Coto de Caza Lawyers

Mr. August has been practicing corporate and transactional law for over 30 years. He began his legal career in Washington, D.C., at the firm of Lane & Edson, where he was part of the team representing Wesray Capital on leveraged buyout transactions, and subsequently associated with the Washington, D.C. office of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, where he serviced its telecommunications and other clients with corporate fundraising and strategic transactions. In 1990, he moved to California to serve in the Los Angeles office of Graham & James, handling securities, mergers & acquisitions and other transactions for its primarily international...

Saul Acherman is an attorney licensed in California. He focuses on intellectual property matters, including patent and trademark prosecution and litigation. Saul is a registered patent attorney licensed to practice in patent matters before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (registration number 72,898). He is also involved with other business and civil litigation matters including business formation, contracts, and employment matters, and is admitted to practice in all courts of the State of California as well as the United States District Court for the Central District of California. After receiving a BA in Philosophy from the...

Manbir S. Chowdhary represents employees in all areas of labor and employment law, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, employee misclassification, and unpaid wages claims. Mr. Chowdhary's experience also includes contractual disputes, and the enforcement of partner/shareholder rights. Mr. Chowdhary's business litigation clients include real estate developers, national sportswear manufacturers, Fortune 500 executives, medical organizations, small businesses, and 501(c)(3) corporations. Mr. Chowdhary is a graduate of USC Law School, and a former legislative aide to the Lt. Governor of California. He is licensed to practice law in California, New York, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Mehrshad Mirkhan has nearly two decades of experience handling business law and civil litigation matters, including matters relating to business litigation, bankruptcy, contracts, banking, and more. He earned his law degree from the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific in 1998. Known for his strategic, comprehensive, and personalized approach, Mr. Mirkhan is a talented legal professional with a tendency to look outside of the box for sophisticated solutions. Mr. Mirkhan has received several awards for his legal service, including “Commitment to Clients Award” and “Most Patient Advocate Award” from The McGeorge School of Law.

Mr. Burkhalter is the founding partner of BKCG. He is an AV Preeminent rated lawyer, the top ranking in ability and ethics by Martindale- Hubbell. He has been selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer for Business Litigation every year since 2007. Mr. Burkhalter is a seasoned business trial lawyer who has successfully prosecuted and defended a wide array of cases. He has received multiple “8 figure” jury trial awards, including a Nashville jury verdict of $30.4 million. In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Burkhalter advises and represents clients in a wide variety of business settings, such as...

Gregory M. Clement's practice focuses on corporate, real estate and other transactional matters, as well as a wide array of employment law issues. Mr. Clement has handled the purchase and sale of numerous companies, including several multimillion dollar acquisitions by publicly traded companies and represents clients in a wide variety of fields including transportation, software, entertainment, insurance, Internet and telecommunications. Mr. Clement began his legal career as a business litigator in Washington, D.C. before joining the business litigation firm of Whitcombe, Makin & Pentis in Long Beach. Before joining BKCG in 2000, he was general counsel of Golden Eagle...

Daniel Kessler is the head of the firm’s litigation department and one of the firm’s founding partners. Mr. Kessler has litigated and tried a wide variety of business cases ranging from employment terminations to real estate development disputes to fraud and conspiracy to water rights. Mr. Kessler has secured multiple million-dollar jury verdicts for his clients, including significant punitive damage awards. Mr. Kessler has successfully defended clients before, during and at trial, including prevailing on several motions to dismiss the opposition’s case in its entirety, saving the expense of further trial. Mr. Kessler is a strong advocate for alternative dispute...

Michael Oberbeck is a senior counsel focusing on business litigation issues. At BKCG, Mr. Oberbeck has extensively litigated employment disputes, commercial and real property disputes, international manufacturing and distribution litigation, and trademark and franchise issues. Mr. Oberbeck has litigated cases throughout California in both state and federal courts, and he has obtained many client-favorable results at trial, arbitration, and mediation. Mr. Oberbeck also has authored and successfully argued several matters before the California Courts of Appeals for BKCG clients. Born in Evansville, Indiana, Mr. Oberbeck graduated, cum laude, from Purdue University in 1993 with a double major in Psychology...

Joshua Waldman is a senior counsel whose practice focuses primarily on business disputes. Mr. Waldman began his legal career as an extern for the Honorable Napoleon Jones, Jr. from the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. He was an associate for Walsworth, Franklin Bevins and McCall and Collins & Bellenghi, focusing on civil litigation, with an emphasis on business and employment disputes before joining BKCG. Since joining BKCG, Mr. Waldman has secured many positive outcomes for BKCG clients by winning dipositive motions, achieving extremely favorable settlements, and prevailing in multiple trials and arbitrations. Born in Phoenix, Mr....

Asif Arif Esq. is an extremely skilled attorney specializing in Immigration and Global Mobility. Asif is admitted to Paris and California Bar. With more than 10 years of experience representing clients between France and the United States, he is a key player in the French-American legal market.

I have been practicing exclusively Criminal Defense at the trial court level since June of 1997. During that time, I have had periods where I worked for several Criminal Defense firms and I have had period where I was court appointed on several thousand Indigent Criminal Defense matters. After the first years of my practice, I transitioned into handling privately retained matters and I have handled (almost) the entire range of Criminal Defense charges. I have tried cases as serious as Drug Manufacturing Labs and 3-Strikes Life cases and as minor as Petty Theft cases. I do not back down...

Elliott H. Stone is the founder and managing attorney of the STONE LLP.

Margaret B. Seymour, a retired U.S. District Judge (District of South Carolina, 1998–2022), was the first African American woman federal judge and chief federal judge in South Carolina. She served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge (1996–1998) before her district court appointment. Over 26 years, Judge Seymour presided over complex securities, contract, class action, commercial, banking, bankruptcy, employment, discrimination, and environmental cases, as well as criminal matters like drug conspiracies, white-collar crime, and Ponzi schemes. She sat by designation on the Fourth Circuit and participated in two three-judge-panel redistricting cases. She served twice on the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of...

John Thornton Greenway founded Guardian Litigation Group in 2018 to address the needs and interests of under-represented debtors across the country. In doing so John was able to quickly create one of the largest consumer advocacy firms in the United States. Following this success, the firm position expanded to include employment, personal injury, and estate planning services in order to provide a more holistic client experience that appealed to a larger audience. John has an aptitude for system design and controls that keeps the firm operating in an extremely efficient and effective manner despite the explosive growth. John grew up in...

Layn R. Phillips, founder of Phillips ADR Enterprises (PADRE), is a former U.S. Attorney and U.S. District Judge. Appointed at age 35 by President Reagan, he presided over 140+ trials in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, and sat by designation on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier, Judge Phillips served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, and at age 31, was nominated as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma. After leaving the bench, he spent 23 years at Irell & Manella, focusing on complex civil litigation, internal investigations, and alternative dispute resolution. He later founded PADRE, specializing...

Seth Aronson joined Phillips ADR in 2023, mediating disputes up to ten figures in securities, consumer class actions, privacy, false claims, shareholder derivative, antitrust, RMBS fraud, and complex litigation. He serves on the ADR panel for the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Retiring from O’Melveny & Myers LLP in 2022 after 40 years as a trial and appellate lawyer, Seth was managing partner of O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office and chaired its Securities Litigation practice. Ranked by Chambers USA for 20 years, he was named California Securities Litigation Attorney of the Year twice by Benchmark Litigation, a “Top 100 Lawyer”...

Elliot Brown, a Phillips ADR neutral, is the former managing partner of Irell & Manella LLP. He spent nearly 30 years in IP litigation, counseling, and licensing at a top IP practice. Elliot graduated cum laude from Harvard College (1985), earning Phi Beta Kappa and a John Harvard Scholar award. He studied philosophy of science at Princeton, receiving an MA (1987) and a Mellon Fellowship, where game theory and Daniel Kahneman’s work on bargaining and cognitive bias shaped his approach to dispute resolution. He earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School (1990), serving as a Harvard Law Review...

Before my association with Corporate Securities Legal LLP, I served as an associate in the Banking and Finance and Capital Markets group at Cariola Diez Perez-Cotapos. Prior to that, I was also an associate at Carey & Allende Abogados in Chile from 2010 to 2014.

Rabia is a seasoned real estate attorney at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, a full-service law firm with a global reach and a reputation for excellence. She has over 10 years of experience in advising clients on a full range of real estate transactions. Investors, property owners, developers and landlords rely on her counsel when buying, selling and leasing real property across the United States. She is experienced at handling all asset classes, including retail, office, industrial, storage and multifamily properties. She is adept at leasing, sale-leasebacks, purchases and sales, management agreements, CC&Rs and other real estate matters. She...

Tim is a Southern California attorney who boasts over 35 years of legal experience in asset protection, estate planning, zero tax planning and business succession law. He is a true leader in his field, and is a regular speaker at industry events. Tim has helped a large spectrum of clients, from successful small business owners to companies worth over $200 million dollars create a custom wealth protection plan. He is also the developer of a financial planning software called vBlueprint.com that helps other financial professionals and estate planning professionals create a customized solution to move their assets in line with their...

General practitioner who personally provides exemplary consultation and representation for families and businesses in Minnesota (Eagan) and California (Orange.) Business attorney who provides superior legal leadership for established companies, as well as startup endeavors. Institutes policies and procedures to ensure compliance with municipal, state and federal laws and regulations. Clients include medical service providers, security firms, restaurants, local organizations (not for profit,) home improvement contractors, etc. I pride myself on understanding a business’ needs and responding promptly, efficiently and effectively. Family attorney who provides compassionate legal guidance for empty nesters, as well as young couples. Focuses on ensuring a benevolent future...

Kimberly Lessing is an attorney dedicated to providing customized legal solutions to individuals, families, and businesses. Her practice areas include Estate Planning, Estate Administration, Probate, and Business Law. Ms. Lessing works with clients and their financial team to "plan, provide, and protect" their estates, businesses, and most importantly, the ones they love. Ms. Lessing is licensed to practice law in the State of California and has been admitted to the United States District Court, Central District. A Southern California native, she earned her law degree from Western State University. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology/Exercise...

Dr. Harrison is an experienced patent attorney and founding partner of Barcelo, Harrison & Walker, LLP (BHW). His practice as a patent attorney includes patent infringement litigation, post-grant procedings, e.g., inter-partes review, before the US Patent & Trademark Office, and patent preparation and patent prosecution. Before co-founding BHW, Dr. Harrison served as an in-house counsel for Western Digital Corp., and as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella, LLP. Dr. Harrison also has many years of prior professional engineering experience in industry and academia. He was formerly employed as an R&D Manager at Seagate Technology, served on the...

Charles W Daff is a Certified Bankruptcy Specialist by The State Bar of California with over 43 years of experience as an attorney for debtors and creditors.  Charles represents clients in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California in all of its Divisions. Charles Daff is currently a Chapter 7 Panel Trustee in the Riverside Division with over 33 years experience.   Designated a “Super Lawyer”, an award granted to the top 5% of attorneys in Southern California. Charles is a member of the Orange County Bar Association, American Bankruptcy Institute, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, National Association of Consumer...