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These pros work on behalf of their clients in a broad spectrum of legal matters. They include elite criminal defenders, top-notch family law practitioners and environmental specialists. And there’s at least one attorney on the list who isn’t practicing law anymore—she was tapped to take a prestigious seat as a judge on the Alameda County bench.
Some of the attorneys work for East Bay branches of some of the biggest law firms in the country, including international corporate powerhouses Morrison & Foerster, Bingham McCutchen and Reed Smith. These firms, with about 1,000 lawyers each in offices around the globe, defend some of the largest companies in the world.
East Bay-based firms also have numerous attorneys on the list, including longtime real estate and general civil practice firm Wendel Rosen Black & Dean, which has handled cases of regional, state and national significance out of its Oakland office for nearly a century.
Some smaller shops are on the list, too, and one that must not be overlooked is Berkeley’s Arguedas, Cassman & Headley, where partner Cristina Arguedas, whose clients have ranged from O.J. Simpson to one of the defendants in the Enron scandal, runs a criminal defense practice that’s considered one of the finest in the nation.
A few East Bay public interest law firms also made the list, including The Impact Fund’s Brad Seligman in Berkeley. The class action law firm’s latest case is a major gender discrimination charge against wholesale retailer Costco.
With such a wealth of legal talent represented on the 2007 list and so many attorneys with compelling cases and interesting stories to share, coming up with a few Oaklanders who do the list, and the region, justice wasn’t too hard. So read on about a longtime civil rights advocate, an American Indian and gaming law specialist and a real estate expert who teaches his trade to aspiring lawyers. The varied practices of these dedicated lawyers embody the kind of eclectic, quality legal work that characterizes the East Bay law community.
Barry Goldstein
Civil Rights Law
Barry Goldstein grew up in Long Island watching the civil rights demonstrations of the early 1960s on television. It wasn’t long before he decided to join the cause himself.
“I was committed to the change that civil rights groups were pushing and thought law would be a good vehicle for me to be able to contribute to change in a small way,” says Goldstein, who practices civil rights and class action law in Oakland.
Over his long career Goldstein has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and, in other courts, won multimillion-dollar settlements or judgments on behalf of plaintiffs alleging racial or gender discrimination from companies that include Home Depot, Southern California Edison and State Farm Insurance.
In one of his most famous cases, Goldstein sued the Shoney’s restaurant chain, alleging the company discriminated against black workers by limiting their job opportunities with Shoney’s. An account of the lawsuit is chronicled in the book The Black O, and the title refers to the company’s practice of darkening the “o” in the word Shoney’s on job applications if the prospective worker was black. The case became one of the largest racial job discrimination class-action lawsuits in American history. It was settled for $132.5 million in 1997.
Earlier in his career, Goldstein spent 18 years as a lawyer for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, including several years as the director of the leading civil rights organization’s Washington, D.C., office. In 1989, looking for a way to do large-scale civil rights cases in a private practice, Goldstein joined the Oakland firm that now bears his name: Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian.
Goldstein believes the legal system has played an important role in the civil rights movement. “In 1963, John Kennedy said that it was important to take the conflicts over civil rights out of the streets and into the courts,” Goldstein says, explaining he agreed with that sentiment at the time and has worked in support of it his entire career.
“I think there has been a good deal of accomplishment for which our legal system can take credit,” he says, stressing, however, that more work remains to be done.
Jim Finberg, a plaintiff’s lawyer who sometimes works with Goldstein, calls him a brilliant advocate. “But more importantly, he has devoted his life to improving the lives of others and to promoting social justice,” Finberg says. “And he has been remarkably successful in changing this country for the better.”
Patricia A. Prochaska
Gaming, Native American Law
Oakland attorney Patricia A. Prochaska has made a successful career out of an unusual niche: representing American Indian tribes in California.At first blush, such a specialty might seem like an odd one for Prochaska, who is not American Indian and grew up in a farming family in rural Nebraska. But she says the work was a good fit right from the start.
“I loved it,” Prochaska says. “It was like I had found a client base I could really relate to.”
Prochaska, who currently runs a one-woman law practice out of her Oakland home, has represented California tribes in matters ranging from gaming enterprises to health-care issues since 1992.
After graduating from George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., Prochaska spent a few years representing employers in labor cases. She enjoyed employment law but found the work ultimately unsatisfying.
“I wasn’t sufficiently motivated by money,” Prochaska says. “I had always wanted to represent those who couldn’t find other representation and do it really, really well.”
So she joined a Berkeley law firm that specialized in representing American Indian tribes and immediately loved the work. “This was not about moving piles of money from one entity to another. This was about preventing people from losing their children,” Prochaska says.
Until January 2006, Prochaska ran a firm with George Forman, a longtime American Indian law specialist. At one point, they were representing 13 California tribes up and down the state.
“Through my seventh month of pregnancy, I was traveling twice a week to Southern California,” Prochaska says. The work was “fabulous,” she says, but the time demand was unforgiving, prompting Prochaska to leave the partnership in 2006 to spend more time with her young son, who is now 3. A second child is expected this year.
Prochaska’s current practice focuses on a few select clients, including the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians in Sonoma County, one of the few federally recognized landless tribes. As the tribe’s all-purpose lawyer, Prochaska handles a broad range of legal issues for its more than 400 members. For instance, she assists the tribe in drafting its laws and deals with housing and educational issues. Additionally, she is helping the tribe work to acquire some of its ancestral land in Sonoma County to build a gaming facility.
“I am a strong proponent, if not a relentless advocate, of federally recognized tribes conducting gaming on their reservation lands,” Prochaska says, adding that she would not represent a tribe that sought to move outside of its indigenous land in order to build a casino.
According to Forman, her former law partner, Prochaska is a “doggedly determined” lawyer. “It is important work, and she is very dedicated to it and is extremely competent and able,” Forman says. “If I needed a lawyer, I’d certainly want her on my side.”
Charles A. Hansen
Real Estate Law
As a civil litigator who focuses on real estate law, Charles A. Hansen knows the California real estate market from the inside out. He’s been following it for almost 30 years, and there’s never a dull moment, he says.“It’s been endlessly fascinating,” says Hansen, who typically represents homebuilders, borrowers and guarantors in matters where “the central issues revolve around real estate transactions gone bad.”
Hansen is deeply entrenched in the East Bay legal community. He’s a partner at the 50-lawyer law firm Wendel Rosen Black & Dean, an Oakland institution for almost a century, and he’s practiced law in the East Bay ever since graduating from University California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School
of Law.
The matters he handles in his real estate law practice vary but could, for example, revolve around a buyer-seller contract, a lease, a faulty escrow closing or a construction defect claim. “Almost everybody in California is affected by real estate, whether we are affected as a homebuyer or renter or borrower or an investor,” Hansen says.
In addition to having served as Wendel Rosen’s managing partner, Hansen also works as an expert witness, mediator and arbitrator. And he’s been teaching real estate law to second- and third-year Boalt Hall students for nearly 20 years.
“What I’m really fascinated about is ways to make light bulbs go on,” Hansen says. “My gratification as a teacher is when I see that ‘I got it.’ It’s the joy of teaching.”
Hansen not only enjoys teaching—he finds it useful in his own practice.
“I’ve learned far more teaching than I suspect my students have,” he says.
Gregory Gordon, a former student of Hansen’s who is now a law professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law, might beg to differ.
“As a new law professor, I try to model my classroom style on Professor Hansen’s. I realize I have a long way to go, but his example has inspired me,” Gordon says. “He is kind, generous with his wisdom and time and makes an incredible contribution to both the study of law and the legal profession in general.”
Hansen’s most memorable case was one he tried and won about 10 years ago along with the late Joseph Alioto, the former San Francisco mayor. It involved saving the home and property of a Carmel Valley couple threatened with foreclosure by the state of Hawaii. The foreclosure, Hansen says, was the fallout from the couple’s failed project to commercially cultivate salmon, shrimp and abalone in Hawaii by pumping super-cold seawater from deep in the Pacific Ocean into aquaculture pens.
“The failure of the enterprise was likely the result of industrial sabotage by competitive firms and nations,” Hansen says. Hansen and Alioto won the case after a month-long jury trial. “The property and home had been in the clients’ family for over a century. Losing it to foreclosure would have been cruelly devastating to them,” Hansen says. “Rarely have I welcomed and celebrated a win with so much pleasure or such sense of having seen justice done.”
THE EAST BAY'S BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Berkeley
Zela G. Claiborne
Zela G. Claiborne
70 Twain Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94708
(510) 540-1258
Oakland
William A. Quinby
Wulff, Quinby & Sochynsky
1901 Harrison St., Suite 1420
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 663-5222
Yarko Sochynsky
Wulff, Quinby & Sochynsky
1901 Harrison St., Suite 1420
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 663-5222
Randall W. Wulff
Wulff, Quinby & Sochynsky
1901 Harrison St., Suite 1420
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 663-5222
Walnut Creek
Michael J. Ney
McNamara, Dodge, Ney, Beatty, Slattery, Pfalzer, Borges & Brothers
1211 Newell Ave.
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-5331
(925) 939-5330
Appellate Law
Berkeley
Victoria J. De Goff
De Goff and Sherman
1916 Los Angeles Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 524-1840
Richard Sherman
De Goff and Sherman
1916 Los Angeles Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 524-1840
Emeryville
Amitai Schwartz
Amitai Schwartz
Watergate Towers, Suite 1286
2000 Powell St.
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 597-1775
Oakland
Kathy M. Banke
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Ellen Lake
Ellen Lake
4230 Lakeshore Ave.
Oakland, CA 94610
(510) 272-9393
Civil Rights Law
Oakland
Barry Goldstein
Goldstein, Demchak, Baller,
Borgen & Dardarian
300 Lakeside Drive, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-9800
Commercial Litigation
Berkeley
Victoria J. De Goff
De Goff and Sherman
1916 Los Angeles Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 524-1840
Oakland
Stephen G. Blitch
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Walnut Creek
Richard G. Carlston
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Eugene H. Miller
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Michael P. Verna
Bowles & Verna
2121 North California Blvd., Suite 875
P.O. Box 8180
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-3300
Communications Law
Oakland
David M. Wilson
Wilson & Bloomfield
1901 Harrison St., Suite 1620
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 625-8250
Construction Law
Oakland
Roger M. Hughes
Bell, Rosenberg & Hughes
1300 Clay St., Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 832-8585
Corporate Law
Oakland
Sean Rhatigan
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
Walnut Creek
Clement L. Glynn
Glynn & Finley
100 Pringle Ave., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 210-2800
Energy Law
Walnut Creek
William H. Booth
William H. Booth
1500 Newell Ave., Fifth Floor
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 296-2460
Gordon P. Erspamer
Morrison & Foerster
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4095
(925) 295-3300
Peter W. Hanschen
Morrison & Foerster
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4095
(925) 295-3300
Environmental Law
Oakland
Donnell Van Noppen III
Earth Justice
426 17th St., Sixth Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 550-6700
Family Law
Berkeley
Richard Sherman
De Goff and Sherman
1916 Los Angeles Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 524-1840
Oakland
Lorin B. Blum
Law Offices of Blum, Braz & Gibbs
1939 Harrison St., Suite 818
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 465-3927
Garrett C. Dailey
Law Offices of Garrett C. Dailey
2915 McClure St.
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 465-3920
Sarah Leverett
Sarah Leverett
1939 Harrison St., Suite 710
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 832-6600
Miriam Steinbock
Miriam Steinbock
1300 Clay St., Suite 820
Oakland, CA 94612-3612
(510) 763-5611
Ronald A. Wagner
Wagner & Wagner
1939 Harrison St., Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-3395
Sandra F. Wagner
Wagner & Wagner
1939 Harrison St., Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-3395
Richmond
Francis A. Watson Jr.
Watson, Hoffe & Hass
3700 Barrett Ave.
P.O. Box 5001
Richmond, CA 94805-2297
(510) 237-3700
Walnut Creek
Steven D. Hallert
Hallert & Hallert
710 South Broadway, Suite 312
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 933-4033
Peter G. Loewenstein
Peter G. Loewenstein
Two Ygnacio Center, Suite 430
2033 North Main St.
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 256-3300
John E. Manoogian
John E. Manoogian
2175 North California Blvd., Suite 715
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-6585
Lee C. Pearce
Lee Pearce
1333 North California Blvd., Suite 540
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4533
(925) 946-0450
Family Law Mediation
Berkeley
Martina Reaves
Martina Reaves
1708 Beverly Place
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 559-2685
Oakland
Miriam Steinbock
Miriam Steinbock
1300 Clay St., Suite 820
Oakland, CA 94612-3612
(510) 763-5611
Gaming Law
Oakland
Patricia A. Prochaska
Patricia A. Prochaska
375 Cavour St.
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 601-9760
Immigration Law
Oakland
E. Norton Tooby
Law Offices of Norton Tooby
6333 Telegraph Ave., Suite 200
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 601-1300
Information Technology Law
Berkeley
Katherine C. Spelman Cobalt
819 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 841-9800
Insurance Law
Oakland
Ralph A. Lombardi
Lombardi, Loper & Conant
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2600
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 433-2600
Labor and Employment Law
Berkeley
Brad S. Seligman
The Impact Fund
125 University Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-3473
Oakland
Morris J. Baller
Goldstein, Demchak, Baller,
Borgen & Dardarian
300 Lakeside Drive, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-9800
Duane B. Beeson
Beeson, Tayer & Bodine
1404 Franklin St., Fifth Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 625-9700
David Borgen
Goldstein, Demchak, Baller,
Borgen & Dardarian
300 Lakeside Drive, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-9800
Henry S. Hewitt
Erickson, Beasley, Hewitt & Wilson
483 Ninth St., Suite 200
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 839-3448
Jody I. LeWitter
Siegel & LeWitter
1939 Harrison St., Suite 307
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 452-5000
Timothy J. Murphy
Fisher & Phillips
City Center, Suite 200
501 14th St.
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-4411
Land Use & Zoning Law
Walnut Creek
Patricia E. Curtin
Morgan Miller Blair
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 200
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 937-3600
David A. Gold
Morrison & Foerster
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4095
(925) 295-3300
Bruce Reed Goodmiller
Morrison & Foerster
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4095
(925) 295-3300
Stephen L. Kostka
Bingham McCutchen
1333 North California Blvd., Suite 210
P.O. Box V
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 937-8000
R. Clark Morrison
Morrison & Foerster
101 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 450
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4095
(925) 295-3300
Geoffrey L. Robinson
Bingham McCutchen
1333 North California Blvd., Suite 210
P.O. Box V
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 937-8000
Cecily T. Talbert
Bingham McCutchen
1333 North California Blvd., Suite 210
P.O. Box V
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 937-8000
Wilson F. Wendt
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Mass Tort Litigation
Oakland
Steven Kazan
Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Farrise & Greenwood
171 12th St., Third Floor
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 465-7728
David M. McClain
Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Farrise & Greenwood
171 12th St., Third Floor
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 465-7728
Medical Malpractice Law
Walnut Creek
Thomas J. Donnelly
Donnelly Nelson Depolo & Murray
2401 Shadelands Drive, Suite 120
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
(925) 287-8181
G. Patrick Galloway
Galloway, Lucchese, Everson & Picchi
1676 North California Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-9090
David R. Lucchese
Galloway, Lucchese, Everson & Picchi
1676 North California Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-9090
James M. Nelson
Donnelly Nelson Depolo & Murray
2401 Shadelands Drive, Suite 120
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
(925) 287-8181
Native American Law
Oakland
Patricia A. Prochaska
Patricia A. Prochaska
375 Cavour St.
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 601-9760
Non-White-Collar Criminal Defense
Berkeley
Cristina C. Arguedas
Arguedas, Cassman & Headley
803 Hearst Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-3000
Harold J. Rosenthal
Harold J. Rosenthal
803 Hearst Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 981-1800
James S. Thomson
James S. Thomson
819 Delaware St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 525-9123
Danville
William E. Gagen Jr.
Gagen, McCoy, McMahon & Armstrong
279 Front St.
P.O. Box 218
Danville, CA 94526
(925) 837-0585
Hayward
Philip A. Schnayerson
Garcia, Schnayerson & Mockus
225 West Winton Ave., Suite 208
Hayward, CA 94544
(510) 887-7445
Personal Injury Litigation
Berkeley
Victoria J. De Goff
De Goff and Sherman
1916 Los A es Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 524-1840
Emeryville
Nelson C. Barry Sr.
Bishop, Barry, Howe, Haney & Ryder
2000 Powell St., Suite 1425
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 596-0888
Hayward
Rick Simons
Furtado, Jaspovice & Simons
22274 Main St.
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 582-1080
Oakland
Stephen G. Blitch
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Richard H. Carlson
Anthony & Carlson
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2000
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 835-8400
J. Gary Gwilliam
Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer
1999 Harrison St., Suite 1600
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 832-5411
Gerald C. Sterns
Sterns & Walker
Clocktower Building
901 Clay St.
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 267-0500
Walnut Creek
Robert L. Anderson
Galloway, Lucchese, Everson & Picchi
1676 North California Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-9090
Thomas J. Donnelly
Donnelly Nelson Depolo & Murray
2401 Shadelands Drive, Suite 120
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
(925) 287-8181
G. Patrick Galloway
Galloway, Lucchese, Everson & Picchi
1676 North California Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-9090
Peter J. Hinton
Hinton, Alfert & Sumner
1646 North California Blvd., Suite 600
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4113
(925) 932-6006
David R. Lucchese
Galloway, Lucchese, Everson & Picchi
1676 North California Blvd., Suite 500
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 930-9090
Michael P. Verna
Bowles & Verna
2121 North California Blvd., Suite 875
P.O. Box 8180
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-3300
Product Liability Litigation
Emeryville
Lori A. Schweitzer
Becherer, Kannett & Schweitzer
2200 Powell St., Suite 805
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 658-3600
Oakland
Gerald C. Sterns
Sterns & Walker
Clocktower Building
901 Clay St.
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 267-0500
Real Estate Law
Oakland
Michael A. Dean
Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean
1111 Broadway, 24th Floor
P.O. Box 2047
Oakland, CA 94604
(510) 834-6600
Charles A. Hansen
Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean
1111 Broadway, 24th Floor
P.O. Box 2047
Oakland, CA 94604
(510) 834-6600
Walnut Creek
Eugene H. Miller
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Edmund L. Regalia
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Gary E. Rosenberg
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Marvin B. Starr
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Wilson F. Wendt
Miller, Starr & Regalia
1331 North California Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 8177
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 935-9400
Tax Law
Oakland
Karen L. Hawkins
Taggart & Hawkins
1901 Harrison St., Suite 1600
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 893-9999
Robert M. Winokur
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Trusts and Estates
Oakland
Monica Dell’Osso
Burnham Brown
1901 Harrison St., 11th Floor
P.O. Box 119
Oakland, CA 94604
(510) 444-6800
John L. McDonnell Jr.
Reed Smith
1999 Harrison St., Suite 2400
P.O. Box 2084
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 763-2000
Venture Capital Law
Danville
Daniel J. O’Connor
Daniel J. O’Connor
P.O. Box 847
Danville, CA 94526-0847
(925) 838-4102
White-Collar Criminal Defense
Berkeley
Cristina C. Arguedas
Arguedas, Cassman & Headley
803 Hearst Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-3000
Ted W. Cassman
Arguedas, Cassman & Headley
803 Hearst Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-3000
Hayward
Philip A. Schnayerson
Garcia, Schnayerson & Mockus
225 West Winton Ave., Suite 208
Hayward, CA 94544
(510) 887-7445
Workers’ Compensation Law
Oakland
Stewart N. Boxer
Boxer & Gerson
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 500
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 835-8870
Robert J. Cavallero
Mullen & Filippi
555 12th St., Suite 2050
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 444-1532
Michael G. Gerson
Boxer & Gerson
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 500
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 835-8870
Pleasant Hill
Mark E. Gearheart
Gearheart & Otis
367 Civic Drive, Suite 17
P.O. Box 23588
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 671-9777
List Source
These lists are excerpted from The Best Lawyers in America® 2007, which includes listings for more than 29,000 lawyers in virtually every major specialty of law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Best Lawyers in America® is published by Woodward/White Inc., of Aiken, S.C., and can be ordered directly from the publisher. For information, call (803) 648-0300; write 129 First Ave., SW, Aiken, SC 29801; send e-mail to info@bestlawyers.com or visit www.bestlawyers.com.
About the Survey
This list is excerpted from the 2007 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, the preeminent referral guide to the legal profession in the United States. Published since 1983, Best Lawyers lists attorneys in 77 specialties, representing all 50 states, who have been chosen through an exhaustive survey in which thousands of the nation’s top lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The 2007 edition of Best Lawyers, which was published in September 2006, is based on more than 1.7 million evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.
The method used to compile Best Lawyers remains unchanged since the first edition was compiled more than 20 years ago. Lawyers are chosen for inclusion based solely on a vote of their peers. Listings cannot be bought, and no purchase is required to be included. In this regard, Best Lawyers remains the gold standard of reliability and integrity in lawyer ratings.
The nomination pool for the 2007 edition consisted of all lawyers whose names appeared in the previous edition of Best Lawyers, lawyers who were nominated since the previous survey, and new nominees solicited from listed attorneys. In general, lawyers were asked to vote only on nominees in their own specialty in their own jurisdiction. Lawyers in closely related specialties were asked to vote across specialties, as were lawyers in smaller jurisdictions. Where specialties are national or international in nature, lawyers were asked to vote nationally as well as locally. Voting lawyers were also given an opportunity to offer more detailed comments on nominees. Each year, half of the voting pool receives fax or e-mail ballots; the other half is polled by phone.
Voting lawyers were provided this general guideline for determining if a nominee should be listed among “the best”: “If you had a close friend or relative who needed a real estate lawyer (for example), and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them?” All votes and comments were solicited with a guarantee of confidentiality—a critical factor in the viability and validity of Best Lawyers surveys. To ensure the rigor of the selection process, lawyers were urged to use only their highest standards when voting, and to evaluate each nominee based only on his or her individual merits. The additional comments were used to make more accurate comparisons between voting patterns and weight votes accordingly. Best Lawyers uses various methodological tools to identify and correct for anomalies in both the nomination and voting process.
Ultimately, of course, a lawyer’s inclusion is based on the subjective judgments of his or her fellow attorneys. While it is true that the lists may at times disproportionately reward visibility or popularity, the breadth of the survey, the candor of the respondents, and the sophistication of the polling methodology largely correct for any biases.
For all these reasons, Best Lawyers lists continue to represent the most reliable, accurate and useful guide to the best lawyers in the United States available anywhere.
Best Lawyers lists are available at www.bestlawyers.com. “Best Lawyers,” and “The Best Lawyers in America” are registered trademarks of Woodward/White, Inc.
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Woodward/White Inc., has used its best efforts in assembling material for this list but does not warrant that the information contained herein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.
Copyright 2007 by Woodward/White Inc., Aiken, SC. All rights reserved. This list, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without permission of Woodward/White Inc. No fees may be charged, directly or indirectly, for the use of the information in this list without permission.
