Rachel L. Fiset  

Rachel L. Fiset left Big Law to found her women-owned boutique in 2018 with the aim of providing effective results while promoting women in the legal industry. Zweiback Fiset & Zalduendo LLP Law focuses on civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, government investigations and cybersecurity. In the five years since its founding, the firm has grown from four to 11 lawyers, and Fiset has been involved in some of the highest-profile government investigations in the Central District of California.

"It's been really exciting to grow the firm and to do it in our way," Fiset said. "We're trying to create an environment where people want to come to work, that's collaborative, and they want to practice law. We're also trying to build entrepreneurs from the business end of the law."

Fiset recently represented the inventor of a payment ring technology that has been the subject of an ownership dispute for several years. Esos Rings, Inc. v. Prencipe, et. al, BC652020 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed Feb. 27, 2017).

Plaintiffs filed eight causes of action against her client, seeking approximately $30 million in damages over alleged fraudulent transfers of patents for the technology.

"A payment ring is like your Apple Wallet, where you can swipe your ring" for contactless payment, Fiset explained. "But no one has seen that in the U.S. for a while due to this five-year litigation over the technology."

Prior to the jury trial, a bench trial took place and plaintiff dismissed all claims except a breach of fiduciary duty claim. During trial, Fiset obtained a full dismissal. After just 30 minutes of cross-examining the plaintiff and before putting on her client's full defense, plaintiff's counsel called a sidebar to dismiss its remaining claim.

Presenting a clear story and taking a direct approach to the cross-examination was crucial to obtaining the dismissal, she said.

"Our defense was very clear. And where the plaintiff had holes -- or was maybe filling in information that didn't exist -- really came out when we did a deep dive into the evidence and cross-examined on that evidence. In this case, I went back to the plaintiff's own words, and I think that was pretty clear for the jury. My guess is that's why we were dismissed at that time. But it was still five years down the line," she said. "It was a hard-fought battle."

With her firm's focus on diversity and leadership, it makes sense that Fiset is also an active member of organizations such as the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF), where she serves as the national leader for the Compliance and Government Investigations Practice Area Committee. She is also involved with the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Women's White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA).

-- Jennifer Chung Klam