Ray Bourhis

Ray Bourhis is uniquely qualified to be a political pundit and an enemy of unbridled corporate and political corruption. A lawyer and consumer advocate practicing out of San Francisco, California, Bourhis has been at the forefront of the battle against greed and excessive power for most of his life. Bourhis grew up in the tough neighborhood of Elmhurst in Queens, New York. He credits an attempt by local street gang members to throw him, at the age of twelve, into a blazing bonfire with helping...See more

Ray Bourhis is uniquely qualified to be a political pundit and an enemy of unbridled corporate and political corruption. A lawyer and consumer advocate practicing out of San Francisco, California, Bourhis has been at the forefront of the battle against greed and excessive power for most of his life. Bourhis grew up in the tough neighborhood of Elmhurst in Queens, New York. He credits an attempt by local street gang members to throw him, at the age of twelve, into a blazing bonfire with helping him develop the survival skills needed to spend his legal career taking on insurance companies. Bourhis got his BA at Ohio State University. In his senior year, he created the University's first mascot in eighty-five years with his then girlfriend, Sally Lanyon. Ray and Sally launched the mascot, unannounced, onto the football field in the middle of the marching band's homecoming half-time show. When he waddled off the field, 82,000 fans chanted, "We want the mascot! We want the mascot!" and the OSU icon, now known as Brutus Buckeye, was born. After graduating from Ohio State, he took a job teaching in a rural high school in Appalachia, where he got fired for putting together a pilot project with Senator Robert Kennedy for students to work on Arizona Indian Reservations during the summer. Bourhis wound up as one of Kennedy's key staffers, working with the Senator on his presidential campaign. He then joined the Domestic Peace Corps (VISTA) and was sent to California as a community organizer with the farm workers. Ray's passion for fighting for the underdog ultimately led him to the UC Berkeley School of Law where he founded a student-run public interest law firm that became known as CalPirg. Since law school Bourhis has specialized in representing policyholders in cases involving the wrongful denial of long-term disability (LTD) insurance claims. His firm has set legal precedents and obtained record verdicts and settlements in that field. Bourhis' Billionaires and Bagmen reflects a lifetime of disdain for what he considers the hijacking of America. And what happens with Sean Cogan and his friends in Fairview may well turn fiction into fact. In addition to Billionaires and Bagmen, Bourhis is the author of the soon to be released Preemption: A License to Steal Your Medical/ LTD Benefits. He also co-authored The Autobiography of Brutus Buckeye: As Told to His Parents Sally Lanyon and Ray Bourhis, published in 2015 to honor Brutus' 50th birthday. See less