Legal Malpractice Expert Witnesses: 9

Expert witness testimony for complex litigation involving damage analyses of lost profits, reasonable royalties, lost earnings, and lost value of business, forensic accounting, fraud investigation, investigative analysis of liability, marital dissolution, and tax planning and preparation. Excellent communicators with extensive testimony experience. Prior Big Four accountants. Specialties include: accounting, antitrust, breach of contract, business interruption, business dissolution, construction defects, delays and cost overruns, fraud investigation, asset tracing, intellectual property including patent, trademark and copyright infringement and trade secrets, malpractice, marital dissolution, personal injury and employment litigation, product liability, real estate, securities, spousal support, taxation, unfair advertising, unfair competition, valuation of businesses, and wrongful termination.

Experts:

Business Litigation and Valuation Barbara Luna, PhD, CPA, CFE, ASA,     CVA, ABV, CGREA, CCRA, CREA Dean Atkinson, CPA, CFE, ABV, CAC, CFF John Luna, JD/MBA, CPA, ABV, CFF David Turner, CPA, ABV, CFF Drew Hunt, MBA, CPA, ASA

Personal Injury / Employment Litigation Barbara Luna, PhD, CPA, CFE, ASA,     CVA, ABV, CGREA, CCRA, CREA Venita McMorris, MA

Dr. Barbara Luna is the partner in charge of the commercial litigation department of White Zuckerman. She has been providing Forensic Accounting, Economic Damages, Valuation, and Expert Witness Services for the past 30 years and has testified in court over 450 times. She has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University with application to Physics and Finance and a BA in Physics from Wellesley College. Barbara is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, an Accredited Senior Appraiser in Business Valuation, a Certified Valuation Analyst, Accredited in Business Valuation, a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, and a Certified Financial Forensic. She previously was a partner with Coopers & Lybrand and has taught working capital management, business finance, forensic accounting and intermediate accounting at UCLA Graduate School of Management, California State University at Northridge and Pepperdine University.

Dean Atkinson is a partner in the commercial litigation practice of White Zuckerman. He has testified as an expert witness in Commercial Litigation and Family Law Matters and has been involved in Resolution and Settlement Negotiations since 1987. He holds credentials from the AICPA as a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation and Certified Financial Forensics and from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Dean is experienced and has qualified as an expert in business valuation, business litigation and family law matters.

John Luna is a partner in the commercial litigation practice of White Zuckerman. He analyzes Financial, Accounting, Economic Damages, Business, Real Estate and Valuation issues and testifies as an expert witness on his findings. He has been an investment banker with Macquarie Capital, GCA Savian and Lazard. John has a JD from UCLA School of Law (Order of the Coif), an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management (Edward W. Carter Fellow), and an AB in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation, a Certified Financial Forensic and a member of the California Bar.

Venita McMorris is a partner and an Economist in the Personal Injury and Employment practice of White Zuckerman. She has been providing economic damages and expert witness services for over 20 years and has testified extensively in court. She has a Master of Arts degree in Economics from California State University, Fullerton and a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University. She previously was a manager with Coopers & Lybrand and an economist with a medical malpractice trust in Southern California. Venita has taught macroeconomics and microeconomics to college students at Pasadena City College as a full-time tenured instructor and at Glendale Community College as a part-time instructor.

Los Angeles 15490 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 300 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 Phone: (866) 981-4266 or (818) 981-4226 Fax: (818) 981-4278 Email: expert@wzwlh.com Website: www.wzwlh.com

Orange County 4 Park Plaza, Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92614 Phone: (949) 219-9816 Fax: (949) 219-9095 Email: expert@wzwlh.com Website: www.wzwlh.com

GRANT D. STIEFEL, ESQ. | www.grantstiefel.com | grant@litigationlimited.com

• Grant D. Stiefel, Esq. is a nationally-recognized, full time attorney fee consultant, testifying expert and the principal of Litigation Limited, a boutique legal fee consulting firm
• Mr. Stiefel has testified in nearly 100 lawsuits, including matters in federal district courts, California trial courts, JAMS/AAA arbitrations, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, State Bar courts, and attorney-client fee arbitrations
• He has qualified to testify and has testified live at trials and arbitrations as a designated attorney fee expert
• Mr. Stiefel’s methodology for reviewing, auditing and evaluating legal invoices has been cited, approved and adopted by California state and federal courts
• He has been retained as a testifying attorney fee expert by the world’s largest law firms, including Reed Smith; McDermott Will and Emery; Jones Day; Sheppard Mullin; Sidely Austin; Dykema Gossett; Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe; and Littler Mendelson, among many others
• Mr. Stiefel is a member of the California State Bar and is unique among fee experts in that he practiced law for many years at two of the world’s largest law firms (Akin Gump and K&L Gates)
• Mr. Stiefel has managed a multi-billion dollar litigation portfolio and has audited hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees from law firms nationwide since 2008 
• He has developed and implemented outside counsel billing and case management guidelines for Fortune 500 corporations
• He is a California State Bar-approved continuing legal education instructor on attorneys’ fees who has trained hundreds of executives and in-house counsel from a host of Fortune 500 corporations
• Mr. Stiefel is qualified as an attorney-client fee dispute arbitrator with the California State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration program and as a judge pro tem with the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles

SAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS

• Grant Stiefel was the testifying fee expert on a series of fee applications by class counsel in Jones v. Wells Fargo, on behalf of aggrieved California consumers in the first consumer class action brought under the Unruh Act.  Relying upon Mr. Stiefel's testimony regarding the reasonableness of hourly rates and overall work performed, the trial court awarded more than $25 million in attorneys' fees to class counsel
• The district court for the Central District of California adopted and approved Mr. Stiefel's methodology for identifying and quantifying block-billed, vague and redacted billing entries in cutting Plaintiff's fee request by more than sixty percent in CNS v. Planet, from $4.8 million to $1.9 million
• In Vides v. ABM Janitorial Services, the trial court reduced Plaintiff's fee request in a FEHA action by over $1 million based upon Grant Stiefel's expert testimony.  Plaintiff moved for an award of $1,578,232.50 in attorneys' fees, which the trial court reduced to $544,183.12.  Mr. Stiefel's testimony showed that the hourly rates claimed by Plaintiff's counsel were unreasonable under the circumstances, that excessive time was spent on inter-office communications, and that the matter was overstaffed

California Office: 357 Avenida Castilla Unit C Laguna Woods, CA 92637 (424) 223-8252 www.grantstiefel.com grant@litigationlimited.com

"Grant Stiefel draws on his experience as a big firm trial lawyer to help companies save on outside legal fees." -- NALFA (National Association of Legal Fee Analysis) “Mr. Stiefel’s qualifications [as a testifying fee expert] cannot seriously be in dispute.” Hon. Michael Paul Lindfield, Los Angeles County Superior Court (Trial Proceedings, February 14, 2014).

View Grant Stiefel's Consulting Profile.

Attorney, Antonio R. Sarabia II, has 30 years of experience in Consumer Licensing matters (revenue, standards, performance, and breaches), Trademarks, Copyrights, and issues occurring in the Apparel Industry. 

Background Experience - Mr. Sarabia is intimately familiar with the business problems and legal issues fashion companies may face. At the beginning of his apparel industry experience, Mr. Sarabia spent nine years as part of the senior management of Guess?, whose sales grew 400% during a single year. Over the course of his time there, the company transformed from a fad into a mainstay fashion company. Since leaving Guess?, Mr. Sarabia has advised various other apparel companies, from publicly-held companies to fast-growing companies like Earl Jean, to smaller start-up companies. .

Litigation Support - Mr. Sarabia is available to serve as an expert witness, whether through testifying, identifying important or relevant issues, or suggesting discovery in his areas of expertise. His services are available to attorneys for plaintiff and defendant.

Areas of Expertise:

• Licensing: revenue projections, forecasts, standards, performance, breach, selection of licensees, damages
• Intellectual Property: analysis, due diligence, investigations;
• Copyrights:  substantial similarity, originality
• Trademarks: secondary meaning, infringement, dilution, searches, investigations, due diligence, theft, trade dress, counterfeiting, rebuttal on damages
• Apparel Business: contracts, manufacturing (local, abroad), import, export, sales, distribution, apparel copyrights, substantial similarity of apparel lines, theft and protection of designs, rebuttal on damages
• Design Patents: defenses based on lack on originality, identify and analyze obviousness and prior art
• Attorney Malpractice: standards of practice for apparel business lawyers, intellectual property lawyers, and licensing lawyers

John D. O'Connor has more than 40 years of experience dealing with complex Attorney Fee Disputes. He is a member of the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA) and is recognized as one of the top legal fee experts in the country.

Mr. O’Connor has tried over 70 cases in federal and state venues throughout the country, with highly enviable success in complex, contentious disputes. Retained by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company as trial counsel in key cases, he has achieved a pretrial dismissal in each concluded action. He has held the highest Martindale-Hubbell “AV” rating for over 25 years, and has consistently been named a “SuperLawyer” by his Northern California peers.

A former Federal Prosecutor, Mr. O’Connor was chosen lead outside counsel in certain S&L crisis litigation, defended a California Attorney General in campaign-related litigation, and successfully represented Golden State Warriors basketball Coach Don Nelson in significant contract claims.

Litigation Support - Since the advent in the late 1980’s of adversarial legal auditing, Mr. O’Connor has served extensively as an expert, litigator, and JAMS mediator throughout the country, analyzing audit criticisms, applying community standards, and construing applicable case law. Through written Declaration and oral testimony, he has consulted on hundreds of adversarial legal fee disputes over three decades. Mr. O'Connor's work has been widely lauded by clients, lawyers, courts, and arbitrators.

Areas of Attorney Fee Dispute Expertise:

• Billing Rates / Overbilling
• Litigation Efficiency
• Task Assignment and Staffing
• Prevailing Party Determination
• Litigation Skill

Timothy W. Monsees, is a partner with the firm of Monsees & Mayer, P.C. For over 30 years, he has focused his practice on litigating complex Personal Injury cases. 

Background - Mr. Monsees graduated with honors from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law in 1981. He is admitted to practice in Missouri, Kansas and Texas. Mr. Monsees is recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Missouri Super Lawyers, Kansas City Business Journal “Best of the Bar”, and for many years has been recognized by Martindale-Hubbell with an “A/V” rating. He regularly presents at seminars helping to instruct other attorneys on trial practice skills. 

Mr. Monsees restricts his practice to representation of injured parties in litigation of product liability, construction & industrial accidents, professional negligence, and medical malpractice. Mr. Monsees’ firm has received national recognition for litigation related to injuries from defective sporting equipment and from defective firearms. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Monsees provides expert witness services for counsel representing injured parties. He addresses issues related to rules violations, time limits, discovery omissions, trial strategies, procedure, standard of care, and ethical violations. 

Areas of Expertise:

• Legal Ethics
• Legal Malpractice
• Medical Malpractice
• Personal Injury
• Demonstrative Evidence / Exhibits

View Timothy Monsees' Consulting Profile.

Attorney, Lawrence H. Jacobson, has been practicing in the area of Real Estate Transaction Law and Litigation for more than 50 years. Over the past 30 years, he has been sought out as an expert witness in real estate and legal malpractice disputes and lawsuits in litigation cases throughout the country. 

His firm, The Law Offices of Lawrence H. Jacobson, A Professional Corporation, is recognized as one of the nation's premier offices providing expert testimony in litigation involving all Real Estate Matters and Legal Malpractice. 

Mr. Jacobson has been engaged in the practice of law in Los Angeles since 1968. Formerly Vice President of Legal Affairs for the California Association of Realtors, Mr. Jacobson has served as a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Municipal Court Systems and as an adjunct professor of law focusing on real estate secured transactions and administrative law. He is Past President of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He has written and lectured extensively on business and real estate related matters. He has served on the faculty of the Graduate Realtors Institute of the California Association of Realtors and a lecturer author for the California Continuing Education of the California Bar.

Litigation Support - Mr. Jacobson offers an impressive record of success as an expert witness in real estate, business, and finance. Included among the numerous cases in which he has testified as an expert witness are disputes over the interpretation of real estate documents, real estate and mortgage brokers’ standard of care and legal malpractice related to real estate transactions and business law including issues involved in corporate finance, merger and acquisition and ethics.

Areas of Expertise:

Real Estate Agency Obligations Real Estate Broker Fiduciary Duty Mortgage Broker Fiduciary Duty Commercial & Residential Real Estate Leasing Issues Real Estate Malpractice Mortgage Fraud

Mortgage Lending Real Estate Ethics Real Estate Standard of Care Real Estate Standard of Practice Real Estate Transactions Legal Malpractice Legal Fee Disputes

View Lawrence Jacobson's Consulting Profile.

Mitchell L. Lathrop, has over 50 years of experience in the practice of law, and specialized knowledge in Insurance, Reinsurance, and Lawyers' Professional Responsibility. For the past 30 years, Mr. Lathrop has served as a Mediator, Arbitrator and Expert Witness in his fields of expertise. A seasoned trial lawyer, he brings his many years of practice to alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Lathrop is admitted to practice in California, New York and the District of Columbia, as well as before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, District of Columbia and Federal Circuits. Mr. Lathrop is a former Presiding Referee of the California State Bar Court. He serves on the National Panel of the American Arbitration Association and is a Distinguished Neutral of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), as well as a member of the London Court of International Arbitration. He is the author of "Insurance Coverage for Environmental Claims," published by Lexis-Nexis Matthew Bender. He has qualified as an expert in insurance and legal malpractice in both state and federal courts. Areas of Expertise:

• Insurance bad faith and standard of care and conduct
• Reinsurance Law - Property and Casualty insurance
• Treaty and Facultative Reinsurance
• Environmental Insurance
• Complex insurance coverage Issues
• Lawyers' Professional Responsibility

Jon Mitchell “Mitch” Jackson, Esq. was admitted to the California Bar in 1986 and immediately opened up his own practice representing victims of Personal Injury and Wrongful Death. In 2009, Mr. Jackson was named an Orange County “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association. In 2013, Mr. Jackson received the California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award for litigation. According to California Lawyer Magazine, the CLAY Award recognizes attorneys who have: "

"changed the law, substantially influenced public policy or the profession, or achieved a remarkable victory for a client or for the public and have made a profound impact on the law."

His firm, Jackson & Wilson, is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, an exclusive listing reserved for less than 5% of all distinguished law practices in the United States. Several earlier recognitions include Mr. Jackson being named as a “Southern California Super Lawyer” and an ability rating of 10.0 or Superb by the AVVO lawyer rating system. Over the past 30 years, Mr. Jackson has obtained numerous multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements for his clients. He is also a multiple time member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (membership limited to those attorneys having obtained million dollar plus verdicts and settlements). In his spare time, he has served as a Judge Pro Tem, and arbitrator with the Orange County Superior Court and attorneys fee mediator with the Orange County Bar Association.

 

Mitch Jackson on Personal Injury and Wrongful Death

Mr. Jackson is active with the local and national legal community including the Orange County Bar Association, Orange County Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, American Bar Association, American Association for Justice, and National Trial Lawyers Association. 

Litigation Support - Mitch Jackson serves as an Expert Witness in Legal Malpractice cases. With decades of experience litigating Personal Injury and Wrongful Death, Mr. Jackson's opinions are unbiased and well-founded. His services are available to both Plaintiff and Defendant. 

Areas of Expertise:

Large Truck Accidents Slip and Fall Injuries Spinal Cord and Paralysis Injuries Animal Attacks Head and Brain Injuries Drowning Burn Injuries Boat and Watercraft Accidents

Construction Accidents Hazardous Products Insurance Bad Faith Cases Medical Malpractice Product Liability Professional Malpractice Railroad Accidents Wrongful Death

View Mitch Jackson's Consulting Profile.

Guy O. Kornblum has specialized as a Trial and Appellate Lawyer for 40 years. He has handled over 4,000 litigated matters to conclusion and has several million dollar cases to his credit. Mr. Kornblum has represented hundreds of clients, small businesses, individuals, and large Fortune 500 corporations during his 40 plus years of practice. He is highly regarded for his courtroom and appellate skills, and his representation of his clients in mediations, where he has a strong track record of successful settlements.

Litigation Support - Mr. Kornblum serves as a mediator and expert witness and has qualified as an expert in federal and state court. His testimony on insurance claims handling was cited by a California Court of Appeal in upholding a jury verdict in favor of a plaintiff in an insurance bad faith case.

Expertise Includes:

• Insurance Company Claims Practices - personal and commercial, property and casualty, employment coverage, director‘s and officer‘s coverage, professional liability coverage, general commercial coverage, life, health and disability insurance, bad faith, serious personal injury, professional liability, real estate, employment matters, and fraud claims involving employee welfare benefit plans, wrongful death, and actions claiming punitive damages
• Standard of Care in Legal Malpractice Cases Involving Civil Litigation Issues
• Case Settlement Value

Mr. Kornblum is Certified in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy by the prestigious National Board of Trial Advocacy, and is a Fellow, American College of Board Certified Attorneys. He is also a Life Member of the Multi-Million Dollar and Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum, for those attorneys who have achieved multi-million dollar awards or settlements for their clients. Mr. Kornblum is also a Charter Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America Trial Lawyer Honorary, a Platinum Member of The Verdict Club, recognizing his “professional excellence in litigation,” and a Legends Society “Top Lawyer” in the personal injury field, and a Silver Member of the Elite Lawyers of America. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer each year since 2006.

View Guy Kornblum's Consulting Profile.