Our Team

Chris Olsen obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors from Elon University in North Carolina and his Juris Doctorate Degree (Cum Laude) from Pepperdine University, where he was also named the Best Oral Advocate in the country at the annual ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Olsen is admitted before the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Claims Court, and every state Court in California. He has worked in the handling of civil litigation on the defense side for over 30 years. Olsen has also worked on several significant high profile cases, including the O.J. Simpson civil case representing the birth mother of Ron Goldman and the Lockheed Stealth bomber litigation, which resulted in the longest jury deliberations in U.S. history. Olsen has handled hundreds of cases at the trial court level, and is also undefeated on appeal (8-0) where the Appellate Court upheld the favorable judgments rendered by the trial court. Olsen and his firm, Olsen & Brueggemann, APC. have extensive experience representing clients in virtually all aspects of civil litigation including the handling of complex tort, catastrophic personal injury, construction defect, product defect, premises liability and elevator/escalator cases.

Mark Brueggemann obtained his Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa, where he was also a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. After graduating from University of Iowa he obtained his Juris Doctorate Degree from Whittier Law School and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1996. Mr. Brueggemann has been defending claims related to elevators and escalators since 2004 throughout the entire State of California. Additionally, Mr. Brueggemann has had extensive experience in real estate litigation, including representation of real estate brokers/ agents, buyers/sellers, escrow companies, loan brokers and landlords/tenants.

Thomas M. Gaffney was born in Watertown, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012. In August 2014, Mr. Gaffney began his law school studies at the Wake Forest University School of Law. During his tenure at Wake Forest, Thomas was actively involved in all areas of life at the school. He was a Senior Editor and Blog Author for the Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law. During his second year of Law School in 2016, he founded and pioneered the Wake Forest University School of Law and the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China student exchange program. Through the exchange program, Thomas spent six months living and working in Beijing, China as a Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions Associate at the leading Chinese Law Firm, King and Wood Mallesons. In the summer of 2017, Thomas graduated from Wake Forest, passed the California Bar exam on his first attempt and was admitted to practice law in the State of California. Before joining Olsen & Bruggemann in February of 2018, Thomas was a Banking and Securities Legal Editor for Bloomberg BNA-Legal Division. At Olsen & Brueggemann, Thomas is the transactional team lead and specializes in Start-up Financing, Corporate Structuring, Private Equity Fund Formation, and Cryptocurrency Regulations.

Michelle is the Legal Secretary for Olsen & Brueggemann, APC. She handles our calls, calendar filing system and mail. She joined Olsen & Brueggemann, APC in November of 2020 after graduating California State University, Los Angeles with A.A. General Studies: Social and Behavioral Sciences, A.A. Administration of Justice and B.A. Anthropology w/ minor in Criminal Justice.