Los Angeles

Office Information

Steptoe’s lawyers based in Los Angeles bring nationally recognized experience to diverse industries across a broad range of practice areas.  Our clients include entrepreneurs, middle-market companies, and some of the largest corporations in the United States and abroad.

Corporate
Our corporate practice serves a broad, regional client base that ranges from start-ups to middle-market companies.  Our Los Angeles corporate lawyers are experienced in finance, mergers and acquisitions, technology transfer, secured and unsecured corporate and commercial lending, and structuring and administration of limited liability companies, limited and general partnerships and corporations.  Drawing on related talent in the areas of tax, executive compensation, intellectual property, securities and employment law, we provide a broad range of business and legal counsel that enable us to offer our clients comprehensive business solutions.

Environment
Our lawyers represent clients in both litigation and regulatory matters that involve hazardous substances and wastes, air and water quality, land use, CEQA, toxic torts and other environmental matters, including state and federal Superfund liability, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting and compliance issues, California’s Safe Drinking Water & Toxic Enforcement Act (Proposition 65), California’s Green Chemistry Initiative and all other California environmental laws.  We also prosecute and defend claims under federal and state environmental statutory schemes, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), California’s Hazardous Substances Account Act (HSAA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Fashion and Apparel
The lawyers in Steptoe’s fashion and apparel practice have significant experience representing retailers and manufacturers in claims involving trademarks and trade dress, infringement, counterfeiting, gray market imports, unfair competition and false, deceptive, or unfair advertising; trade libel and other claims concerning commercial speech, advertising, and marketing; consumer product safety; intellectual property licensing and assignments; patent and trademark applications; distribution, supplier and customer contracts; and development and joint-venture agreements.

Intellectual Property
Our seasoned group of intellectual property lawyers provides sophisticated counseling and portfolio management advice across many industries to leading companies worldwide.  With experience across a broad range of technologies, we assist clients with all aspects of patent, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition and copyright law, including patent validity and infringement opinions, patent prosecution and clearance, enforcement, trade secret misappropriation, technology agreements and licensing, branding strategies and anti-counterfeiting.

Labor & Employment and Executive Compensation
Our nationally recognized ERISA, labor and employment lawyers handle employee benefits planning and disputes, executive compensation, discrimination and wrongful termination litigation, union disputes and administrative proceedings. We also provide counseling on day-to-day employment matters, prepare employee handbooks and policies, and conduct training and compliance audits.

Litigation
Our Los Angeles litigators handle the following types of matters throughout California and in many other states:

• Toxic tort litigation including defense of products liability personal injury and wrongful death, class actions, mass tort litigation, and products liability claims arising from soil and groundwater contamination for clients in the petroleum, chemical and plastics manufacturing industries; construction; and architectural and engineering firms.
• Commercial litigation including trials and arbitrations arising from contract disputes, business torts, antitrust and unfair competition claims, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and racketeering violations.
• Securities litigation and arbitrations including class action defense, corporate disputes, financial services disputes, director and officer liability, accountant and attorney liability and corporate internal investigations.
• Intellectual property litigation in the pharmaceutical, health care, technology, entertainment, media, apparel and consumer goods industries; trade secrets and employee raiding; and copyright, trademark and patent disputes.
• Appellate litigation in such diverse fields as toxic torts, energy, ERISA, tax, transportation, employment, contracts, business torts, trade secret, copyright and trademark litigation and constitutional law. 
• International arbitration and dispute resolution involving intellectual property, high-technology, financial services, broadcasting and media firms in Asia and Latin America and several languages, including Korean, Spanish and Chinese.

Real Estate Litigation, Transactions and Finance
We are well-versed in real estate litigation, transactions, finance, leasing, counseling, and securitization for commercial and residential developers/builders, REITs, owners, investors, lenders, borrowers, purchasers, landlords and tenants.

Regulation and Administration
Steptoe’s highly respected federal regulatory practice is mirrored by the firm’s active practice involving regulation by the State of California.  We help clients solve problems that have policy and administrative as well as litigation dimensions, in fields ranging from the environment, labor and employment, and health and safety to transportation, agriculture, and commerce.  Read more about our experience dealing with California's regulatory and administrative practice issues.

Tax
Our lawyers represent business clients of many types and sizes in federal, state and local income, sales and use, and property tax issues, including high-technology businesses, electric utilities, telecommunications companies, mining and railroad companies, manufacturers, retailers, banks, printers, mail-order businesses, tax-exempt organizations and resorts.  We also provide counsel on the multi-state tax implications of business transactions including e-commerce.

Technology
In Los Angeles, we work to address our clients’ challenging legal issues, as technology, content, and distribution is transforming the entertainment, media, computer software and telecom industries.  The area is also home to innovative biotechnology and life sciences research and development laboratories and manufacturing firms.  Since its founding, Steptoe has served the ever-changing technology sector, representing many of the major technology manufacturing and services firms throughout the United States, Asia and Europe on cutting-edge legal issues.  Our intellectual property, corporate, securities and finance, employment, and litigation lawyers work together to provide strategic advice and creative, comprehensive and cost-effective legal solutions to computer hardware, semiconductor, software, biomedical devices, life sciences, new media, information technology, gaming, electronic commerce, telecommunications, and other technology-intensive companies.  The intellectual property lawyers in Steptoe’s Los Angeles offices work in concert with the more than 50 intellectual property lawyers across the firm.