Gabrielle A. Vidal

LOS ANGELES - As co-chair of Loeb's trust and estate litigation practice and chair of its guardianship practice, Gabrielle A. Vidal has represented celebrities and high net worth families in difficult, personal situations for many years.

She perhaps is best known for representing the late Sumner Redstone to secure the then-controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. the right to control his own affairs and estate plan.

But her practice has shifted somewhat in the last few years, she said. "Lately, I've really expanded the work I'm doing in guardianships."

In California law, guardianships involve children, while adults may be placed into conservatorships.

A typical case is a grandparent who needs to care for a grandchild because the parent has an addiction or other problem.

Vidal handled exactly that sort of matter for Carol Burnett when the star sought guardianship over her grandson Dylan, whose mother, Erin Hamilton, battles substance abuse. The court granted the temporary guardianship in September 2020.

She handled a very different sort of matter a couple of years ago for Buzz Aldrin's children. They sought a guardianship over the famed astronaut, which was contested.

Vidal said the case would have been labeled a conservatorship in California, but in Florida, it was a guardianship.

Vidal said she never comments publicly about specific matters. "Which is why I think, in part, people think I will take care of them."

That is also one reason why her guardianship cases have increased. "I think it is the combined approach that I have to really unpack the psychology of each of the cases," she said. "I develop really close bonds with my clients and have relationships that extend far past when the litigations end."