Costa Mesa Business Lawyers

Rudolph & Chonoles, LLP is a business law and business litigation boutique. We counsel and represent clients in business entity formation and dissolution, raising venture capital, purchase and sale of businesses, business operation and transactions, contract negotiation and drafting, asset protection, business disputes and lawsuits, wage and hour claims, and employment matters. Stephen J. Chonoles is one of the firm's two founding partners. He counsels and represents clients in all of the firm's practice areas. He is licensed in California, and has appeared by permission of court in Nevada. Mr. Chonoles is a member of...

Manbir S. Chowdhary represents employees in all areas of labor and employment law, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, employee misclassification, and unpaid wages claims. Mr. Chowdhary's experience also includes contractual disputes, and the enforcement of partner/shareholder rights. Mr. Chowdhary's business litigation clients include real estate developers, national sportswear manufacturers, Fortune 500 executives, medical organizations, small businesses, and 501(c)(3) corporations. Mr. Chowdhary is a graduate of USC Law School, and a former legislative aide to the Lt. Governor of California. He is licensed to practice law in California, New York, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Mr. August has been practicing corporate and transactional law for over 30 years. He began his legal career in Washington, D.C., at the firm of Lane & Edson, where he was part of the team representing Wesray Capital on leveraged buyout transactions, and subsequently associated with the Washington, D.C. office of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson, where he serviced its telecommunications and other clients with corporate fundraising and strategic transactions. In 1990, he moved to California to serve in the Los Angeles office of Graham & James, handling securities, mergers & acquisitions and other transactions for its primarily international...

M. Scott Koller joined InfoLawGroup LLP as a Counsel in November 2013. Mr. Koller’s practice focuses on information technology, privacy and data security matters. Mr. Koller also has extensive experience handling a wide range of complex litigation in both federal and state courts. Before his law firm experience, he developed a background in information technology when he founded System Operation Services, an IT consulting firm. Later, Mr. Koller became the Director of Pre-Funding Operations at Technology Venture Alliance, an early stage venture capital firm. Prior to joining InfoLawGroup, Mr. Koller was an associate in the Sacramento offices...

Mr. Burkhalter is the founding partner of BKCG. He is an AV Preeminent rated lawyer, the top ranking in ability and ethics by Martindale- Hubbell. He has been selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer for Business Litigation every year since 2007. Mr. Burkhalter is a seasoned business trial lawyer who has successfully prosecuted and defended a wide array of cases. He has received multiple “8 figure” jury trial awards, including a Nashville jury verdict of $30.4 million. In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Burkhalter advises and represents clients in a wide variety of business settings, such as...

Michael Oberbeck is a senior counsel focusing on business litigation issues. At BKCG, Mr. Oberbeck has extensively litigated employment disputes, commercial and real property disputes, international manufacturing and distribution litigation, and trademark and franchise issues. Mr. Oberbeck has litigated cases throughout California in both state and federal courts, and he has obtained many client-favorable results at trial, arbitration, and mediation. Mr. Oberbeck also has authored and successfully argued several matters before the California Courts of Appeals for BKCG clients. Born in Evansville, Indiana, Mr. Oberbeck graduated, cum laude, from Purdue University in 1993 with a double major in Psychology...

Daniel Kessler is the head of the firm’s litigation department and one of the firm’s founding partners. Mr. Kessler has litigated and tried a wide variety of business cases ranging from employment terminations to real estate development disputes to fraud and conspiracy to water rights. Mr. Kessler has secured multiple million-dollar jury verdicts for his clients, including significant punitive damage awards. Mr. Kessler has successfully defended clients before, during and at trial, including prevailing on several motions to dismiss the opposition’s case in its entirety, saving the expense of further trial. Mr. Kessler is a strong advocate for alternative dispute...

Chatow Law is built on a foundation of Mark’s 20 years of business experience as a founder, executive, and CEO of companies across a range of industries including real estate development, technology, wellness, and consumer products.

Mark began his studies at USC Law in 1990, and earned his J.D. in 1993.

1993 – Consumer Products
Between his first and second years of law school, Mark became a founding partner of Roundhouse Products. After graduating from USC, Mark began to work full-time at Roundhouse as VP Sales & Marketing, and helped grow the company from its initial three partners to more than 200 employees,...

Joshua Waldman is a senior counsel whose practice focuses primarily on business disputes. Mr. Waldman began his legal career as an extern for the Honorable Napoleon Jones, Jr. from the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. He was an associate for Walsworth, Franklin Bevins and McCall and Collins & Bellenghi, focusing on civil litigation, with an emphasis on business and employment disputes before joining BKCG. Since joining BKCG, Mr. Waldman has secured many positive outcomes for BKCG clients by winning dipositive motions, achieving extremely favorable settlements, and prevailing in multiple trials and arbitrations. Born in Phoenix, Mr....

A native of Southern California, Paul graduated cum laude from Chapman University where he pitched for Chapman’s World Series baseball team. Paul then attended Chapman University, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he was extremely active in Mock Trial and ADR competitions, winning numerous top advocate awards. He gained valuable courtroom experience while externing with the United States Attorney’s Office and the Orange County and Riverside County District Attorney’s offices. After receiving his law degree, Paul moved to Chicago, IL and gained significant trial experience representing clients in all phases of litigation, from inception of the case through post-trial motions...

Steven I. Hochfelsen is a litigation attorney. A member of the American and the Orange County Bar Associations since 1986, Mr. Hochfelsen has handled business litigation of every description through trial. In recent years, Mr. Hochfelsen has represented major commercial landlords, developers, nationwide manufacturers and distributors of consumer goods, insurance companies and defense contractors in various state and federal court cases. His recent cases involve real property lease disputes, construction litigation, bankruptcy, general commercial contracts, unfair competition and trade secrets, insurance and bad faith issues and commercial fraud claims. Mr. Hochfelsen has extensive experience in Federal and state court representation...

Manoah S. Marton graduated summa cum laude from Concordia University Irvine with a major in History & Political Thought and a national championship in NPDA parliamentary debate. During college, Manoah worked at Klein & Wilson as a law clerk. He then attended UCLA School of Law, where he served as a Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review. During law school, Manoah also served as a judicial extern for Judge Charles R. Eskridge III in the Southern District of Texas. After graduating from UCLA, Manoah worked at one of the biggest law firms in the nation in the litigation department where...

Elliott H. Stone is the founder and managing attorney of the STONE LLP.

Troy Sugg specializes in business law. He has extensive experience in corporate, partnership and LLC transactional matters, including mergers, acquisitions, financings and joint ventures. Mr. Sugg has been involved in transactions in a wide variety of business sectors and industries. Mr. Sugg has represented and worked extensively with companies of all sizes from small privately-held companies to large public companies. Prior to forming his own law firm, Mr. Sugg practiced law at the Orange County office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Mr. Sugg received his B.S. degree in Business from University of Southern California and his J.D. degree...

Education J.D., Harvard Law School (1989) LL.M., University of Cambridge (1986) M.A., University of Cambridge (1986) B.A. (Hons.), University of Cambridge (1984) A.B., College of William and Mary, summa cum laude (1982) Phi Beta Kappa Admissions • California • United Kingdom (Barrister, Lincoln’s Inn) Courts • United States Supreme Court • California Supreme Court • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal, First, Second, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Circuits • U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California • U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Mr. Kaiho is the primary attorney at Dragan & Kaiho. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Mr. Kaiho is fluent in Japanese and intimately familiar with the Japanese culture. With respect to his undergraduate education, Mr. Kaiho attended Boston University, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. After graduation, Mr. Kaiho moved to Tokyo, Japan, where he worked for a multi-national chemical manufacturing company and was a law clerk in a Japanese law firm. For his legal education, Mr. Kaiho graduated from Arizona State University with his JD/MBA, specializing in business law. During law school, Mr. Kaiho was a judicial law...

Richard E. Masson focuses his practice in the areas of Estate Planning, Family Law and Probate. Mr. Masson’s specialized knowledge and expertise in family law, estate planning and tax provides an edge for his clients in that he is uniquely able to attack an issue from all angles which creates better opportunities and advantages for those he represents. Moreover, and more importantly, Mr. Masson understands the emotional and complex nature of his clients needs and goals in order to ensure them the best result possible.

Mr. Masson has been duly recognized for his outstanding work and numerous accomplishments as a family...

Nicholas Myers’ practice focuses on intellectual property, business litigation, and corporate formation and governance. He has represented clients in trademark, copyright, breach of contract, unfair competition, Internet, gaming, and sports and entertainment matters, and has also advised clients on corporate structuring and asset protection issues.

Nicholas has litigated cases in state and federal courts and has represented clients in private arbitration. He routinely prosecutes and defends clients in trademark, copyright and trade secret cases. He has also successfully represented multiple clients in trademark disputes before the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Nicholas is admitted to practice...