Civil litigation, built to win — and to preserve every issue for appeal.
We represent plaintiffs and defendants in California civil cases from the complaint through judgment. Every pleading, every motion, every objection is drafted with the trial court's calendar in one hand and the appellate record in the other.
Cases we take
We handle civil litigation on both sides of the caption. Plaintiff or defense — what matters is whether the case has issues worth fighting carefully.
Personal injury and premises liability
Auto, premises, dangerous condition of public property, dog bite, and negligence cases. Plaintiff-side, we work the liability theory and damages workup from intake. Defense-side, we run discovery toward summary judgment and shape the record for trial — or for the post-trial motion that follows it.
Business, contract, and commercial disputes
Breach of contract, business torts, unfair competition (B&P § 17200), partnership and LLC disputes, and trade-secret matters. We handle the cases where the pleadings, the discovery plan, and the dispositive motions are the case — and where a bad early ruling closes the door.
Real estate and landlord–tenant
Quiet title, easement and boundary disputes, partition, broker-fee disputes, and complex unlawful detainer matters. Real-estate litigation rewards careful pleading and disciplined motion practice; we treat it that way.
Anti-SLAPP and First Amendment matters
Defamation, false light, business disparagement, and harassment claims that implicate protected speech or petitioning activity. Plaintiff or defense, the anti-SLAPP statute (CCP § 425.16) drives strategy from the moment the complaint is filed.
Sexual abuse and serious tort claims
Plaintiff-side representation in adult-survivor and institutional-defendant matters under California's revived-claims statutes (CCP §§ 340.1, 340.16). Sensitive intake, careful charging decisions, and a litigation plan that respects the client's pace.
How we run a case
Civil litigation is mostly invisible to clients. Most of the work happens between pleading and trial — and most cases are won or lost in that stretch. Our approach is the same in every matter:
- The pleading is the case. The complaint or answer frames every motion and every appellate issue that follows. We don't recycle templates.
- Discovery has a target. Every set of interrogatories, every deposition, and every records subpoena is aimed at a specific motion or a specific trial fact.
- The dispositive motion is the moment. Demurrer, anti-SLAPP, MSJ — when a case-ending motion is available, we treat it as the main event, not a detour.
- The record is built for review. Objections are made, offers of proof are placed on the record, and orders are submitted with findings. The trial-court file is also the appellate record.
Engagement structures
How we take the case depends on what the case needs. Most engagements fall into one of four buckets:
- Full representation, hourly. Counsel of record from filing through judgment. Detailed monthly invoices, defined matter scope, and a clear budget for each phase.
- Plaintiff-side contingency. Available in personal-injury, sexual-abuse, and select commercial cases where contingency representation is appropriate under the Rules of Professional Conduct.
- Discrete-task representation. Pleadings, discovery responses, or dispositive motions on a fixed or capped fee while existing counsel stays in the case. Useful when a firm wants specialist help on one piece of the file.
- Co-counsel arrangements. We partner with trial firms that handle the case in chief and want a dedicated brief-writer and motion lawyer in the second chair.
What we won't do. We don't take cases just because they look winnable on intake. If the file shows a statute-of-limitations problem, a missing element, or a client whose goals don't match the law, we'll say so before you sign an engagement letter.
How litigation work fits with the rest of the practice
The firm is built around appellate and motion work, and the litigation practice runs on the same engine. A case we try in front of a Superior Court judge is one we already know how to argue in front of the Court of Appeal. A motion we draft is one we already know how to defend on review.
That's the practical advantage of having the trial-court practice and the appellate practice under the same roof: the record you need on appeal gets made the first time, not reconstructed two years later.
Have a case worth fighting carefully?
Send us the operative pleading, the case-management dates, and a short note on what you need. We'll tell you within a few days whether we're the right fit and how we'd take the case.