2049 Century Park East, 32nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90067-3206 310.557.2900 310.557.2193 (fax)

Lawyers in the office are divided into groups: Business, Labor & Employment Law, and Litigation & Dispute Resolution.

The BUSINESS GROUP is comprised of lawyers practicing in the following areas:

Corporate and Securities. Members of the group represent:

• purchasers, sellers and financial advisors in all types of public and private merger & acquisition transactions
  
  
• underwriters, issuers, selling security holders, private investment funds and other investors on a full range of public and private debt and equity financings, including initial public offerings, issuances and refinancings of high-yield debt, PIPEs, and other institutional private placements and venture capital financings
  
  
• public and private entities and individuals with respect to various corporate and securities law matters, including SEC reporting obligations, corporate governance and other board and stockholder affairs, and strategic alliances

Restructuring and Bankruptcy. Members of this group represent debtors, security holders, secured and unsecured creditors, committees and other stakeholders in a variety of in-court and out-of-court restructurings, including:

• exchange offers and consent solicitations
  
  
• assignments for the benefit of creditors
  
  
• pre-packaged and pre-negotiated plans of reorganization and other Chapter 11 cases

Real Estate. Members of the group represent institutional investors, mortgage and mezzanine lenders, debt and equity investors, landlords, tenants, brokers and managers in a variety of commercial transactions encompassing:

• structured finance
  
  
• mortgage and mezzanine loan originations and other real estate finance vehicles
  
  
• joint ventures and equity funds
  
  
• sale-leasebacks, credit leases, ground leases and other net leases
  
  
• sales and acquisitions of real property and equity and debt interests
  
  
• office, industrial and retail leases
  
  
• joint ventures and equity funds
  
  
• equity and debt securitizations
  
  
• debt restructuring and workouts
  
  
• property development and construction
  
  
• brokerage and management arrangements

Entertainment, Media, Information & Technology. Members of this group serve as counsel in numerous specialized global entertainment industry transactions, and they provide a full range of services directed to transactions including:

• motion picture production, distribution and finance
  
  
• creation, protection and exploitation of entertainment content
  
  
• entertainment corporate and finance transactions
  
  
• entertainment labor and employment relations
  
  
• entertainment contracts
  
  
• copyright, trademark and trade secret counseling, and Copyright Office and Tribunal practice
  
  
• intellectual property policy development, legislative counseling and government liaison
  
  
• entertainment litigation and dispute resolution, involving (among other things) recording, publishing, licensing, management contracts, copyrights, trademark rights, unfair competition claims, rights of privacy and publicity, and enforcement of personal services contracts

Tax.  Members of the group focus primarily on income, gift and estate tax and related business planning, and they represent:

• individuals, entrepreneurs and business entities in connection with tax issues that arise in sophisticated business transactions, including a wide array of merger & acquisition, financing, debt restructuring, business succession, and real property acquisition, disposition and exchange transactions
  
  
• executives, professionals, investors and other individuals, families and business enterprises providing income, gift and estate tax and related business planning advice in connection with wealth preservation and tax minimization objectives
  
  
• all forms of taxpayers in administrative and judicial resolution of tax disputes with federal and state authorities

The LABOR & EMPLOYMENT GROUP advises and litigates on behalf of employers and management on issues ranging throughout the full spectrum of employment and labor relations law. Our clients include premier large and mid-sized publicly traded and privately held international and U.S. corporations in a wide variety of industries including financial services, manufacturing, airlines, automotive, motion picture and television production, broadcasting, medical groups, law and accounting firms, long-term temporary employment services, telecommunications, food production, food services and restaurants, medical devices, biotechnology, health care, retail sales and new media.

The Employment Group. Clients call upon us often for strategic thinking about a wide variety of critical legal issues affecting personnel administration. The group regularly counsels clients regarding complex problems involving employee discipline and terminations, workforce reductions, leaves of absence, wage and hour matters, and all aspects of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, disability accommodation, and affirmative action, as well as workplace violence and safety. We work with clients to protect trade secrets and prevent employee raiding.

Employment Litigation. The members of this group try jury cases on behalf of employers in state and federal court; handle administrative claims before state and federal discrimination agencies, and the United States Department of Labor and its California counterparts; and defend companies in every manner of employment litigation. We frequently defend companies facing cutting-edge matters, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, "whistleblower" and other retaliation complaints; misuse of company e-mail and the Internet; reverse national origin disputes; and white-collar criminal crossover issues. We have a high rate of success in resolving disputes in mediation and court-ordered and final and binding private arbitration. Our lawyers regularly appear in court representing employers against individual and class action claims, including alleged wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, wage and hour issues, and unfair competition. We have a depth of experience and an excellent track record in defending clients in bench and jury trials and appellate work. Our lawyers have participated in a large number of precedent-setting litigations before the California and United States trial and appellate courts.

The Labor Relations Group. Our labor relations lawyers participate in local and nationwide representation of employers in union avoidance planning, and union organizing and corporate campaigns. We frequently are called on to play a lead role or to assist in collective bargaining negotiations and to handle complex labor arbitrations. We appear regularly before the National Labor Relations Board and the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board on organizing and unfair labor practice disputes. Clients also call on us to go to federal district court to compel arbitration and end work stoppages and strikes.

The LITIGATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION GROUP has wide and varied experience representing an extraordinarily diverse range of clients in civil and criminal matters before state and federal courts, administrative agencies, and regulatory bodies, as well as in various industry and private forums for the arbitration or other resolution of disputes.

In addition to its core contract and commercial dispute practice, this group is actively involved in the following areas:

Entertainment, Media, Information and Technology. Members of this group advise and litigate on behalf of artists, production and distribution companies and others involved with motion pictures, print, television, music and new technologies on a wide range of subjects including copyright, trademark, unfair competition, defamation, cyber squatting, digital downloading, privacy, piracy, antitrust, and international art theft. We also have nationally recognized experience in cases involving the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

SEC Enforcement and White-Collar Criminal Defense. Members of the group represent public and private entities and individuals in federal and state grand jury investigations, civil and criminal trials, and SEC, FTC and IRS investigations. We also conduct special investigations for the boards of directors and special committees of Fortune 500 and other public and private companies with respect to a wide range of topics, including securities, health care, campaign finance, environmental regulation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and insurance.
 
Corporate and Securities. Members of the group represent issuers, underwriters and auditors, as well as officers and directors, in SEC and grand jury investigations, and in state and federal litigation relating to federal and state securities laws. We also represent broker-dealers in proceedings both in federal and state courts, and before regulatory bodies such as the NYSE and the NASD.

Business Litigation. Members of this group prosecute and defend claims of breach of contract, as well as breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, and other business torts. We have extensive experience handling product liability claims, including toxic tort litigation. We also represent limited and general partners in partnership disputes, and investors and developers in complex real estate litigation. We have extensive experience litigating issues relating to claims of RICO and antitrust violations, consumer class actions, and bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations.