Practice Areas
Expertise, Experience
and Efficiency
The Firm’s dedicated practice areas ensures that you will have the full-service dedication required to meet all of your legal needs. These key practice areas allows you the flexibility and the opportunity to create a synergy in helping you achieve your legal needs.
Practice areas
Appellate
The Firm has over thirty years of experience handling appeals in both state and federal Courts of Appeal. This experience includes handling appeals as part of the comprehensive services the Firm performs for all of its litigation clients, which ensures that the Firm’s winning results at trial are protected on appeal. In addition, the Firm is routinely retained as appellate counsel in matters where a client’s prior counsel lost at trial, and the client needs appellate counsel to obtain a reversal of the adverse decision.
Representative appellate matters include real property disputes, title and escrow claims, homeowner association and construction disputes, partnership disputes, trade secret and breach of fiduciary duty claims, and disputes related to oil and gas operator surface rights. The Firm’s appellate work has resulted in numerous published opinions.
Business Litigation
The Firm’s business litigation group handles all forms of dispute resolution that confront businesses, corporations, individuals and organizations, from the most complex and sophisticated to routine disputes that arise on a daily basis. Our attorneys are experienced trial lawyers with substantial experience in both state and federal court matters and alternative dispute resolution proceedings such as judicial reference, arbitration and mediation.
Representative matters include corporate disputes involving shareholders, officers and directors; partnership and joint venture disputes; all aspects of real estate disputes including acquisition, development and land use; disputes involving financial institutions; general commercial and contractual disputes; and copyright and trade secret litigation.
Corporate Law
The Firm’s corporate group has substantial experience in a broad range of business law matters. Advice is provided regarding all aspects of entity formation, operation, reorganization and dissolution. This advice also extends to issues relating to capitalization, including debt and equity financing. The entities include corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, joint ventures, sole proprietorships, nonprofit organizations and trusts.
A central element in our representation of business clients is the negotiation and documentation of all forms of contractual relationships, including acquisition agreements, employment and independent contractor agreements, sales and distributorship agreements, licensing agreements, promissory notes and security agreements.
Labor and Employment
The Firm provides a wide spectrum of labor and employment services to management for both small and large businesses. The Firm provides advice and counsel to its clients concerning compliance with federal, state and local laws to minimize the likelihood of employment discrimination claims. We advise employers regarding a wide array of employment issues including employment contract disputes, discrimination and harassment claims wage and hour disputes. If lawsuits are filed, the Firm has litigated disability discrimination claims, sexual harassment and discrimination claims, age discrimination, race discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination and wage and hour disputes.
The Firm’s lawyers work actively in reviewing and revising employment practices, policies and handbooks, training managers and supervisors and providing advice regarding a wide range of employment issues including termination practices.The Firm’s employment lawyers also assist clients in preparing employment agreements, separation agreements, nondisclosure and non-solicitation agreements and other contracts.
Oil and Gas
For over thirty years, the Firm has provided comprehensive legal services for oil and gas operators, refiners and property owners in both litigation and transactional matters involving oil and gas rights. The Firm’s capabilities not only include the nuts and bolts of oil and gas law, but its attorneys are also experienced in a broad range of real estate legal issues related to oil and gas production.
Our attorneys advise clients in negotiating and preparing agreements for the acquisition, disposition and termination of interests related to the production of oil and gas. Representative matters include negotiation and preparation of leases, surface use relinquishment agreements, and purchase and sale agreements for oil operators and property owners, as well as refinery purchase and sale agreements.
The Firm also represents oil and gas operators, refiners and property owners in matters arising from a variety of litigation and disputes related to surface rights, royalty payments, lease interpretation, termination of lease rights, environmental contamination claims, and oil and gas production and refinery operations.
Title Insurance and Escrow
The Firm is firmly entrenched in the title insurance and escrow industries, having litigated every type of real property dispute that can arise in the real estate and title industries. The Firm’s title and escrow practice group has extensive experience representing the world’s largest title insurance companies and their insureds, as well as underwritten title companies and escrow companies in complex real estate litigation.
Many of the Firm’s attorneys have formerly worked for some of the nation’s largest title insurers and bring to the practice extensive knowledge and insight in handling a myriad of title and escrow matters. The Firm’s attorneys have extensive experience litigating insurance bad faith, escrow negligence and malfeasance, identity theft, title defects, boundary and encroachment disputes, easements, forged instruments, equitable subrogation, mechanic’s liens and conflicting claims of lien priority.
Real Estate Transactions
The Firm’s real estate group represents owners, developers, investors and lenders within the various segments of the real estate industry, including residential, commercial and industrial development. Our real estate practice includes land acquisition and disposition; representing land owners in public financing, including the formation of community facilities’ districts and other special districts; issues regarding the subdivision map act; complex multi-party agreements regarding coordination of development responsibilities, cost-sharing, easements and other use rights; merchant builder relationships; build for rent; construction contracts; commercial and residential lease negotiation and documentation; common interest developments including the creation of master-planned communities, condominiums and planned unit developments; subdivision matters and the formation of limited liability companies and other real estate development entities.
The Firm also provides counseling in land use matters, zoning and entitlements, negotiation and drafting of development agreements, as well as the representation of clients before various local and state governmental and regulatory agencies.
The Firm represents both borrowers and lenders in lending transactions, as well as loan restructuring, workouts and enforcement of security.
Members of the Firm have extensive experience in issues involving titles, such as title insurance policies and related endorsements, easements, liens and other real property interests.