Business Law

We enjoy representing clients who understand that the right lawyers can play an important role in any business' success. We thrive on helping to build, maintain, grow and protect businesses. For will and trust matters, our clients typically need our help planning their own estates or helping carry out a decedent's last wishes. While we always hope that matters can be settled amicably, we stand ready to fight to make sure that the estate is properly administered and distributed.

• Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Liquor Licenses

• Business Successions
• Buying & Selling
• Closely Held Businesses
• Corporations
• Directors' & Officers' Liability
• Joint Ventures
• Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)
• Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures
• Partnerships
• Professional Corporations
• Shareholders' Rights

• Breach of Contract
• Contract Disputes
• Contract Drafting & Review
• Employment Contracts
• Non-Compete Contracts
• Secured Transactions

• Construction Defects
• Construction Disputes
• Dangerous Property
• Government Construction Contracts

• Bad Faith
• Casualty Insurance
• Commercial Insurance
• Directors' & Officers' Liability
• Errors & Omissions
• Health Insurance
• Insurance Malpractice
• Life Insurance
• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• Property Insurance

Wills, Trusts & Estates

We enjoy representing clients who understand that the right lawyers can play an important role in any business' success. We thrive on helping to build, maintain, grow and protect businesses. For will and trust matters, our clients typically need our help planning their own estates or helping carry out a decedent's last wishes. While we always hope that matters can be settled amicably, we stand ready to fight to make sure that the estate is properly administered and distributed.

• Nolo Document Review

• Auto Accident & Property Claims
• Bad Faith
• Health Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Property & Casualty

• Capital Markets
• Warrants

• Charitable Giving
• Charitable Trusts
• Drafting Trusts
• Drafting Wills
• Estate Administration
• Estate Planning
• Living Trusts
• Living Wills
• Probate
• Asset Protection
• Power of Attorney
• Business Succession Planning
• Special Needs Trust
• Supplemental Needs Trust
• Revocable Trust & Irrevocable Trust

CA, Dec 1994
Bar Number: 172594

California State Court; Federal District Court for Northern and Central Districts of California; Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

California State Bar - Member of Business Law, Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections, Orange County Bar Association; Orange County Asian American Bar Association; PABA (Filipino Bar Association - Los Angeles); Filipino Bar Association of Orange County.

I attend continuing legal education seminars on topics including business law, probate and trust matters, insurance, intellectual property, and whatever else I find interesting and might assist me in my practice. I typically exceed the number of required hours because I find the law fascinating and there does not seem to be any limit to how much you can learn.

Breach of Contract - Equipment Lease
I successfully handled a five-day trial involving interpretation of a lease of restaurant equipment (approx. $500,000). We defeated the plaintiff's claims, and prevailed on our cross-complaint and established that plaintiff had committed fraud in negotiating the transaction. The Court awarded us approximately $200,000 in attorney's fees (100% of our fees were awarded, while less than 50% of the prior counsel's fees were awarded), which we collected in full by levying on plaintiff's corporate bank account.

Probate/Trust:
I handled the administration of a multimillion dollar probate and trust estate in Beverly Hills. I successfully defeated multiple lawsuits filed against the estate in an effort to thwart the decedent's estate plan. I also ensured that all beneficiaries of the estate received their bequests, including a multi-million dollar gift to the UCLA Foundation.

Corporate Breakup:
I handled a wrongful termination/corporate breakup litigation regarding a multimillion dollar family-owned company. This included three civil lawsuits and multiple trust petitions in court. On the day of trial, the plaintiff requested mediation which ultimately led to a global settlement. The plaintiff waived his $4,000,000 claim against the company and its officers and directors and accepted a discounted buyout price for his interest in the family trust.

2

California

We established our firm after moving to Southern California from the Bay Area in July of 1997. I was an associate in the San Francisco offices of two large law firms, and my partner, Deborah Young, worked as an associate at two small firms and as in-house counsel at a privately-held company with over 150 employees. Based on these experiences, and our own personal goals, we decided that the best way to practice law was to open our own practice so we could work with our own clients on matters that were professionally and personally satisfying to us. As lawyers, our main goal is to establish long-lasting relationships with our clients and help them through the good times and the bad. After all is said and done, we want to be remembered as the lawyers who made positive differences in people's lives.

We focus on providing the highest level of service to our clients because our success depends upon your success. The firm typically represents entrepreneurs and companies who actively manage their business and strive to be the best in their fields. We provide a wide range of business services from formation to transactional matters to litigation. Although we are lawyers, we are also entrepreneurs in our own right, and understand that sometimes the best legal solution does not make the most business sense. We also represent individuals in disputes involving contracts, insurance issues, homeowners' associations and other torts.

For our estate planning clients, our goal is to help you formulate a cohesive strategy for your own estate that we can then document and execute on. We provide counsel on issues such as succession planning for family businesses, and counsel clients on how they can best achieve their objectives while treating all interested parties fairly. After our estate planning clients go to their "great reward," we stand ready to administer and defend their estates in court. We represent executors and trustees, as well as beneficiaries and other interested parties, in an estate's administration. This can include, where necessary, litigation.

After I finished my first year of law school, I was a law clerk for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office in their litigation section. I was exposed to all aspects of litigation, and actually assisted with a multi-day jury trial during my first two weeks on the job. Following my second year, I joined Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, an international law firm, as a summer law clerk. During my third year of law school, I externed for the Presiding Justice for the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, where I assisted with the researching and drafting of appellate opinions. After graduation, I worked as a business litigation associate at Sedgwick for two years, tried several cases, and argued an appeal before the First District Court of Appeal. After Sedgwick, I spent about one year in the San Francisco office of the firm now known as Nossaman, LLP working on business litigation and transactional matters. In addition to our current firm, I also co-founded and ran a start-up fabless semiconductor company, and was an operating partner in a restaurant. Both of those companies were bought out. I was also an adjunct Professor of Law for First Year Legal Research and Writing/Moot Court at Whittier Law School for two years, and am considering getting back into teaching law part-time.

Volunteer Arbitrator for Orange County Bar Association's Fee Dispute Panel; Former Board Member PABA (Filipino Bar of Los Angeles); Former Board Member, Orange County Asian American Bar Association.

(949) 612-0341

Monday through Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment

Yes

I often quote fixed fees for estate planning services after our initial consultation. The range for such services is between $2,500 and $5,000, and includes whatever is necessary to ensure that your plan is complete. Fees for transactional matters can sometimes be charged based on a fixed percentage of the value of the transaction. I am also willing to consider handling litigation on a contingency, partial contingency or alternative fee arrangement depending on the nature of the matter.

WillMaker Document Review:
I charge $300 to review documents prepared by WillMaker.

$300 to $350 per hour depending on the engagement.

We offer a free initial consultation of up to one hour for potential clients. During this initial consultation, we will discuss the general nature of the matter with you, review the basic facts and explain how we may be of assistance.

Retainers depend on the nature of the engagement. Typically, we ask for $2,500 to $10,000 depending on the nature of the work and how quickly it needs to be done. If you want us to handle a trial for you that is set for next month, we will ask you for a sizable retainer based on the size of the file (is it one folder or 100 bankers' boxes?), the nature and amount of work remaining, the size of the team we may need to deploy, etc.