From left, John Swenson, Jennifer Woo Burns, Monica Hartstock, Christian Scali and Dominique Nasr
The eight attorney firm, founded by Christian J. Scali in 2013 is dedicated to providing the value added service that comes from a deep understanding of the automotive industry, from state and national level laws and regulations to a network of automotive industry professionals, Scali Law firm works to stay on the cutting edge of new industry trends.
For its clients, which include auto dealer groups and storage and moving companies,
Scali provides regulatory advice and counsel on specialized matters, including vehicle-sales
advertising, transactional matters and consumer and business litigation such as class
actions.
"We know the trends, we know their issues, we are tied into the dealer associations,
we keep abreast of all the different changes in the law as they come out," Scali said
"When you know your client's industry as well as we do, it really gives clients a
feeling that they don't have with other law firms."
The firm also helps teach auto dealers how to advertise compliantly, particularly
in digital advertising. They give advice and counsel to dealers, help them create
compliant advertising programs and advocate compliance offices.
They also have flexible rates allowing them to have clients at both the national and
small dealer level.
"We are proud that we can represent the family-owned small dealer and the national
groups because we have some flexibility in our rate structures," Scali said. "They
know how much they are going to spend every month and they don't worry about picking
up the phone every time they have an issue."
The firm is currently defending a Texas-based dealership group in a $10 million corporate
raiding and trade secret lawsuit. It's also defending a California automobile dealership
against wage and hour claims in a class action brought by its service technicians.
And the firm is representing a New York limousine dealership and upfitter in breach
of contract litigation in California in a dispute over limousine customizations.
The firm is in the discovery phase of a lawsuit that will go into arbitration in 2016
in a case in which the firm is defending a publicly-traded auto dealer group's dealership
in an age discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee. The plaintiff is claiming
the company did not have legitimate reasons for restructuring its business and therefore
did not have reason to discharge or reassign several management-level employees.
Despite the firm's client roster, Scali said he does not see the firm growing any
larger than a boutique. He said he prefers clients continue to know the team and feel
comfortable calling any of them with questions.
"Staying a boutique size is important to a lot of clients. A lot of our clients know
the team they know almost every member of the team and they feel comfortable calling
almost every one of those for a particular legal matter," he said.
- RYAN VAN VELZER
#261279
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