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Our Practice Areas
Real
Estate
The heart of our firm is real estate. We have
gained a statewide reputation in representing clients in real estate industry
matters ranging from mechanic’s lien foreclosure and stop notice litigation for
large institutional clients, to smaller easement disputes. We have tried to
judgment cases involving lien priority issues, specific performance claims (and
related lis pendens issues),
construction defect claims, foreclosures (both judicial and non-judicial),
receiverships, condemnation matters, claims of escrow negligence, title
insurance coverage issues, and related bad faith litigation. We have numerous
published appellate court decisions to our credit, and we are proud of our
contributions to the development of real estate law in California.
We offer transactional real estate services to sophisticated individuals and
institutional clients, involving such matters as construction loan financing
and commercial leasing. We pride ourselves on our ability to craft transactional
documents that squarely address many of the troublesome issues clients
frequently encounter. Because of our litigation expertise, we believe we have a
better perspective on the importance of clear and concise transactional
documents.
We welcome the opportunity to address any particular problem or issue
that you may face concerning a real estate matter.
Financial
Institutions and Bank/Thrift Representation
We represent
small and medium-sized lenders in loan document preparation, secured and
unsecured loan work-outs, and litigation related to these issues. Because of
our strong emphasis on real property matters, we provide a wide range of
experience in handling mortgage-related issues such as judicial and
non-judicial foreclosures (including the complex area of unified foreclosures),
receiverships, title defects, and title insurance coverage issues. Our firm has
faced the wide range of attacks typically asserted against real estate
collateral in a variety of circumstances.
We also
provide an array of services in general commercial law for our commercial
clients, including banks, thrifts, credit unions, and related regulated
entities. The scope of our services includes the following:
- We offer
lender representation regarding creditors' rights and commercial litigation
that covers various aspects of debt recovery, including work-out agreements,
litigation, provisional remedies (such as receiverships, attachments and claim
and delivery) and post-judgment enforcement.
- Collection on defaulted unsecured business loans, including seeking recovery
through writs of attachment on available assets.
- Pursuing motions for relief
from the bankruptcy automatic stay on defaulted secured real estate business
loans.
Business Law
Our firm assists sophisticated individuals and
corporate clients in the formation, operation and sale of businesses formed as
corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and related business
entities. We have also represented clients in franchise law and commercial
transactions, including intellectual property issues.
Environmental Law
Our firm, as part of its focus in real property
law, has represented clients involved in environmental regulation issues,
including compliance and disputes over liability for remediation. Over the years,
we have represented both private clients and public agencies in a variety of
environmental matters, ranging from consultation on due diligence requirements
in transactions, to contribution actions for cleanup costs.
Class and Representative Actions
We are one of the few law firms in the nation that
consistently represents clients in both prosecution and defense of class
actions, and other representative claims brought under California’s Unfair Business Practice Act.
This is a highly specialized area of practice that requires skillful evaluation
of a range of issues that are dynamic and complex. For many institutional
clients, such claims may raise serious issues concerning appropriate financial
disclosure, especially if the client is a publicly traded company. We are proud
that given our relatively small size, our partners possess significant depth
and experience in handling approximately thirty class or representative actions
since 1986. And we have done so for both defendants, and a select group of
plaintiffs. Simply put, we have been on both sides of the litigation fence. We
evaluate these types of cases with our specialties in mind.
We strongly encourage clients in defense of class and representative actions to
carefully evaluate any litigation from the perspective of both legal and
practical solutions. We have learned the value of intensive investigation of
the claimed offending practices, and the best approach to resolving the dispute
cost-effectively, and avoid expensive and frequently very intrusive litigation.
Our firm believes that a clear and thorough understanding of the client’s
business, its related business environment, and the market forces that mold
industry practices, are critical to a clear understanding of the nature of the
claims, and the best, long-term solution.
Professional
Malpractice Defense
Our
firm has a long history of representing professionals and their firms, in errors and omissions claims, breach
of fiduciary duty litigation, and related malpractice disputes.
This has been part of our practice for more than twenty years.
We have served as approved counsel for a number of errors and
omissions insurers, focusing on high-exposure claims arising
from real estate or commercial matters, including both litigation
and transactional malpractice. We have more recently directly
represented the interests of larger firms with high retentions.
We
are proud of our representation of attorneys over many years,
and we are sensitive to the disturbing and taxing impact these
cases have on our clients.
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