T. L. CHRISTIANSON

 

T. L. CHRISTIANSON.  A native of California, T. L. CHRISTIANSON since 1912 has enjoyed a practice along certain distinctive lines in Alameda County and before other courts in the San Francisco Bay district.  His record shows him to be one of the most successful trial attorneys on the coast.  He is a man of recognized scholarship in the Law, has a certain fearlessness and independence of character, and is undoubtedly thoroughly qualified for official duties, though not of the conventional type.  He has interested himself in the republican party, and those who appreciate his abilities have supported him for the nomination of district attorney for abilities have supported him for the nomination of district attorney for Alameda County, he having been a candidate for that office in 1912, again in 1916 and again in 1922.

 

Mr. CHRISTIANSON was born at Oakland, California, February 16, 1880, son of Capt. H. O. and Karen (THOMPSON) CHRISTIANSON.  His father, a native of Norway, came to California in 1876 and was well known on the Pacific Coast as a master mariner.  He was captain of Melpomone, the biggest iron vessel in the world at that time.  He died in Oregon in 1893, and his widow passed away at Oakland in 1901.

 

T. L. CHRISTIANSON spent his early years in Washington County, Oregon.  His opportunities for a liberal education were limited to his individual efforts and aspirations.  When he was seventeen, after only a country school training, he returned to Oakland, and for a short time attended public and night schools.  He also studied dentistry, clerked in a drug store, was a student in the offices of various physicians, and this early experience and interest to some extent determined his reputation as an attorney along medico-legal lines. His ability was such that he was appointed as assistant to the surgeon-general under Governor PARDEE.  While in that position he took up the study of law, and subsequently, going East, entered the law department of Valparaiso University in Indiana, concluding his junior year there, and took his last year in the American Central Law School of Indianapolis.  He was graduated with the Bachelor of Laws degree, one of the first in the class, and in the meantime took his bar examinations and was admitted to practice in the courts of Indiana.  He was admitted to practice before the Department of the Interior, United States Patent Office in 1913.  He remained at Indianapolis, associated with the law firm of HOLTZMAN and COLEMAN, and about two years later returned West, was admitted to the California bar and immediately opened an office in the Plaza Building at Oakland.

 

As an attorney, Mr. CHRISTIANSON’s forte is in trial work.  He has appeared as an attorney for the defense in some notable criminal cases.  His resourcefulness and manner and character have enabled him to impress his influence on court and jury to the winning of most of his cases.  He is doubtless one of the foremost authorities in California on the special branch of law pertaining to medical jurisprudence and toxicology and in law cases involving these subjects he has frequently been called as assistant counsel by other attorneys.  He is California representative for Samuel HERRICK, patent attorney at Washington, District of Columbia. He had been elected to membership in the Medical-Legal Society of New York.

 

Mr. CHRISTIANSON married, March 28, 1907, Miss Elizabeth L.  SPENCER. She was born at Denver, Colorado, daughter of Joseph SPENCER, who is now connected with the Water Company at Burlingame, California, and her grandfather was a successful physician in New York City, the SPENCERs being of English ancestry.  Mrs. CHRISTIANSON died January 2, 1919.  Five children were born to their marriage: Lawrence Spencer and Blaine Ingersoll, both now in the high school.  Elizabeth Avis and Lorraine Enid, twins, attending grammar school, and Primavera.