Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that nine attorneys in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office have been named Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers or Rising Stars for 2021.

Bradley attorneys honored by Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers for 2021 include:

• Gregory G. Marshall, partner (Criminal Defense: White Collar)
• Douglas L. Patin, partner (Construction Litigation)
• Stephen R. Spivack, partner (Criminal Defense: White Collar)
• Robert J. Symon, partner (Construction Litigation)
• Sky Woodward, partner (Class Action)

Bradley attorneys honored by Washington, D.C., Rising Stars for 2021 include:

• Aron C. Beezley, partner (Government Contracts)
• Anna M. Lashley, associate (Criminal Defense: White Collar)
• Marc A. Nardone, partner (Constitutional Law)
• Jessica L. Zurlo, associate (Intellectual Property)

Only the top 5 percent of lawyers in the District of Columbia are named Super Lawyers. No more than 2.5 percent of lawyers in D.C. are selected as Rising Stars, who must be 40 years old or younger or have been in practice for 10 or fewer years. Published by Thomson Reuters, Super Lawyers determines its rankings through independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. The Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists are published in the Washington DC Super Lawyers Magazine distributed with Washington Lawyer magazine, as well as in The Washington Post Magazine. The lists also are distributed to attorneys and ABA-accredited law school libraries.

Farrell Fritz is pleased to announce that James M. Wicks was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York at the Alfonse M. D’Amato U.S. Courthouse in Central Islip on Monday, April 26, 2021.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Wicks spent over 25 years at Farrell Fritz, where he was a Senior Partner, Member and served as the firm’s General Counsel. Judge Wicks’ practice concentrated in business and commercial litigation, as well as attorney ethics and professionalism issues.

Judge Wicks has served as an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s University School of Law since 2005. He has served a number of leadership roles in the region, including as Chairs of several not-for-profits, as well as Chair of the EDNY Civil Litigation Advisory Committee; member of the State and Federal Judicial Advisory Council; member of the NYS Judicial Institute of Professionalism; former Chair of the NYS Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section; and Chair of the Federal Bar Council’s Central Islip Courthouse Committee.

Judge Wicks graduated from St. John’s University School of Law and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheeling College. Following law school, he served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Arthur D. Spatt in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and then as a litigation associate for White & Case.

Judge Wicks is the fifth Farrell Fritz alumni to serve as a judge, joining Ret. Hon. George C. Pratt, United States Second Circuit Judge; Hon. Louis A. Scarcella, United States Bankruptcy Judge; Hon. Kathleen Tomlinson, United States Magistrate Judge; and Ret. Hon. William D. Wall, United States Magistrate Judge.

Organizations that rely on Slack to facilitate collaboration and business communications know that the content within can be responsive to discovery obligations or crucial for internal investigations. Unfortunately, native Slack exports do not make it easy to collect all of the necessary data, get relevant insights, narrow the scope, and easily export the data in a review-ready format.

Slack exports are produced in complex and difficult-to-read JSON file formats. Moreover, targeting a collection is limited and Slack exports will include message content and links to attached files, but not the files themselves—meaning collections can be incomplete.

In this session, learn more about the ediscovery challenges legal teams face when managing Slack data and learn how to overcome them. You’ll also see a quick demo of how Hanzo Hold can help corporate legal teams manage their Slack discovery workflows.

Register.

Speaker

Brad Harris, VP of Product, Hanzo

Brad Harris is the VP of Product at Hanzo, a pioneer in the contextual capture, and preservation of dynamic web and collaboration content for corporate legal and compliance departments. He leads product vision and innovation for the company. Brad has more than 30 years of experience in the high technology and enterprise software sectors, including assisting Fortune 1000 companies to enhance their e-discovery preparedness through technology and process improvement. Brad is a frequent author and speaker on data preservation and e-discovery issues and is a member of The Sedona Conference WG1 and WG6.

Michael Lyons, Christopher Simmons selected among top personal injury trial attorneys in North Texas

DALLAS – Trial lawyers Michael Lyons and Chris Simmons, co-founders of Lyons & Simmons, LLP, have been recognized in the 2021 edition of D Magazine’s the Best Lawyers in Dallas legal guide.

The two lawyers were selected based upon their work on behalf of plaintiffs in high-stakes personal injury litigation. It is the eighth time Lyons has earned the peer-nominated recognition. It is the second for Simmons.

The two attorneys, and the firm they built, have a reputation for obtaining outstanding results in cases involving life-altering personal injuries, wrongful death, and “bet-the-company” business disputes. Lyons’ and Simmons’ individual D Magazine honors are just their latest recognition.

In 2020, Lyons & Simmons was selected as the top personal injury law firm in Dallas by readers of Texas Lawyer. Earlier this year, it was named among the Best Law Firms in the country by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America based on the firm’s successes in high-stakes, complex litigation.

Lyons’ nationally acclaimed work has earned multiple individual accolades from The Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, Lawdragon 500, and the National Law Journal, to recognition from D Magazine for both his personal injury and business litigation work. He is a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums.

Simmons’ reputation as a go-to trial lawyer has earned recognition by Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500 and Texas Lawyer magazine. In addition to Best Lawyers in Dallas, Simmons has earned multiple selections to D Magazine’s companion Best Lawyers Under 40 listing and Texas Super Lawyers’ listing of the Top 100 Up-and-Coming young lawyers in the state.

The Best Lawyers in Dallas is based on a comprehensive selection process that starts with peer nominations. A blue-ribbon panel evaluates the tabulated list and works with the editorial staff to select the finalists. The complete list is featured in the May 2021 edition of D Magazine and is available at http://www.dmagazine.com.

Sidley is pleased to announce that Yvette Ostolaza has been elected to chair the Firm’s Management Committee, effective April 2022. Ostolaza will succeed Larry Barden, who has served as chair since 2014 and is slated to step down from the position next year when his term concludes. The Management Committee oversees the firm’s day-to-day operations and serves as one of Sidley’s principal governing bodies, along with the Executive Committee.

As chair of the nine-member Management Committee, Ostolaza will work closely with Michael Schmidtberger, who will continue as chair of the 34-member Executive Committee. Ostolaza and Messrs. Barden and Schmidtberger currently serve on both committees.

Ostolaza litigates matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts on behalf of global clients and has significant experience in multidistrict litigation, bankruptcy, arbitration, and securities litigation. She regularly leads complex internal investigations on behalf of companies, board committees, and individual directors and defends companies and directors in shareholder and securities class actions. She will continue practicing law and serving clients while chairing the Management Committee.

Among her many accolades, Ostolaza has been ranked as a leading General Commercial Litigator by Chambers USA every year since 2009. Most recently, she has been named to the 2020 “Texas Trailblazers” list by Texas Lawyer, received the “Thought Leadership” award from Corporate Counsel as well as Inside Counsel’s 2019 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards. She appeared in Latino Leaders Magazine 2018 and 2020 as a Top Latino Lawyer and is listed as one of the Most Powerful Latinas in Law. Ostolaza’s bio includes additional recognitions. She earned her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Miami.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Brian O’Dell, a partner in the firm’s Birmingham office, has been accepted as a Fellow in the American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA).

ACMA is comprised of more than 400 lawyers in North America who are experts in mortgage law. Fellows must have distinguished themselves as practitioners in the field of real estate mortgage law through their skills and practice experience, bar association activities, lecturing, authoring articles and program materials, participation in the legislative process, and writing briefs and/or arguing cases that are significant to mortgage transactions.

O’Dell is a member of Bradley’s Banking and Financial Services and Litigation Practice Groups. He represents financial service providers in regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters related to mortgage servicing, mortgage origination, credit cards, debt collection and title insurance. He assists clients in navigating regulatory issues and potential liability by ensuring that their operations are in compliance with federal and state consumer financial protection laws and that they are able to successfully demonstrate their compliance to federal and state regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). O’Dell’s litigation experience includes handling class actions in Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois and Nevada. He has litigated all facets of the financial services industry, including origination, warehouse lending, loan repurchase disputes, pooling and servicing agreements, servicing disputes and mortgage fraud.

O’Dell is an Accredited Mortgage Professional and has taught for more than a decade for the Mortgage Bankers Association. He routinely teaches the Advanced Servicing Workshop and Schools of Mortgage Banking I and II, specifically focusing on laws affecting the mortgagee’s interest in property, regulatory compliance and ethics.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that Dee Harleston as joined the firm as an associate in the Business Services and Health Care practice groups, based in the firm’s St. Louis office.

Harleston assists organizations, including hospital systems and other health care providers, with corporate and regulatory matters. His practice includes ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, drafting and reviewing agreements, and all aspects of health care transactions.

Previously, Harleston worked in-house at several large health care systems. His experience also includes public relations work for business, government and health care clients, as well as roles in state and congressional politics, including work on Medicaid expansion and telehealth issues.

In 2018, Harleston was the first participant in Greensfelder’s Diversity Fellowship program for first-year law students who have demonstrated a commitment to diversity.

Harleston received his J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law. He also holds a Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor of Science from Belmont University.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that Jennifer A. Cormier, a partner at MG+M The Law Firm (MG+M) in San Francisco, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Cormier focuses her practice on complex litigation with an emphasis on representing defendants in the toxic tort arena. She recently expanded her practice to defend businesses sued under California’s Child Victims Act. She also has experience in asbestos litigation, premises liability, and products liability.

Cormier has extensive experience overseeing and managing nationally recognized companies as national coordinating counsel and settlement counsel, as well as local counsel. She recently completed the rigorous mediation training program “Mediating the Litigated Case” offered by the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law. Cormier also is a member of the MG+M Women’s Forum, which provides a platform for the women of MG+M to share innovative ideas on empowerment in the workplace as well as opportunities to work within local communities to help other women through volunteer efforts.

Cormier received her J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University and her Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from the University of Delaware.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) has announced that J.Y. Miller, managing partner of Husch Blackwell LLP’s The Link virtual office, has accepted an invitation to join the IADC, the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests.

Miller is based in St. Louis.

A member of his firm’s executive board, Miller focuses his practice on serving as national coordinating counsel for toxic tort litigation. Previously, he worked as a prosecutor and criminal defense counsel while serving on active duty in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Miller also is a member of the Defense Research Institute.

Miller received his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and his Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

About the International Association of Defense Counsel
The IADC is the preeminent invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. Founded in 1920, the IADC has members who hail from six continents, 51 countries and territories, and all 50 U.S. states. The core purposes of the IADC are to enhance the development of skills, promote professionalism, and facilitate camaraderie among its members and their clients, as well as the broader civil justice community. For more information, visit www.iadclaw.org.

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP announced today it has added former Assistant United States Attorney Alexander F. Porter as a partner in the firm’s white-collar, investigations, and government controversies group. With extensive trial experience, including more than eight years as a federal prosecutor, he brings significant depth to the firm’s financial services and healthcare groups, particularly in connection with healthcare fraud investigations. He is the firm’s fifth California addition with extensive healthcare experience in the past year.

Porter most recently served as a senior prosecutor in the Major Frauds Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. During his tenure as an AUSA, he prosecuted a broad range of white-collar criminal cases and developed extensive experience leading parallel criminal and civil government investigations involving healthcare and securities fraud matters. Porter was appointed the health care fraud coordinator for the Central District of California in 2017. In that capacity, he coordinated healthcare fraud law enforcement activities with federal and state agencies, including the FBI and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within the country’s most populous federal judicial district, covering most of Southern California, including Los Angeles and Orange counties. Porter also served as acting deputy chief for the Major Frauds Section. Previously, he worked as a trial attorney within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, where he served as a member of the Health Care Fraud Strike Force and prosecuted violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and other healthcare offenses.

During his time in government, Porter tried seven white-collar federal jury trials and handled multiple appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Previously, he practiced as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles, focusing on white-collar criminal defense and securities litigation. There he represented corporations and executives in complex civil litigation and government investigations, including the former CEO of a Fortune 100 company in defense of multiple shareholder class action securities lawsuits and an SEC enforcement action. He joined Irell & Manella following a federal clerkship in the Central District of California. Porter received his undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco, summa cum laude, and his law degree from the University of Southern California.

Sidley is pleased to welcome Casey Khan as counsel in the global Energy and Infrastructure practice in the firm’s Houston office. Khan has over 15 years of experience working directly on commodity and financial trading floors in risk management, legal, and compliance functions. His advisory experience includes trading and hedging operations, risk management controls, and the creation and implementation of robust compliance programs.

Khan’s addition will expand the firm’s commodity trading practice, offering a unique perspective to organizations facing increasing quantitative risks and qualitative uncertainties.

Additionally, Khan represents institutions in regulatory proceedings, inquiries, and investigations before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and various Commodity & Derivative Exchanges (CME, ICE). He regularly advises and coaches commodity traders, marketers, and operators on physical and financial transactions, exchange rules, regional energy market rules and tariff requirements, and issues related to the design and operation of commodity derivatives, wholesale energy, and capacity markets. Khan also advises commodity, energy, and financial institutions on regulatory requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and relevant commodity provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act.

Khan received his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and his B.A. in Economics from the University of Arizona. He is admitted to practice law in Texas and the District of Columbia.

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm, is pleased to announce the expansion of its national Real Estate Practice Group with the addition of Bruce Wiener and Bedford Wilder in Tallahassee. Together they bring with them a broad range of experience in transactional real estate law, including commercial lending, documenting loan transactions, and closing and title services.

Wiener is a Florida Bar Certified Real Estate Lawyer and focuses his practice on transactional real estate law, commercial lending, and land use. He represents buyers and sellers in the purchase and sale of commercial, office, multifamily, student housing, acreage, and timberland property. His lender representation includes: the preparation of loan documentation for commercial mortgage loan transactions including construction and development projects; and performing due diligence investigations with respect to collateral, including the review of title, survey, land use entitlement, leasing, and related matters.

Wilder represents developers, property owners, and lenders in commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition, sale, leasing, and development of real property. He represents financial institutions in negotiating and documenting loan transactions, including real estate and asset-based lending, construction financing, and loan workouts and lenders rely on his diverse skillset to navigate title insurance and secured transaction matters. With extensive experience in closing corporate asset transactions, Wilder also helps companies grow and transform their businesses through acquisitions and divestitures.

April 22, 2021 – Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP today announced that Gary Ogden has joined the firm as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Ogden was most recently the principal of The Ogden Law Group, a full-service real estate transactions legal advisory firm. He represents buyers, sellers, developers, small businesses, start-ups, and investors in the full range of large and small commercial real estate transactions.

Ogden assists clients in selling, leasing, developing, and financing commercial real estate in California and throughout the United States. On behalf of a major retail client, Ogden has handled development agreements, purchase and sale agreements, leases, reciprocal easement agreements (REAs), license agreements, finance documents, and architectural/construction contracts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, he has been involved in renegotiating office leases and sub-leasing contracts.

Prior to managing his own law firm, Ogden served as In-House real estate counsel at Broadway Stores, Inc. Ogden received his B.A. from Brigham Young University, cum laude and with University Honors, and his J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bilingual in Spanish and English, Ogden regularly chairs and lectures in a number of professional continuing education programs on various aspects of real estate development, leasing, and management. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Valley Family Center, a counseling services and educational support foundation serving low-income families and individuals in San Fernando, California. He has been involved with Valley Family Center for 20 years and has handled real estate matters for the not-for-profit on a pro bono basis.

Barry O’Melia brings 20+ years of legal tech expertise

NEW YORK — April 21, 2021 — Brightflag, the AI-powered enterprise legal management platform, today announced the appointment of legal technology veteran Barry O’Melia as the company’s new Vice President of Product. O’Melia will align Brightflag’s product vision, customers’ emerging requirements, and his own industry perspective to deliver easy-to-use innovations that offer practical value to corporate legal departments.

O’Melia was formerly the leader of multiple product groups at Relativity, the e-discovery and compliance software leader recently valued at $3.6 billion. Prior to Relativity, O’Melia spent more than a decade specializing in big data analysis with e-discovery provider Digital WarRoom.

Following the company’s $28 million funding round in November and its year-over-year doubling of annual recurring revenue in 2020, this announcement marks the third new executive hire made by Brightflag this year.

Grand Rapids – April 21, 2021 – Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that Elisa Lintemuth, a member in the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, has been appointed to serve as Managing Member of the firm’s Grand Rapids office.

In her practice, Lintemuth regularly advises employers regarding their obligations under state and federal employment laws and is experienced in resolving disputes in both state and federal courts. She focuses on employment counseling and litigation, commercial litigation, and ERISA litigation. Lintemuth also drafts employment policies and handbooks and negotiates employment and severance agreements. She also counsels employers concerning pre-litigation investigations, strategy, and negotiation and has experience representing employers in labor strikes and defending unfair labor practice proceedings.

In 2020, Lintemuth was at the forefront of helping employers address challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including return to work, mandatory vaccines, FFCRA leave, and compliance with OSHA guidance and state rules regarding workplace safety protocols. She has been frequently quoted in media coverage and has presented on these topics to many employers.

Throughout her career, Lintemuth has earned recognition for her legal work. She was selected as an “Up & Coming Lawyer” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2020 and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America (2021) and as a “Rising Star” by Michigan Super Lawyers each year since 2014.

Outside of her law practice, Lintemuth sits on the Board of Directors for the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, where she also serves as Chair of the Great Gardens Party Committee and member of the Executive Committee.

Lintemuth earned a J.D., summa cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Denison University.

Provenir, a global leader in risk decisioning and data analytics software, welcomes Linda M. Lovett, Esq. as their in-house Legal Counsel. In her new role, Linda will be responsible for overseeing all Provenir’s commercial legal matters and supporting all Provenir’s new and existing product offerings, which include the Provenir Cloud Suite delivering data, decisioning, insight and solutions capabilities.

As a Columbia Law School Stone scholar, Linda brings a wealth of commercial legal experience as well as deep expertise in international and Fintech law. Prior to joining Provenir, Linda led significant engagements across debt restructuring, securities, and mergers and acquisitions, and negotiated more than 5,000 complex commercial agreements for large Fintech corporations, small start-up companies major New York law firms and non-profit foundations.

Buchalter is pleased to announce David Elkanich joins the Firm as Chair of the newly launched Professional Responsibility Practice Group. He is a welcome addition to the Firm’s expanding Portland office, and also a member of the Litigation Practice Group.

Elkanich focuses his practice primarily on legal ethics, risk management, and discipline defense. He advises lawyers, law firms, in-house legal departments, as well as students and other professionals, on a variety of ethics issues, including conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privilege, fee disputes, internal investigations, law firm dissolutions and partnership disputes, unauthorized practice of law and admissions issues, malpractice and professional liability cases, and litigation issues, such as withdrawal and disqualification motions.

Among his achievements, he was Chair of the Anti-Bias Rule Drafting Committee in Oregon, which drafted an anti-bias ethics rule that was ultimately adopted as Oregon Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(a)(7), making it professional misconduct for a lawyer to, “in the course of representing a client, knowingly intimidate or harass a person because of that person’s race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status or disability.” He also spent three terms on the Oregon Legal Ethics Committee and is an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, where he has taught ethics since 2012.

Among his many accolades, Elkanich was named as one of The Best Lawyers in America, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law from 2016-2021, and was selected as the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law Lawyer of the Year in 2021. He was featured in Oregon Super Lawyers magazine from 2017-2020, and as a “Rising Star” in 2012 and 2013.

New York – Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that David Mollo-Christensen and Eric Wolf are joining the firm’s New York office as partners in its Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice. Mr. Mollo-Christensen joins Sidley from Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, and Mr. Wolf will join from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Mollo-Christensen counsels on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters, with a particular focus on private equity and public mergers and acquisitions. He has represented public, strategic, and private equity clients in connection with transactions ranging from targeted investments valued in the tens of millions of dollars to global public mergers valued in the tens of billions dollars. He also advises companies in connection with IPOs, SPACs, spin-offs, and joint ventures. His extensive experience includes negotiating employment and separation agreements, designing equity-based and other incentive arrangements, and advising companies regarding SEC and federal securities law compliance and disclosure.

Wolf’s practice focuses on executive compensation and benefits-related matters that arise in connection with corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and joint ventures. He represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies with respect to compensation structures and employment arrangements. He has advised on multi-billion dollar transactions for private equity clients across a variety of sectors including technology and financial services. He also regularly advises public companies and their executives in connection with employment, severance, and equity-based arrangements.

Simon Greenstone Panatier secures first civil jury verdict since reopening of Los Angeles courts

LOS ANGELES – In the first civil jury verdict in Los Angeles County since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, Simon Greenstone Panatier trial lawyers secured a $4.8 million verdict on behalf of a 78-year-old mesothelioma victim.

A Vietnam War veteran, Willie McNeal Jr. suffers from pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. Lead attorney Stuart Purdy presented evidence establishing that talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels (WCD) was aware of asbestos contamination in its talc supply and linking McNeal’s 22-year daily use of Old Spice Talcum Powder to his cancer diagnosis.

For decades, WCD was one of the largest suppliers of cosmetic talc in the United States for products, including Old Spice. Talc and asbestos minerals are frequently found together in mining operations. According to trial testimony, talc extracted from WCD’s North Carolina talc mine is known to have asbestos contamination.

McNeal was represented at trial by Purdy and Tyson Gamble of the Los Angeles office of Simon Greenstone Panatier.

The case is Willie McNeal Jr. vs. Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC698965.