Overview

Although California serves as an incubator for trends within the United States and across the globe, its rigorous regulatory climate can be especially challenging for businesses. Relying on our thorough knowledge of California-specific and federal regulations, we deftly assist companies in navigating the ever-changing demands on industry doing business in California.

Our California offices provide a full range of services in the areas of complex litigation, environmental health and safety law, labor and employment, insurance coverage, real estate and corporate transactions for Fortune 100 and other major companies in California and around the world. We advise companies in a broad range of industries including oil and gas, financial services, retail and consumer products, transportation, technology, energy, and real estate investment and finance.

Ranging from labor & employment, cybersecurity, environmental, insurance coverage, to pro bono matters, our California litigators have worked on landmark cases in headline-grabbing lawsuits and won precedent-setting victories for clients, earning recognition by The American Lawyer as a Finalist in its California Regional Litigation Department of the Year competition, recognized as one of only five firms nominated in the state of California

Our cross-disciplinary litigators have handled significant business and class action consumer claims ranging from cybersecurity and privacy to toxic tort, strict liability, negligence and deceptive trade practices for major technology companies, consumer product manufacturers, financial institutions, and pharmaceutical companies. In the area of cybersecurity and privacy litigation, we advise name-brand clients in cutting-edge matters and have obtained a precedent-setting judgment on a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) data breach class action claim, which earned a “Top Defense Verdict” recognition in California by the Daily Journal. Our data breach litigation work is integrated with our top-ranked global privacy and cybersecurity practice, ranked in all Computerworld magazine surveys as the top law firm globally for privacy.

Our California environmental team has earned a preeminent reputation nationally across industries, especially with respect to assisting clients on range of state, local, and federal environmental and safety laws applicable to California operations and to products sold in California. We assist clients in all environmental and energy matters related to permitting, enforcement, environmental incident response, and regulatory advocacy and litigation, and regularly work in compliance with California state law (including Proposition 65) and various state agencies including the California Air Resources Board and California State Water Resources Board, among others. Additionally, our California offices manage international environmental issues with respect to government relations and transportation. We work with chemical, oil and gas, food processing, energy, pipeline, cement, mining and manufacturing industries; utilities; trade associations; retail and consumer products companies; and municipalities. The efforts of the California team have contributed to HuntonAK being repeatedly named Law360 Environmental Group of the Year multiple times.

Our California labor and employment team is made up of a diverse group of lawyers known for successfully defending clients against the most challenging claims facing employers in California and across the nation. We represent employers across all industries on a wide range of employment matters including high-stakes employment class actions, wage-hour class and PAGA actions, federal and state agency pattern or practice cases, and single and multi-plaintiff litigation. Our California employment team has a proven track record in bench, arbitration, and jury trials and is among the small number of lawyers in the country to successfully try complex representative proof class and collective actions to jury verdicts. In addition to a robust employment litigation practice, our team regularly provides advice and counseling to employers to help them identify and mitigate employment risk. Our California attorneys understand that companies with operations in California often need practical legal advice to navigate complex California and Federal employment law issues while keeping their business goals firmly in mind. We are ranked and recognized by Chambers USA - California, Benchmark Litigation – Labor and Employment, and The Legal 500, and our lawyers have numerous individual accolades from the California press including the Los Angeles Business Journal and The Daily Journal. The firm’s co-chair of our labor and employment team, Emily Burkhardt Vicente, resides in our Los Angeles office.

In the area of insurance coverage, our California lawyers have a nationwide practice, frequently appearing in court at both the trial and appellate levels, trying some of the largest insurance and mass tort and class action cases in the country to jury, and securing landmark insurance decisions in the California Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit and numerous courts of appeal. The practice covers the gamut of insurance issues, including coverage for major property damage and business interruption losses, advertising-related liabilities, errors and omissions claims, director and officer claims, product liability claims, employment liability, fiduciary liability such as ERISA, False Claims Act liabilities, theft and other criminal-related claims, environmental and mass tort matters, and personal injury claims such as right to privacy and false imprisonment.

Our California lawyers have substantial experience in representing owners, financiers and investors in all aspects of acquiring, leasing, financing and developing real estate. We advise national and international clients on all aspects of California real estate transactions, including joint ventures, financing, acquisitions and dispositions, leasing and portfolio property management, as well as structuring complex debt and equity transactions with our lawyers having experience across all asset classes, including office, multifamily (including co-living) retail, mixed-use, hotels and resorts, and industrial, as well as supporting our teams in the energy and infrastructure sectors. Our experience also includes advising on the development of commercial and multifamily projects across California including  those projects developed on Tribal lands, including advising on issues associated with compliance, construction, Tribal sovereign immunity and Tribal governance.

In the area of corporate law, our California lawyers work closely with the 200+ lawyers that comprise our corporate team as well as with our firm’s lawyers in other practice areas to provide clients with seamless legal and advisory services. In California, we focus on structured finance, with specialized experience in mortgage securitization and resecuritization transactions, representing issuers, underwriters, lenders and mortgage servicers in structured finance transactions. We also have experience in regulation of investment funds, global technology, outsourcing and privacy, handling IP, commercial contract and insurance issues, as well as other corporate transaction matters.

Our California offices are as dynamic as the cities where they reside. Both offices are led by women—Ann Marie Mortimer in Los Angeles and Shannon S. Broome in San Francisco—both named several times by the Daily Journal to its list of the Top 100 Lawyers in California. Ann Marie, two-time Law360 MVP in Cybersecurity & Privacy and National Law Journal Technology Law Trailblazer, is also head of the firm’s commercial litigation practice. Shannon, a Law360 MVP in Environment and National Law Journal Energy and Environmental Trailblazer, is also co-head of the firm’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Practice, and chair of our prominent California Environmental Practice.

We are active in significant pro bono work and our dedication to the community extends to our involvement in local service projects. We want to contribute to the fabric of our community and be a long-term partner in improving the lives of our neighbors.

The Los Angeles office participates in the LA Regional Food Bank’s “Food from the Bar” fundraiser among Los Angeles law firms, the “Giving Tree” program for disadvantaged kids with Para Los Niños, the Ronald McDonald House charity programs, and our Los Angeles lawyers regularly contribute pro bono hours towards the adoption cases for the Alliance for Children’s Rights.

Emily N. Gamarra, Office Administrator

Directions

From the North:

• Take I-5 South to CA-110 South
• Take Exit 110 at 6th Street
• Turn Left on S. Hope Street
• Arrive at 550 South Hope Street

From the South:

• Take I-5 North to 1-10 West
• Take CA-110 North
• Take Exit 110 at 6th Street
• Turn Left on S. Hope Street
• Arrive at 550 South Hope Street

From the East:

• Take I-10 West to CA-110 North
• Take Exit 110 at 6th Street
• Turn Left on S. Hope Street
• Arrive at 550 South Hope Street

From the West:

• Take 10 East to CA-110 North
• Take Exit 110 at 6th Street
• Turn Left on S. Hope Street
• Arrive at 550 South Hope Street

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