Jennifer L. Keller

Early in the pandemic, the federal government wanted places to quarantine coronavirus patients from cruise ships. California offered a state-owned facility for the developmentally disabled in Costa Mesa, which it had closed.

But no one told Costa Mesa. When city officials stumbled on the news on Feb. 21, they called Keller. By that evening, she and her firm had won a temporary restraining order halting the move.

“We learned about it from the city on a Friday morning about 9 o’clock, and we had our petition filed before the end of the day,” Keller said.

They argued that the city had not been consulted about a plan that would move dozens of infected people into the community and house them in a rundown facility previously labeled uninhabitable.

Further, Keller said, there really was no plan. The state and federal authorities had not developed plans for training or protective equipment or housing staff or many other necessities, she said.

By the following Friday, the authorities abandoned the proposal, and the lawsuit was dismissed. Keller said since then, the city has been part of new talks about housing patients at the facility.

Keller says the architect of the fast response was senior counsel Nahal Kazemi, who produced a brief in about seven hours. City of Costa Mesa v. United States, 8:20-cv-00368, (C.D. Cal, filed Feb. 21, 2020).

“I’ve been really fortunate to be surrounded by these fabulous younger lawyers, who are so smart and so skilled,” she said.

She praises partner Chase A. Scolnick for securing a big win last year in an unusual tax case for Henry Nicholas over losses the Broadcom founder claimed on distressed assets. Broadwood Investment Fund LLC v. United States, 8:08-cv-00295 (C.D. Cal, filed March 18, 2008)

Two of her high-profile cases might go to trial comparatively soon, and she’ll try both with partner Reuben Camper Cahn. The first could be this spring when they’ll defend a parent charged in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal. U.S. v Sidoo, 1:19-cr-10080 (D. Mass, filed March 12, 2019).

Their next big civil trial likely will be the legal malpractice case against Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and a former partner for allegedly luring the lender CashCall Inc. into a flawed scheme to acquire consumer loans cloaked with immunity from state usury laws. Keller says damages exceed $500 million.

“It’s going to be a really fun trial,” she said.

— Don DeBenedictis