John Charvat Boyden – Professional & Educational Background

Professional & Educational Background

John Charvat Boyden is a licensed personal injury attorney in Reno, Nevada specializing in several types of personal injury cases, including car and truck accidents, premises liability (slip/trip and falls), and complicated negligent security and medical malpractice cases.   John was born in Denver, Colorado and moved with his family to Reno at a young age, where he attended all local public schools, graduating from Reno High School in 1983.  John thereafter attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he graduated in 1987 with a degree in history.  For a change of scenery John went to U.C.L.A for his junior year of college.  

John returned to Southern California for law school, where he attended Loyola Law School, in Los Angeles, California, graduating in 1990 and thereafter passing the Nevada Bar Exam and being admitted to practice law in the State of Nevada.  John’s first job was as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jerry Carr Whitehead, in Washoe County.  John’s next job was working for the law firm of Guild & Hagen where he spent two years and was exposed to various different areas of the law.  John next worked at Jenkins & Frey.  This law office focused on complex civil litigation.  John was involved in the large “Tank Farm” litigation case that involved the environmental clean-up of the Sparks tank farm.  After Jenkins & Frey John began working at Erickson, Thorpe & Swainston, where he stayed for the next twenty-five years.  At this firm, which practiced almost exclusively insurance defense, John became a partner and owner, and one of the lead trial attorneys.   John represented defendants in lawsuits in many settings all around the State of Nevada, including personal injury and construction defect cases.  John tried many cases to verdict and given this experience and success was admitted into the highly acclaimed American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) where his peers voted and approved his selection.  John is also AV rated by Martindale Hubbel, which is the highest ethical rating that can be achieved by an attorney.  While at Erickson, Thorpe & Swainston John tried to verdict a seven-week case involving significant plumbing defects in a downtown Reno apartment/condominium conversion, securing a complete victory for his client. 

In 2021 John took advantage of an opportunity and agreed to work at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith, which is one of the largest law firms in the country.  John was brought aboard immediately as a partner and given his expertise worked on several high profile cases, all around the State of Nevada. 

In 2024 John received a phone call from Julie Throop.  John had known and respected Julie for years, and John was also thinking about his professional future, realizing that he wanted to represent injured individuals and fight for their rights and justice.  After some discussion with Julie, John decided to switch gears and join with Julie.  John began working for Friedman & Throop in early 2024.  John has not looked back, and believes he and Julie make an outstanding team.  Together they handle all of the litigation and trial work, and they strive to obtain the best recoveries for each and every client.  John thoroughly enjoys representing individuals in personal injury cases, and he looks forward to helping all of his clients.

Community Involvement and Personal

John is active and gives back to the community.  He participates as a court appointed Arbitrator for Washoe, Carson, and Douglas Counties, and has done so for over twenty years.  He is also the Regional Chair for the State Bar of Nevada Fee Dispute Committee, where he mediates and arbitrates disputes between disgruntled clients and their attorneys.  John also volunteers as an attorney for Washoe County, handling pro bono cases for children in foster care.  

Personally, John is married to his wife, Neece (Amodei), and they have two children, Abby, and Riley.  Abby is a nurse B.S.N.  and Riley is presently attending Boyd law school.  John enjoys many outdoor activities, including golf, tennis and skiing.  He is also always happy to chat about adventures with his happy-go-lucky German wirehair Lola as they attempt to chase the ever-elusive chukar partridge.