Hawthorne Lawyers

Mr. Morris is a former SEC Enforcement Attorney. He specializes in complex securities litigation with special emphasis in representing issuers, officers and directors, investment funds, analysts, and brokers in connection with Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority investigations, litigation, and arbitration.

Seth Nayowitz is an associate in the real estate department, focusing on real estate purchase and sale, financing and leasing transactions.

Ms. Gold is an experienced litigation attorney who specializes in class action labor and employment matters. She spent the first decade of her career at a major law firm working on a wide range of business matters, including defending clients in high-stakes class action litigation. This experience provided Ms. Gold with valuable insight on how to best position cases for settlement and/or trial by allowing her to better understand defendants’ strategies, incentives, and motivations throughout the various phases of litigation. Ms. Gold then transitioned to a well-known boutique plaintiff-side class action law firm, where she was instrumental in obtaining nearly $100,000,000...

Danielle L. GruppChang is a passionate advocate for workers’ rights and a seasoned attorney specializing in wage and hour class actions. Raised in a family where both parents worked in the restaurant industry, Ms. GruppChang developed an early respect for the hard work and resilience of the Californian workers. This background exposed Ms. GruppChang the struggles of working-class individuals sparked her dedication to fighting for justice on behalf of workers. Ms. GruppChang’s professional journey began when she started working at a local coffee shop and continued throughout college where she worked tables, often serving her classmates. These experiences further resolved her...

Lara is an associate attorney at Blackstone Law. She graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice and a minor in Communications. Lara then earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles where she specialized in Critical Race Studies. While in law school, Lara worked as a law clerk at the District of Columbia Public Defender Service and as a judicial clerk in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Hearings Unit in Los Angeles. She was involved with the El Centro Teen Court Clinic, Disability Law Journal,...

Leo Livshits is an accomplished employment attorney with extensive trial and litigation experience. Mr. Livshits handles a wide variety of employment matters involving workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other civil rights violations. Aside from securing numerous seven-figure settlements in single-plaintiff cases, Mr. Livshits has co-chaired jury trials and arbitrations that resulted in verdicts or judgments of $155.4 million, $2.7 million, $1.7 million, and $1 million. Additionally, Mr. Livshits has successfully litigated appeals in state and federal court. This includes a published decision in Hernandez v. Meridian Management Services, LLC (2023) 87 Cal.App.5th 1214, where the California Court of Appeal found that...

Betty is an associate attorney at Blackstone Law. She graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Armenian Studies. While in undergrad, Betty, along with fellow classmates, started the Armenian Pre-Law Students Association, to connect Armenian students aspiring to become attorneys to successful alumni within their community. A proud double Bruin, Betty later attended UCLA School of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctorate. As a law student, Betty’s professor recognized her articulate writing abilities and selected her as a Legal Research and Writing Advisor for first...

Ms. Schimmel’s practice is dedicated to employment litigation matters on behalf of California employees. More than half of Ms. Schimmel’s experience has been focused on representing employees in wage and hour class and representative actions for labor code violations (including, but not limited to, claims unpaid overtime, minimum wages, expense reimbursement, meal and rest period), as well as consumer and privacy right matters. Ms. Schimmel’s experience also includes representing employees in wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation matters against employers who violate California law. She has successfully prosecuted and resolved hundreds of cases. Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Schimmel...

Alex is a Senior Associate Attorney at Blackstone Law. Alex is an active member of the legal community as it relates to employees’ rights. Alex is a member of the California Employment Lawyers’ Association (CELA), and is on the committee for the Mentor Committee, the Women’s Committee, the Legislative Committee, the Wage and Hour Committee, and the New Member Committee, as well as a recent admit to the 2024 – 2025 CELA Leadership Conservatory. Alex has significant experience providing the best counsel for his clients, whether through trial, or through multimillion dollar settlements, or through whatever need the client may describe....

P.J. Van Ert is a seasoned trial lawyer and civil litigator specializing in class actions and individual employment matters. As a Blackstone law associate she dedicates her practice to California employees. After more than 75 criminal jury trials during thirteen years as a deputy district attorney, she transitioned to civil litigation and found her way to Blackstone. From wage and hour theft to sexual harassment and hostile work environment, she is able to utilize her years of zealously advocating for victims of crime to get superior results in employment cases. Ms. Van Ert has earned guilty verdicts in lengthy homicide...

Immigration Lawyer that has represented EB-5 Investors, E-2 Visa Franchises from H1b, O-1 Entertainment , Visa Extensions, Family and Marriage, L-1 multi-national corporations for over 25 years. Mr. Silver specializes in Business, Employment, Investment and Entertainment Immigration. Mr. Silver has been selected to Top 25 Immigration Attorneys, Eb5 investors magazine, selected to Super Lawyers, and has been included in the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Order of Distinguished Attorneys.

Mark is a capital markets attorney known among his colleagues for his expertise in corporate and securities law. He counsels clients in raising capital online (tokens, coins, STOs, digital assets and other "securities"). He offers unique insight and perspective to his clients because of his experience in private practice representing both public and private companies in business transactions and courtroom securities litigation for more than twenty-five years and serving in senior positions as an attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for eight years. While Mark's clients include other attorneys, his passion...

Martin Yeranosyan, Esq., is an immigration attorney with vast amount of experience in family and employment based immigration as well as in removal and deportation defense cases. Our office represents employers throughout the United States who would like to petition for foreign professionals to work for their companies or corporations in the United States on a temporary or permanent basis. We have proudly represented many clients before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. immigration courts. Mr. Yeranosyan is also experienced in handling different types of nonimmigrant visas, waivers, motions, and appeals before the Board of...

Attorney Hines represents employees with claims against their employers for harassment, discrimination, retaliation and Labor Code violations.

Cyndie M. Chang is the Managing Partner of the firm's Los Angeles office and a member of the firm's governing Partners Board. Ms. Chang manages risks and resolves business challenges. She advises and partners with clients to defend them in commercial disputes, enforce their rights, mitigate exposure, and litigate their commercial disputes. She has often handled corporate litigation involving mergers & acquisitions, asset or stock sales, fraud, securities, purchase and sale agreements, business or partner break-ups. She also has handle many other complex or class action disputes involving contracts, trademarks, licensing, products liability, product safety and recall, construction defect, trade...

Mr. Choe began his legal career in workers’ compensation representing insurance companies and employers. As a defense attorney, he became well versed in the nuances of worker’s compensation laws allowing him to aggressively represent his clients. The Law Offices of Anthony Choe was founded to provide the same aggressive representation to injured workers. Mr. Choe is able to use his experience in dealing with insurance companies and employers for the benefit of injured workers to effectively obtain medical treatment and maximize recovery. What sets the Law Offices of Anthony Choe apart from other firms...

In 1991, after graduating near the top of his class, an insurance company hired Paul Zuckerman to be their lawyer. Paul approached the job with optimism. He believed the company’s advertisement and thought that he was hired to be there, like a good neighbor, for policyholders in need. However, Paul soon discovered that his work was merely padding the pockets of his employer, and not ensuring that injured people were compensated fairly. Thus, Paul, with his law school classmate John Carpenter, established a new kind of law firm: A law firm that only represents injured people against insurance companies. Paul...

Music and entertainment law was a natural progression given my background. Having had jobs / positions in production, publishing, artist and label management, I have unique perspective. I love helping artists with their business issues so they can focus on developing their craft.