Oct. 16, 2014
Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP
See more on Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLPSan Francisco | Litigation
Or as they like to put it, "We're kick-ass lawyers who have fun."
"And we like each other," added name partner Nanci L. Clarence in a recent interview.
She and fellow partners Kathleen T. Dyer and Joshua A. Cohen have defended strippers, prostitutes, gangs, and pornographers.
They also represent Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which became unpopular in recent years after one of its pipelines ruptured in late 2010, killing eight people in a San Bruno neighborhood.
"We're not afraid of controversy," Clarence said. "A lot of lawyers might comment about a lawsuit, 'Oh, that's a case about prostitution. That's unseemly.' A lot of downtown firms might not want that case."
Some of the firm's more colorful clients include Eric Omuro and Annmarie Lanoce, the alleged proprietors of MyRedbook.com, which once provided sex workers an outlet to post advertisements of their services.
The FBI shut down the Bay Area-based website in June - a notice appears on it for users who visit now, saying the website had been running a "probable" money laundering operation. Omuro and Lanoce received a grand jury indictment claiming they used the Internet to enable prostitution.
Clarence and Cohen, who are both working on the case, said the allegations run parallel to Craigslist, which has faced accusations that its website serves as a portal for escort services.
"The government took down an entire website that had lots of other uses outside of prostitution," she said.
Cases like MyRedbook.com raise First Amendment issues that Clarence Dyer & Cohen "believes strongly about," Clarence noted. "We're not embarrassed by our idealism."
The firm also works on a host of perhaps more traditional corporate defense cases, such as price fixing. Clarence recently helped a client dodge an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is pursuing manufacturers for their alleged price fixing of auto parts.
On the diverse set of lawsuits, Cohen said his caseload strikes the right balance between clients who desperately need a good lawyer and others whose cases present interesting and challenging defenses, such as those on the white-collar side.
"You often have a complex set of facts that have not yet been litigated," Cohen said.
The firm handles many of its cases in California federal courts. A lot of its work deals in white-collar defense, with Cohen and Clarence handling the brunt of the firm's criminal caseloads, while Dyer deals with most of the civil matters.
In the near future, Clarence Dyer & Cohen would like to remain the same size, handling the same type of work, Cohen said.
"I don't want this mix of cases to get distorted too heavily in either direction," he said, with Clarence adding, "And we do that by remaining small and nimble."
- Saul Sugarman
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