Deborah Song

Deborah Song founded Empire Attorneys to bring Orange County–style personal injury representation back to the Inland Empire — the community she grew up in. The firm handles personal injury matters across California, primarily car, truck, motorcycle, and pedestrian accidents, plus premises liability, wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, and construction injury cases, from offices in Eastvale and Norco. Deborah is, by her own count, the only full-time personal injury attorney practicing in Norco and Eastvale. She is a Super Lawyers Rising Star (peer-nominated, 2022 and 2023), a member of the Hispanic Bar Association of the Inland Empire and the Mexican Bar Association, and Secretary of the Norco Rotary Club. Empire Attorneys is unusual in how aggressively it pursues property-damage damages most personal injury firms ignore — diminution in value, loss of use, and GAP-insurance coordination — through a dedicated property-damage department. Phillip B. Nghiem (Of Counsel, CA Bar #291525) joins Deborah on select trial matters; Phillip was part of the team that secured a $52.9 million verdict in 2022 and is also a Super Lawyers Rising Star (2022–2023). After watching her parents' divorce attorneys either overbill or underwork their cases, Deborah knew she wanted to practice law differently — with actual care for clients who deserve more than a settlement-mill phone tree.

What Inspired Deborah?

Deborah's path to law began in middle school watching C-SPAN and dreaming of becoming president. She did a school project mapping the path to the White House, which included law school. But growing up in Moreno Valley with Korean immigrant parents who barely spoke English, she had no legal connections. Her parents' bitter divorce exposed her to how attorneys could either overbill endlessly or take flat fees and then ignore the case. She realized family law was too emotionally intense after attending orientation sessions. A law school classmate working at a personal injury firm offered to help her get her first job, even though Deborah had never heard of personal injury law. That's when she discovered her calling: helping people navigate insurance companies that don't listen.

Mission & Vision

Deborah's mission is to make clients feel heard and take the burden off them so they can focus on recovery. She believes the most important thing is ensuring clients know someone is on their side who understands how to navigate the insurance process they can't handle themselves. Her goal is just compensation, but always keeping the client's best interests in mind — including their mental and emotional health. Sometimes that means not pursuing every last dollar if litigation would harm the client more than help them. At the end of the day, it's the client's case, and Deborah delivers what they want to achieve, not what maximizes her fees.

Career History

Deborah Song built her trial skills at Orange County personal injury firms while finishing her J.D. at Western State University College of Law in Irvine. She started at Whittier Law School but transferred when the school announced it was shutting down during her first semester. At Western State, she worked part-time during the day and attended classes at night, gaining hands-on experience at trial firms that taught her Orange County's aggressive litigation style. She trained at the OCBA College of Trial Advocacy and Trial Lawyers University before founding Empire Attorneys to serve the Inland Empire community where she grew up. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star by peer nomination and helped recover over $50 million for clients across her career. Today Deborah leads Empire Attorneys (dba Inland Injury) from offices in Eastvale and Norco, working with Of-Counsel Phillip B. Nghiem on select trial matters.