Candess Zona-Mendola

Senior Trial Paralegal

The Lange Law Firm

Candess Zona-Mendola is the senior trial paralegal of the Lange Law Firm, PLLC. She has been a paralegal for over two decades, was educated at Chapman University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and holds degrees in anthropology and paralegal studies.

In her current role, Candess helps families who have been harmed when corporations sell food contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio or other food poisoning pathogens. she also helps people who have been affected by water contaminated with Legionella and Legionnaires’ Disease.

At the beginning of her career, Candess helped people with family law, civil rights, and employment cases. She then went to work on national mass tort cases, where she helped women who had been injured by defective medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Some of Candess’s greatest triumphs have come as a trial paralegal on trial teams that won over $296 million in verdicts (so far).

Candess has been invited to speak at national seminars on the behind the scenes work that goes into taking cases to trial in federal court, as well as on food safety litigation. She is also the editor of several legal blogs, including the award-winning www.MakeFoodSafe.com.

There are many things that Candess loves about being a paralegal. But her greatest joy, and the deepest meaning she finds in her work, is in helping people. For Candess, clients are family. She makes it a point to help clients, especially those who have never found themselves in a legal proceeding before, understand the process. She is never too busy to take time to explain a complicated issue, answer a question, or lend a supportive ear. She believes that clients call when something terrible has happened in their lives and they need help; and that it’s her job to be there and support them in getting the help they need so that they can rebuild their lives.