Mandy Moua as Associate

Moua conducts legal research, drafts legal documents and assists attorneys in all stages of litigation for the firm's cases.

Steven L. Weiss as Attorney

Based in Calabasas, Weiss regularly represents families throughout Ventura and Los Angeles counties. He has 40 years of experience and earned his certification as a Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specializations in 1994.

Luke H. Bennion as Associate

During law school at Southwestern, Bennion participated in the Children's Rights Clinic, where he provided direct legal services in special education advocacy on minor clients' behalf at Individual Education Program (IEP) and discipline meetings involving children with disabilities in low-income families. He brings a fervent commitment to advocating tirelessly for clients from all walks of life, the firm said.

Melanie F. Gardner-Pawlak as Attorney

Gardner-Pawlak has been practicing family law for more than 20 years and has extensive trial experience in all aspects of family law matters including, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, division of property, premarital agreements, and domestic violence restraining orders. Melanie is extremely adept at strategizing and litigating matters involving complex compensation, including business ownership and valuation, as well as highly contested child custody disputes for both divorce and paternity matters.

She is a member of the Family Law Sections of the California State Bar, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the San Fernando Valley Bar Association. She is also a member of the San Fernando Valley Bar Family Law Executive Committee, and volunteers as a Family Law Mediator for the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Matthew A. Breddan as Shareholder

Breddan joined The Reape-Rickett Law Firm and in 2013, establishing the firm's Calabasas office. He provides representation on a wide range of family law matters, from divorce to paternity, child custody and visitation, child support, spousal support, property division, domestic violence restraining orders and more.

Breddan volunteers his time to the Los Angeles County Superior Courts and mediates in the San Fernando, Van Nuys, and Central Courthouses. He has also held several leadership positions within legal organizations. He is the immediate past president of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association and is the current vice-president for the SFVBA's Valley Community Legal Fund.

Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos as Neutral in Los Angeles from Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Palazuelos was appointed to the Superior Court in 2000, presiding over the individual civil calendar across all manner of civil matters, including Michael Jackson's wrongful death lawsuit in 2013. Since 2019, she was tapped to exclusively preside over complex civil cases, including mass torts, class actions and business disputes. For the decade preceding her appointment, Palazuelos served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, prosecuting all kinds of federal criminal matters. She began her career as a litigation associate, defending insurance companies.

Nicholas D. Lauber as Attorney in Los Angeles from Garrett & Tully, APC .

Lauber is an experienced litigator who began his career as a prosecutor, gaining unparalleled jury trial skills as a first-chair attorney. As a prosecutor he developed a reputation for his approach to a high volume of cases on behalf of victims of exploitation, violations of privacy, and abuse. He has defended clients, including law enforcement officers, in high-stakes civil rights litigation in state and federal court.

Kelly Li as Of Counsel in Los Angeles from Weinberg Gonser LLP.

Li is an accomplished attorney with both in-house and major law firm experience advising and representing clients on complex business, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate matters. She is fluent in Cantonese Chinese and has handled matters including commercial disputes, $100-million real estate developments, strategic partnerships and joint ventures, brand licensing and apparel agreements and disputes, manufacturing and supply chain logistics matters across the United States, Italy, Hong Kong, and China.

Peter Pottier as Attorney in Los Angeles from Loeb & Loeb LLP.

Pottier is an experienced litigator whose comprehensive practice includes commercial disputes, copyright infringement, intellectual property disputes, securities class actions, and advertising and promotions matters. Notably, he has worked extensively with music industry clients, representing artists and songwriters, and has significant knowledge of emerging technologies and entrepreneurship.

Nico L. Brancolini as Attorney in Los Angeles from Conkle, Kremer & Engel .

Brancolini is a skilled litigator whose legal experience encompasses antitrust, class actions, general and international business litigation, music streaming and attendant intellectual property rights, products liability, and other matters. His work in complex litigation includes negotiating and executing substantial global settlements, often in the multi-million-dollar range, particularly in mass tort and class action cases.

Ohia A. Amadi as Counsel in Los Angeles from Akerman LLP.

Amadi has successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants in disputes involving investment and securities fraud and counseled clients in the financial services and securities industries in federal and state courts and before arbitration, regulatory, and enforcement forums, including the SEC, FINRA, the California Department of Business Oversight, and the California Department of Insurance.

Alisha Meyer as Attorney Investigator in Oakland from The Lucas Law Firm.

Meyer's practice concentrates on conducting thorough investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, abusive conduct, and other workplace misconduct issues within public and private entities. She joins OIG after nearly a decade of counseling plaintiffs on a wide range of employment disputes, including claims involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful and constructive termination, employment contracts, and workplace accommodations, and representing clients in all stages of employment litigation.

Jeffrey D. Morton as Partner in Orange County from Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, .

Morton's practice focuses on the life sciences industry, where he primarily works for innovative companies on patent strategy and prosecution. Jeff has patent experience in technologies including genomics, immunology, and gene editing, and he advises on complex freedom-to-operate life sciences issues.

Daniel Mallet as Partner in Orange County from Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP.

Mallet's practice focuses primarily on real estate finance transactions on behalf of clients such as national and regional banks, insurance debt funds, and private equity lenders. He has considerable experience documenting highly structured and complex construction and term loan lending facilities, as well as workouts and restructurings. His record of accomplishment includes the finance of major hotels and resorts, e-commerce-focused industrial and distribution centers, high-rise office buildings, biomedical research complexes, and skilled nursing facilities.

Steven E. Meyer as Partner in Los Angeles from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP.

Meyer has more than 30 years of experience defending clients in all types of civil litigation and has tried more than 25 cases to verdict. His courtroom experience involves products, environmental, toxic tort, real estate, business litigation, and other litigation matters. For decades, he has represented a deep, diverse client base defending designers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of automotive, industrial, and mechanical machinery, consumer products, and chemicals.

Anika Prednis as Associate in Orange County

Prednis assists individual and corporate clients in complex commercial and real estate litigation, preparing key documents at all stages of a dispute. She also counsels clients on litigation strategy and develops efficient solutions for alternative dispute resolution.

Brian Lee as Associate in Los Angeles from UC San Francisco College of Law.

Brian Lee represents clients in all types of civil litigation, with a particular emphasis on product liability, premises liability, and medical malpractice defense. Practicing in both state and federal court, he is experienced in pre-suit counseling, as well as all phases of litigation, and has achieved successes in all types of resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and trial.

Jeffrey B. Stoltz as Counsel in Los Angeles from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP.

Stoltz defends businesses in complex product liability and toxic tort cases and repeat litigation. In more than 20 years of practice, he has developed expertise in defending national and international corporate clients in the consumer products industries and in the defense of manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, and premises owners in toxic tort and environmental litigation.

Brandon W. Lansche as Counsel in Los Angeles from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP.

Lansche, an experienced litigator and trial lawyer, defends businesses in high-risk product liability suits. He represents auto manufacturers, consumer product companies, medical device companies, insurers, and other businesses in product liability cases in state and federal courts across the United States. Lansche is known for winning legal arguments in motion practice, mediation, trial, and appeal, as well as the successful strategies he implements at all levels of the life of a case.

Isabelle Corbett Sterling as Counsel in San Francisco from R3.

Sterling is a commodity and derivatives lawyer with a strong focus on blockchain technology and digital assets. She advises clients on various matters in those areas, including regulatory, enforcement, investigations, transactional and legislative. She has extensive experience in advocacy at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), prudential regulators, and on Capitol Hill on issues relating to emerging technology such as blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as futures, options, swaps, and commodity markets.

Marlene J. Williams as Of Counsel in San Francisco from Buchalter.

Williams advises clients to maximize the value of their brands and copyrights to avoid risks connected with the establishment of new brands and creative works. She has valuable experience working with both established organizations and emerging companies to strategically build trademark and copyright assets and protect the value of those assets.

Juan Pablo Albán as Shareholder in Los Angeles from Stuart Alban Law PC .

Albán has more than 20 years of experience as a California attorney for top-ranked global law firms and has served as external general counsel for SEC-registered private fund managers and venture-stage operating companies, among others.

Steven G. Williamson as Counsel in Los Angeles from Perkins Coie.

Williamson's practice focuses on complex commercial litigation in trial and appellate courts at the state and federal levels. He has extensive experience representing defendants and plaintiffs in complex business disputes, including mass torts, trade secret, non-compete, environmental, product liability, regulatory, and construction matters.

Diane Lieu as Of Counsel in Youngman Reitshtein, PLC (Los Angeles)

Lieu specializes in family law and has worked in the U.S. and Korea, including at a major corporation.

Jinna Kang as Partner in Youngman Reitshtein, PLC (Los Angeles)

Kang is licensed to practice law in California, Washington, D.C., and Texas. She is one of only three board certified Family Law Specialists in California with Korean language fluency. She is also the first of only two Korean speaking fellows of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. Kang has international experience and extensive history handling domestic violence matters.

Tina L Li as Director in San Francisco

LI joined the firm in March 2022 and has considerable experience counseling clients in matters relating to professional liability, cybersecurity, construction, medical malpractice, general liability, and defense of directors and officers. She has obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a homeowner's association, was granted the anti-SLAPP motion in an action against a homeowner's association and its directors and obtained judgment in favor of her client against a former director of a homeowner's association.

Dorothy Groza as Senior Counsel in Los Angeles from Empire.

Groza has an extensive background in commercial real estate and regulatory issues - including international and multi-state development, foreign investor and joint venture projects -- facilitating the acquisition, disposition, leasing and development of over $900 million in real estate transactions on behalf of clients in the hospitality, food and beverage, retail, multifamily and technology sectors.

Rebecca Stuart as Partner in Palo Alto from Wilson Sonsini.

With more than 16 years of experience in the Silicon Valley, Stuart represents employers in federal and state court litigation and before administrative agencies regarding claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, wage and hour, wrongful termination, and several other types of employment law matters. She regularly consults with human resource professionals to advise on a wide range of HR matters, including personnel practices and policies, noncompete covenants, and worker classification. Stuart also has extensive experience with trade secret misappropriation issues and mergers and acquisitions, having advised on more than 500 transactions ranging in value from $20 million to $19 billion.

Judge Larry A. Burns as Neutral in San Diego from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

A member of Judicate West's growing Federal Practice Group, Burns served 27 years on the bench for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, including two years as chief judge. He has presided over more than 300 federal jury trials, including high-profile cases involving elected officials, complex contract and tort disputes, and multi-district and class action litigation. Prior to his appointment, Burns tried more than 150 cases to verdict as a litigator and argued 40 cases before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Joshua A. Bornstein as Counsel in Los Angeles

Bornstein represents clients in various entertainment and litigation matters, including business and personal torts, intellectual property, and contract disputes.

Nicholas A. Koffroth as Partner in Los Angeles

Koffroth focuses his practice on complex bankruptcy cases and financial restructuring matters. His bankruptcy experience includes work in the commercial real estate, health care, commercial lending and entertainment sectors.

Steven P. Gallagher as Partner in Los Angeles

Gallagher is an experienced litigator who defends employers in complex, bet-the-company litigation, mostly in wage-and-hour class actions, Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) actions, and FLSA collective actions.

James Sigel as Partner in San Francisco from Morrison Foerster.

Sigel has represented many clients in high-stakes state and federal appeals touching on securities, false advertising, intellectual property, trademark, environmental law, employment, labor, and ERISA issues. He has also defeated numerous consumer class actions and secured significant victories in antitrust appeals involving complex monopolization and conspiracy claims. An expert on constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues, Sigel has filed well over one hundred briefs in various jurisdictions, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has experience in the 9th Circuit and the California appellate courts, where he has presented oral arguments more than two dozen times. He gained a wealth of behind-the-scenes knowledge while serving as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and for judges on the California Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit, and the D.C. Circuit.

Michael Schonbuch as Co-Managing Partner in Brentwood

Schonbuch has tried and handled matters involving real estate and property disputes, real estate investment disputes, all types of business litigation, confidentiality and non-compete agreements, libel, slander and defamation, product liability, employment, wrongful termination and discrimination, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, construction defect, conversion, uniform trade secrets, entertainment and music litigation, fraud, assault and battery and many others.

Erin O. Hallissy as Co-Managing Partner in Brentwood

Hallissy handles a wide variety of cases as a civil defense trial lawyer. Erin has tried cases involving catastrophic automobile accidents with alleged traumatic brain injuries and spinal injuries, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death from a trench collapse, wrongful death assault and battery, mold resulting in personal injury and property damage, neighbor property lines disputes, construction defects, bad faith, and insurance coverage.

Harold G. Becks as Neutral in Los Angeles from Harold G Becks & Associates.

Becks has specialized in personal injury law, medical malpractice, and police misconduct litigation. His extensive trial experience includes representing notable entities such as the County of Los Angeles, Pacific Bell Telephone, and Fortune 500 companies like General Motors, Amtrak, and DuPont. Additionally, he has represented various insurers, including the Automobile Club of Southern California. ​In his new role as a mediator, Becks is poised to bring his wealth of experience and expertise to facilitate amicable resolutions in contentious disputes.

Kristen Paolucci as Senior Associate in Irvine, CA

Paolucci's practice includes construction defect (SB-800 claims, risk management, insurance issues, contract and subcontract issues and evaluation, construction defect defense, WRAP policy projects, under-insured projects, carrier exhaustion issues, and material and product supplier issues); product liability; personal injury (wrongful death and injury cases); nuisance; trespass; and inverse condemnation. She has extensive experience representing general contractors, geotechnical engineers, civil and structural engineers, and other construction-related businesses in all types of litigation. She has successfully defended major insurance companies and corporate clients in both state and federal court.

Hans C. Ruschke as Partner in Irvine, CA

Ruschke is a seasoned civil litigator who represents businesses and corporations in catastrophic injury and property damage litigation. He also counsels and advises general contractors, construction-related businesses, and their insurance carriers in all types of litigation and risk management. Additionally, Hans has experience representing businesses in product liability matters. Hans is highly accomplished in defending major insurance companies and corporate clients in state courts, as well as in ADR proceedings, and has successfully tried cases in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Jeremy E. Beal as Partner in Irvine, CA

Beal specializes in first-party and third-party insurance coverage matters, complex insurance litigation, and property damage litigation. He provides counsel to insurers nationwide. He has extensive experience representing general contractors and insurers of general contractors in all manner of litigation and insurance coverage related matters. He also represents a wide range of businesses, providing counsel on contractual issues, formation, and litigation on public and private works projects.

Stacey L Zill as Name Partner in Los Angeles

Zill's practice is national in scope and focuses on acting in a general counsel role to nursing and rehabilitation centers and the representation of corporate and individual providers in complex healthcare litigation and transactions involving a wide range of matters and issues, including corporate governance, fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, unfair competition, false claims act investigations and litigation, payment disputes, and regulatory compliance.

Janine F Cohen as Partner in Los Angeles

Cohen represents companies and individuals in a wide variety of civil actions, including breach of contract, fraud, financial mismanagement, misappropriation of trade secrets, trademark counterfeiting, RICO, employment, personal injury, professional malpractice, commercial leasing, insurance coverage and class actions.

Judge David L. Belz as Neutral from Orange County Superior Court.

Belz was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009. Nine months after his appointment he was assigned to family court where he spent five years of his judicial tenure in the family law division, where he handled a wide variety of family law matters. In his nine years on the probate panel, Judge Belz handled trust, probate, guardianship and conservatorship trials. He was tasked with handling complex, long-cause trust trials and, ultimately, presided over 88 such trials.

Michael Burshteyn as Shareholder in San Francisco from Morrison Foerster.

Burshteyn litigates complex commercial disputes and class actions involving privacy, crypto, data security, AI, and other novel technology issues as well as startup controversies. He is lead counsel in multiple cases involving more than $100m in controversy. He also represents clients in cybercrime, crypto, and consumer protection investigations and regulatory inquiries.