CHIP MERLINADVOCATE. AUTHOR. EXPLORER.

CHIP’S STORY

Knowing where you stand
changes what comes next.

I know what it feels like to need help and not know where to turn. Long before I represented policyholders, an accident left me uncertain about my own rights. Learning how to stand up for myself led me toward a life of advocating for others. Today, that work sits alongside writing, sailing, and conversations about the choices that shape us.

Start at the beginning ↓
Portrait of Chip MerlinCHIP MERLIN / FOUNDER, MERLIN LAW GROUP

01 / WHERE IT BEGAN

A lesson
close to home.

When I was about ten, our water heater broke. I overheard my mother tell my father that if anything else went wrong, we would not have the money to fix it. My father was a Coast Guard officer; my mother was a nurse. They were careful with money, but we lived paycheck to paycheck. That moment stayed with me. I understood how one unexpected expense could unsettle a family, even when they had worked hard and done their best.

02 / THE MOMENTS THAT SHAPED ME

A life takes shape
one experience at a time.

Childhood

Learning What Financial Security Means

A broken water heater made our family’s finances real to me. My parents worked hard, yet another repair could have stretched us beyond what we could afford. I wanted a career that would give me more financial security than I felt in that moment.

1970

Seeing What a Storm Leaves Behind

My father’s Coast Guard work brought us to Mississippi after Hurricane Camille. I remember the water marks on our rented home in Waveland and the stories our friends told about surviving the storm. The aftermath was part of the community I came to know.

Before college

An Accident Changed My Direction

A car accident before college left me with a fractured elbow and thumb. Others involved had lawyers; I did not. Feeling powerless made me see the value of knowing my rights. Law became a way to stand up for myself and, eventually, for others.

Since 1985

Standing on the Policyholder’s Side

Representing policyholders became my life’s work. Through the lean early years of my own firm and its growth across the country, the part I valued most remained the same: advocating for people and businesses who needed help getting their insurance companies to honor their promises.

2005

Returning to a Coast I Knew

After Hurricane Katrina, our work brought me back to the Mississippi coast. Seeing familiar communities devastated was heartbreaking. Friends I had known since childhood had lost their home. Those experiences made the human cost of an insurance dispute impossible to separate from the legal work.

2020

Putting Experience Into Other Hands

I wrote Pay Up! to help people understand insurance practices, recognize problems, and know when to ask for help. Sharing what I had learned through the book and my blog gave people another way to become more informed advocates for themselves.

Today

Making Room for New Conversations

Uncharted with Chip Merlin brings another part of my life into view. Through conversations with leaders, advocates, entrepreneurs, and people with firsthand stories, I am exploring the choices and turning points that shape us, and the perspectives we can carry into what comes next.

03 / WHAT I BELIEVE

Listen to the person.
Look at the facts.

I believe people deserve to be heard before they are judged. In Pay Up!, I describe representing a woman whose unusual beliefs about her stolen gemstones helped make her insurer suspicious. I did not share those beliefs, but listening to her mattered. An unfamiliar story is not a reason to dismiss a person. That is part of advocacy for me: understand the individual, examine the facts, and be willing to stand beside someone whose experience others have brushed aside.

“But what I love the most about being an insurance claims attorney is advocating for other people.”
CHIP MERLIN · PAY UP!
A sailor smiling at the helm on open water

04 / LIFE BEYOND THE WORK

Another chapter.
Beyond the shore.

Away from my practice, you can find me racing sailboats. Sailing is another part of the story I want to share, alongside the work that has shaped my career. In Mavericks & Merlins, I write about offshore racing aboard Merlin, the people who make it possible, and the preparation and teamwork involved in taking on something unfamiliar.

Explore Merlin Yacht Racing ↗

05 / WHAT COMES NEXT

There is more
to explore.

There is more I want to learn and share. Explore my books, join me for Uncharted, and get to know the experiences and people who continue to shape the way I see the world.

Explore the books ↗Discover Uncharted ↗