Law Firm

A 21-year-old woman represented by a Newport Beach law firm has won a $3.25-million jury verdict in a food poisoning case against a Dana Point restaurant. An Orange County Superior Court judge has yet to rule on the verdict, which was handed down July 11. Alexis Sarti, of San Clemente, suffered a rare form of food poisoning after eating an ahi tuna appetizer at the Salt Creek Grille. Bremer, Whyte, Brown & O'Meara LLP represented Sarti in the lawsuit. Tim McCune, president and co-founder of Salt Creek Ltd., which runs the restaurant, said he and co-founder Pete Truxaw are appealing the jury's verdict.

Deirdre Newman The City Council voted Tuesday to do away with its attorney's office, saying an outside firm would be better equipped to handle increasingly difficult cases, while keeping costs down. "Instead of having three or four attorneys that have a decent amount of knowledge but aren't experts in any particular fields so we need to get second opinions and ship out an awful lot, we need experts working for us," Mayor Gary Monahan said. The council directed staff members to enter into negotiations with Jones & Mayer, the firm that rose to the top of the 10 a city committee reviewed.

Irell & Manella, a law firm with an office in Newport Beach, announced last week that it "successfully defended Newport Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of high-precision components and systems used for development and application of laser and optical technologies." Newport Electronics, Inc., had sued the Irvine based company "for trademark infringement, false designation of origin and dilution under the Lanham Act and for violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act."

Popular NASCAR Sprint Cup and off-road racing competitor Robby Gordon made a recent pit stop in Costa Mesa to attend a private reception for more than 100 guests outside of the Anton Blvd. offices of Rutan & Tucker LLP, California?s largest full-service law firm based in Orange County. Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale?s South Coast Plaza catered the luncheon event. Firm partner Steve Nichols, who has successfully represented Gordon in several legal matters, arranged the visit. Recently, Nichols was named one of the state?

  FISHER & PHILLIPS WINS 2009 BURTON AWARD FOR BEST LAW FIRM NEWSLETTER Firm’s Labor Letter Takes Top Honors   IRVINE, Calif. (April 22, 2009) – A newsletter produced by the law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP is the Burton Award recipient for Best Law Firm Newsletter in 2009. The firm’s Labor Letter earned top honors in the newsletter category, which is awarded in conjunction with the Association of Legal Administrators.

Newport Beach-based Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara announced this month it opened its newest office in Berkeley, which will serve clients in Northern and Central California. Construction, waste management, real estate and insurance professionals to the north can now call on the help of the transaction and litigation services firm. Body Design hires three new experts Massage therapist Renee Yanez and Pilates instructors Jennifer Parra and Robyn Yamanaka recently joined the team at Body Design, a women's athletic and wellness center in Newport Beach.

A donation totaling over $17,000 to help fund Haiti relief efforts was recently given to the American Red Cross of Orange County by the employees and management of Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker, LLP, California?s largest full-service law firm based in Orange County. The combined donation represented individual employee gifts made via check and online to the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations involved in the relief effort that were then matched by the firm.

COSTA MESA - The city has saved millions of dollars since contracting out its city attorney duties to the Jones and Mayer law firm in the 2004-05 fiscal year, data released by city shows. In the five years since Jones and Mayer was hired, Costa Mesa has paid about $4.7 million for legal representation. In the five years before, the city paid more than $7.5 million for its own in-house attorney, records show. The annual savings averaged about $550,000 though costs fluctuated year to year by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

SANTA ANA - On most days, the hallways of Orange County Superior Court are filled with men and women dressed in pressed slacks and shined shoes. The click of heels and whir of rolling briefcases are the 11-story legal tower's soundtrack. Thursday was no exception. A group from law firms in Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and other pats of Orange County bounced from courtroom to courtroom in their finest. The only difference to the norm? This group of 28 would-be lawyers were still in high school.

A Delaware manufacturing company selected a Newport Beach law firm to provide counsel in the company's bankruptcy cases. Representatives from Tecstar Inc. and Tecstar Power Systems Inc. chose Irell & Manella LLP, a full-service law firm with offices in Newport Beach and Los Angeles, to serve as counsel in its Delaware Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Lawyers Jeffrey M. Reisner and Tavi C. Flanagan from the Newport Beach office will represent Tecstar, which manufactures solar cells for space-based applications.