Kubota & Craig is a personal injury law firm based in Irvine, California. Our office at 16530 Bake Parkway, Suite 100 sits in the Irvine Spectrum business district, a few minutes from the I-5 / Bake interchange and within a short drive of most points in the city. Founding partners Yoshiaki Kubota and Cynthia A. Craig handle every matter the firm accepts directly, representing injured Irvine residents in motor vehicle collisions, premises liability cases, wrongful death claims, and catastrophic injury matters.
We chose Irvine as our base for a reason. The 405, the 5, the 73, Jeffrey, Jamboree, and Culver are corridors we travel daily. The Spectrum Center, the Great Park, UC Irvine, and the city’s office parks are venues where the slips, falls, and bites we handle frequently occur. Our familiarity with Irvine is not a marketing claim — it is the practical context in which the firm operates.
Where Personal Injuries Happen in Irvine
Irvine sits at the convergence of three of Orange County’s busiest freeway corridors. Interstate 5 cuts through the city’s north-south spine. Interstate 405 and the 73 Toll Road carry commuters around the western and southern edges. State Route 133 and the 241 Toll Road connect the city to the south-county canyons. At the surface-street level, Jamboree, Culver, Alton, MacArthur, Barranca, Jeffrey, and Bake Parkway carry the largest share of intra-city traffic — and the largest share of the collisions our firm sees.
Motor vehicle collisions in Irvine concentrate in predictable places. The interchanges at I-5 and Sand Canyon, I-405 and Jamboree, and SR-133 and Irvine Center Drive produce frequent rear-end and side-impact car collisions during commute hours. The surface-street stretches around the Irvine Spectrum Center, the District at Tustin Legacy, and the office parks along Von Karman generate low-speed parking-lot collisions and pedestrian-impact incidents. Cyclists riding the Jeffrey Open Space Trail, the Mountains to Sea Trail, and the bicycle infrastructure connecting UC Irvine to the Newport Beach coast encounter documented hazards where the trails cross major arterials. Commercial truck routes along Bake Parkway, Irvine Center Drive, and the freeway ramps produce truck collisions and motorcycle matters our firm handles. Uber and Lyft rideshare collisions are common around the Spectrum and UC Irvine.
Premises liability matters in Irvine arise most often at three kinds of venues. The first is large commercial retail — the Irvine Spectrum Center, the Marketplace at Walnut Village, and the District handle high foot-traffic volumes that produce wet-floor slip-and-falls, falling-merchandise injuries, and parking-structure incidents. The second is residential and recreational property — dog bites on the William R. Mason Regional Park and Quail Hill trails, falls in apartment-complex common areas, and pool incidents at community facilities. The third is the city’s substantial commercial-construction sector, which produces construction injuries affecting workers and bystanders.
Catastrophic injury claims in Irvine often trace back to highway collisions on the freeway segments above — frequently producing traumatic brain injuries and wrongful death claims — and to product-defect matters arising from the city’s medical-device and consumer-products industries, along with burn injuries from chemical and electrical incidents in industrial settings.
A Personal Injury Firm Based in Irvine
Our office is at 16530 Bake Parkway, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618. The office sits in the Irvine Spectrum business district, with direct access from the I-5 / Bake Parkway exchange and the I-405 / Bake Parkway exchange. Free parking is available on site.
The Kubota & Craig office is located within a short drive of Irvine City Hall:
Driving directions to our office:
From UC Irvine: Leave UC Irvine via Campus Drive or University Drive heading east toward the 405 Freeway. Enter I‑405 South toward San Diego. Continue on I‑405 South and take the exit toward Irvine Center Drive/Bake Parkway. Follow signs to Bake Parkway and head east on Bake Parkway. Continue on Bake Parkway until you reach the block around 16530 Bake Parkway, then turn into the appropriate office/parking entrance for Suite 100.
From the Irvine Spectrum Center: From the Irvine Spectrum Center area, make your way to the intersection of Irvine Center Drive and Bake Parkway, following internal center roads and signage toward Bake Parkway. Turn onto Bake Parkway heading east. Continue on Bake Parkway; 16530 Bake Parkway will be in the Bake Technology Park/office complex area on your right or left depending on your exact approach. Turn into the office complex drive for 16530 Bake Pkwy and follow internal signage to Suite 100 for Kubota & Craig.
From the Orange County Great Park: From within Great Park, follow internal signs out toward Sand Canyon Avenue via Great Park Blvd or Marine Way, depending on your parking area. Once you reach Sand Canyon Avenue, head south toward the I‑5/I‑405 interchange and Irvine Spectrum/Bake Parkway area. Use your navigation app to connect from Sand Canyon to Bake Parkway; common routes will guide you via local arterials rather than cutting directly through residential Great Park Neighborhoods. Continue on Bake Parkway toward the Irvine Spectrum/Bake Technology Park area; look for the office/industrial buildings around 16530 Bake Pkwy. Turn into the office complex drive for 16530 Bake Pkwy and follow internal signage to Suite 100 for Kubota & Craig.
From Woodbridge: From Woodbridge, head toward a major arterial such as Barranca Parkway or Alton Parkway and travel east or southeast toward the I‑5/I‑405/Irvine Spectrum area. Use your navigation app to connect from Barranca/Alton to Bake Parkway; typical routes may take you via Culver Drive, Jeffrey Road, or Irvine Center Drive depending on your exact starting point and traffic. Continue on Bake Parkway toward the Irvine Spectrum/Bake Technology Park area; look for the office/industrial buildings around 16530 Bake Pkwy. Turn into the office complex drive for 16530 Bake Pkwy and follow internal signage to Suite 100 for Kubota & Craig.
From Northwood: From Northwood, head toward a major arterial such as Yale Avenue, Culver Drive, or Jeffrey Road and travel south toward the 5/405 and Irvine Spectrum area. Use your navigation app to connect from Culver/Jeffrey/Yale to Bake Parkway; typical routes may take you via Irvine Center Drive, Alton Parkway, or main cross‑streets that lead toward the Spectrum/Bake Parkway corridor. Continue on Bake Parkway toward the Irvine Spectrum/Bake Technology Park area; look for the office/industrial buildings around 16530 Bake Pkwy. Turn into the office complex drive for 16530 Bake Pkwy and follow internal signage to Suite 100 for Kubota & Craig.
From Quail Hill / Turtle Ridge: From Quail Hill or Turtle Ridge, head toward Shady Canyon Drive and then toward the 405 Freeway or main cross‑streets like Sand Canyon or Irvine Center Drive that lead to the Irvine Spectrum area. Use your navigation app to connect from Shady Canyon/Bonita Canyon/Sand Canyon or adjacent arterials onto Bake Parkway; depending on your exact starting point, routes may take you via the 405, Irvine Center Drive, or local connectors. Continue on Bake Parkway toward the Irvine Spectrum/Bake Technology Park area; look for the office/industrial buildings around 16530 Bake Pkwy. Turn into the office complex drive for 16530 Bake Pkwy and follow internal signage to Suite 100 for Kubota & Craig.
In-person consultations are available by appointment at the Bake Parkway office. We travel to clients who are hospitalized at UCI Medical Center, Hoag Irvine, Kaiser Permanente Irvine, and the surrounding hospitals when an injury makes office visits impractical. Initial consultations are free, available in English and Spanish, and the firm works on a contingency basis — no fee unless the case results in a recovery.
Yoshiaki Kubota (California State Bar #175555) and Cynthia A. Craig (California State Bar #226318) personally handle every matter the firm accepts. We limit our caseload deliberately so the attorney named on your engagement letter is the same person preparing your case for trial — not an associate who has not met you, and not a settlement-mill operation processing injury claims at volume.
Filing a Personal Injury Claim Arising in Irvine
Personal injury cases arising in Irvine are filed in the Orange County Superior Court. Most injury cases are unlimited civil matters, filed and heard at the Central Justice Center, 700 Civic Center Drive West, in Santa Ana. Only cases designated as complex litigation are handled at the Civil Complex Center at 751 W. Santa Ana Boulevard. Both are accessible from Irvine via the 55 Freeway, the 5 Freeway, or surface streets through Tustin.
Three deadlines matter most for Irvine cases:
Two years from the date of injury is the general statute of limitations under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Most car-accident, slip-and-fall, dog-bite, and product-liability claims fall under this two-year window.
Three years is the limit for property damage claims under CCP § 338. If your case involves both bodily injury and vehicle damage, the two periods run independently.
Six months is the deadline to file an administrative claim if the City of Irvine, the County of Orange, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), the State of California, or any other government entity is a potential defendant — California Government Code § 911.2. This deadline catches many Irvine residents off guard. Cases involving a city sidewalk defect, an OCTA bus, an unsafe road design, or any government-owned vehicle require the administrative claim to be filed within six months, with the lawsuit following within six months of the claim’s denial. Missing the administrative deadline ordinarily extinguishes the claim entirely.
If you are not sure whether a government entity may be involved in your case, ask us early rather than late.
Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury in Irvine
I was injured in a collision on the 405 in Irvine. Does it matter that the crash technically happened at the Costa Mesa city line?
Not for the legal claim itself. California’s personal injury statute of limitations applies statewide — two years from the date of injury, regardless of which Orange County city the collision happened in. What can matter is which courthouse the case is filed in (Orange County Superior Court covers all OC cities) and which police agency wrote the report (CHP handles all freeway collisions in Orange County, including the 405 and the 5). If your collision occurred near a city line, the police and CHP reports will tell us exactly where, and we work from that record.
I was hit on a sidewalk in Irvine. Can I sue the City of Irvine?
Possibly, but the deadline is short. Claims against the City of Irvine, the County of Orange, or any California government entity require a written administrative claim within six months of the injury under Government Code § 911.2. The city has 45 days to respond. If the city rejects the claim, you have six months from the rejection to file a lawsuit. If you suspect a sidewalk defect, dangerous road design, traffic-signal failure, or other government-controlled condition contributed to your injury, consult an attorney immediately.
I was injured at the Irvine Spectrum Center. Whom do I sue — the store, the Spectrum, or the property management company?
Often more than one of those. Premises liability in California applies to any party that owned, controlled, or managed the property where the injury occurred and failed to use reasonable care. At a venue like the Irvine Spectrum Center, that can include the individual retailer, the property management entity, contracted security or janitorial vendors, and the property owner. Determining the right defendants requires the incident report, the lease and management agreements, and the contracts between the tenant and the property owner. We routinely investigate these layered claims.
I work in Irvine but live in another county. Where does my case get filed?
Cases arising from an injury that occurred in Orange County are ordinarily filed in Orange County Superior Court, regardless of where you reside. Venue follows the injury, not the plaintiff’s address.
I'm uninsured and was hit by an Irvine driver who is also uninsured. Do I have any recourse?
Possibly. Even an uninsured driver may have personal assets, an umbrella policy through a homeowner’s policy, or coverage through a household member’s policy. If your own auto policy includes Uninsured Motorist coverage — coverage California insurers must offer but you can decline in writing — you can recover from your own policy. Talk to us before assuming there is no recovery available.
I just want to know what my case is worth. Can you give me a number?
Not honestly, without first reviewing your case. Case value depends on the nature and permanence of your injuries, your medical bills, your lost income, the available insurance coverage, the strength of liability evidence, and other case-specific factors. We can give you a realistic range after reviewing the police report, the medical records, and the policy limits. Initial consultations are free; we do not charge for the assessment.
To discuss a personal injury or wrongful death matter that arose in Irvine, call (949) 218-5676 or use our contact form. Consultations are free, available in English and Spanish, and the firm works on a contingency basis — no fee unless we recover for you.
Other Locations We Serve
Kubota & Craig also represents clients across other Orange County communities, including:
Coastal: Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Balboa Island, Laguna Beach, Dana Point.
Central and inland: Tustin, Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa.
South and Saddleback Valley: Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch, Trabuco Canyon.
See our full coverage on the Orange County, CA page.
Next, learn about Tustin, California, which is another area served by Kubota & Craig: