Jennifer L. Keller

Irvine

Complex Civil Trials

Jennifer L. Keller says that what she loves about her firm's practice is that "we just never seem to do the same thing twice."

"We just continue to have our extremely varied litigation practice," she said. "I think it's what most of the people in our firm love."

Of course, it's not exactly true that the firm never repeats. In May, Keller won a quick defense verdict for toymaker MGA Entertainment against claims the company had based the design of its LOL Surprise dolls on the trade dress of an obscure singing group. MGA Entertainment Inc. v. Harris, 2:20-cv-11548 (C.D. Cal., filed Dec. 22, 2020).

A dozen years before, she successfully defended MGA against claims that the design of its Bratz dolls rightfully belonged to Mattel.

In April last year, she obtained the dismissal of a federal sexual battery lawsuit against Snoop Dogg. Doe v. Broadus, 2:22-cv-00900 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 9, 2022).

Then, in October, she won a defense jury verdict for actor Kevin Spacey in a high-profile federal lawsuit alleging he had sexually assaulted another actor many years before. Rapp v. Fowler, 1:20-cv-09586 (S.D. N.Y., filed Sept. 9, 2020).

Keller said her firm is "developing a subspecialty in estate and trust matters, really big ones." She is representing the estate of Donald Callender, co-founder of the Marie Callender Pie Shops in a decade-old trust battle brought by Callendar's second wife and son. Trial is set for Dec. 15. Callender Family Trust, 30-2012-00618239 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 13, 2012).

She also is defending a New York-based Arnold & Porter partner against claims by a disinherited son of billionaire real estate mogul Sanford Diller, who is seeking as much as $3 billion. Diller v. Richardson, 18-PRO-001127 (San Mateo Super. Ct., filed Oct. 12, 2018).

But Keller's firm is also handling some types of cases it hasn't had before. She and a partner will be heading to trial in Georgia and South Carolina, defending Snap Inc. against allegations the now-deleted Snapchat Speed Filter led teen drivers to speed, resulting in serious injuries.

Keller said her firm never handles personal injury or wrongful death cases. But they are now representing the family of one of two Chapman University graduates slashed to death by the son of Egypt's immigration minister. They have already obtained a confidential settlement from the killer's employer and are pressing ahead against other defendants. Bahm v. Pence Wealth Management Inc., 30-2023-01323384 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed May 2, 2023).

She said she took the case because the victim's desperate father pleaded with her.

"It's challenging and interesting to do new kinds of cases," Keller said. She added that she now understands why plaintiffs' lawyers sometimes claim to be on the side of the angels. "When you're representing somebody who's gone through what these people have gone through, ... it's just awful."

-- Don DeBenedictis