trial lawyer and one of the founding partners of Make Right Law. He focuses his practice on serious personal injury and wrongful death claims as well as fire damage resulting from negligently started wildfires. He is a second-generation trial lawyer who literally grew up living in his father’s law firm which was on the first floor of Make Right Law’s current Texas office. Chris and his father, Tim Hoffman, lived upstairs above the law firm and Chris grew up working every job in the firm before going to college at the University of Texas where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy with Honors. He then went to the University of Texas Law School where he bested 63 fellow students to win the Thad T. Hutcheson 1st Year Moot Court Competition. He graduated at the top of his class in 1997 with Honors.

His first job out of law school was as a staff attorney for the Texas Department of Insurance where he pursued enforcement actions against insurance companies who violated Texas insurance laws. But after a year, the inevitable return to his father’s firm happened and he went to work for Hoffman, Sheffield & Sauseda where he worked until 2001 when he was made a partner and the firm became Hoffman, Sheffield, Sauseda & Hoffman, PLLC.

Chris’s first trial with the firm resulted in what, at the time, was the single largest medical malpractice verdict in Potter County history. Since then, he has been representing those who are the victims of reckless behavior and safety rule violations, including car wrecks, truck wrecks, medical malpractice, construction injuries, burn injuries and all manner of personal injury and wrongful death cases. Although Chris has represented a broad spectrum of people and families, his passion is representing children injured by negligence and families who have lost a child due to negligence. The strength of these children and their families in times of unspeakable tragedy has inspired Chris both personally and professionally to maintain a positive attitude and work hard to get the best results he can for all of his clients.

Chris is actively involved in several professional associations. He is the former President of the Panhandle Trial Lawyers Association and former Board Member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Chris is also a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association participating in the Auto/Truck Injury and Medical Malpractice practice groups. Chris is a frequent contributor to four litigation forums where injury attorneys exchange ideas and assist one another. Chris’s peers included him as a Texas Rising Star in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011 and have named him a Texas Super Lawyer for 2024. Chris has earned the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating, which signifies the highest level of professional excellence and ethical standards. His clients have frequently reviewed his services and on the strength of those reviews he has also been named a Platinum Client Champion.

In 2010, Chris became licensed in Colorado and his family moved to Denver, where he opened a second office for Hoffman, Sheffield, Sauseda & Hoffman. He actively practices law in both Texas and Colorado. In 2023, after his partners Tim Hoffman, MikeSheffield, and J.E. Sauseda had transitioned to Of Counsel roles, Chris joined forces with distinguished trial lawyer Joe Lovell to form Make Right Law. The recent formation of Make Right Law has further energized Chris as he has added new fields of law to his repertoire including representing the victims of negligently caused wildfires.

Chris has two sons with whom he enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and hiking in the mountains ofColorado. He is passionate about music, playing guitar, attending live concerts whenever he gets the chance and spending time in front of his stereo listening to his collection of vinyl records. Chris’ motto as a trial lawyer is a rough paraphrase of a Maya Angelou poem: Rather than dwelling on accepting the things I cannot change; I prefer to change the things I cannot accept. He believes that while getting just compensation to his clients is tremendously important and sometimes life changing, the real aim of being a trial lawyer is to make things right for his clients by preventing what has happened to his clients from happening again, being a voice for his clients, helping his clients through some of the worst times of their lives, and holding those who are responsible for his clients’ injuries accountable. His desire to make it right for his clients, was the inspiration for the firm’s name, Make Right Law.‍

Education

College: Bachelor of Arts, 1994 – University of Texas, Austin

Law School: Juris Doctorate, 1997 (With Honors) – University of Texas, Austin

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‍Bar and Court Admissions

Texas - 1997

Colorado – 2010

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

‍Professional Awards

Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating

Martindale-Hubbell Platinum Client Champion

Texas Super Lawyers, General Litigation and Personal Injury – 2024

Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star – 2007-08, 2010-12

‍Speaking Engagements

Crashes with Law Enforcement, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Blockbuster CLE - 20

‍Professional Associations

Panhandle Trial Lawyers Association – Past President

Texas Trial Lawyers Association – Former Board Member

Colorado Trial Lawyers Association

Colorado Bar Association

American Association of Justice

Amarillo Area Bar Association