Diablo Lawyers

Daniel Horowitz is Contra Costa County's "Top 100 Trial Lawyer". Daniel is an active community member serving on the Lafayette Crime Prevention Commission and a strong supporter of LPIE, Generations in Jazz and the Acalanes and local sports programs. His law group, Lawyers in Lafayette is a community law firm handling all types of cases "in house" or assisting in a referral to the best attorney for your needs. Daniel Horowitz and his legal team have exceptional qualifications in targeted areas. His group of affiliated attorneys includes a licensed physician who practices as a lawyer, a licensed...

We are dedicated to the practice of Immigration and Naturalization Law exclusively, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Te: 925-407-2149 Services include: Family immigration law: marriage and fiance visas, family petitions, waivers of unlawful presence, green cards. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Original Applications and Renewals) Business Immigration law: visas to work and/or invest (HB, TN, E investor visas, employment-based green cards. Visas for athletes and entertainers. LGBT Immigration law: visas and petitions for same sex couples. Citizenship and Naturalization. Languages: English, Spanish Marcela Knaup is a bilingual Spanish-English attorney. www.knauplegal.com Marcela@knauplegal.com Te: ...

As an San Francisco Bay Area labor and employment attorney at Littler Mendelson, I represent employers in all phases and types of employment litigation (e.g., wage and hour class actions, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, misclassification, wrongful termination, etc.), provide advice and counsel to employers regarding their employment practices and policies, and create and present customized workplace trainings and presentations unique to employers' goals and company culture. My professional experiences outside of the realm of law are rooted in business, management, and accounting.

Rebecca's undergraduate degree in Social Work carries forward in her caring and passionate attitude toward representing her clients in tax issues, including tax levies, offer in compromise. Her practice includes preparing trust plans (trust, pour over will, health care directive, and power of attorney) for her clients and assisting clients selecting and forming their business entity (S Corp, C Corp, LLC or LLP). Rebecca is determined to get the best result for her client. Prepare today, for peace of mind in the future.

Crabtree Law PC is a full service, bi-lingual (SPANISH), family law firm dedicated to delivering personal, practical, and effective representation at an affordable cost. We are conveniently located in Walnut Creek, California. Attorney Maria Crabtree received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Communications from the University of California at Davis. She later returned to the University of California, Davis and earned her J.D. degree. As a sole practitioner, Ms. Crabtree is dedicated to helping families navigate through the complexities of the laws and policies that rule family law issues. Dissolution of marriage (divorce), child custody...

Throughout her legal career, Vanessa has practiced exclusively in family law. With her legal training and knowledge, she provides compassion and advocacy for her clients. Vanessa’s experience working on a broad spectrum of family law matters include divorce, pre-divorce counseling and planning, premarital agreements, complex marital property issues, high conflict child custody disputes, child and spousal support issues and domestic violence prevention and defense. Vanessa protects her clients’ assets and the best interests of her clients and their children. She represents clients in public court and before private judicial officers. In addition, she serves as a consulting attorney for clients...

Mr. Johnson has been practicing law for over 27 years. He has been a partner in The Law Office of Johnson & Johnson since 1998. The Law Office of Johnson & Johnson defends clients in matters related to Criminal Defense; Juvenile Dependency; Driving Under the Influence; Juvenile Delinquency, Civil Rights Litigation and related matters. Mr. Johnson and the attorneys at The Law Office of Johnson & Johnson are committed to their clients and their clients' circumstances.

Mr. Johnson has personally conducted well over 100 jury trials in courts throughout the state and federal court. He has engaged...

Mr. Williams is the founder of The Williams Firm and has over 21 years of extensive experience in the areas of real estate, construction, business and corporate law. Mr. Williams' practice areas include all aspects of civil litigation and dispute resolution in all courts, government hearings, arbitrations and mediations in the areas of real estate, construction and business law. Mr. Williams also represents and advises clients in business transactions, corporate law, real property transactions, and trademark law. In real estate matters he has represented owners and developers of residential and commercial properties, including multi-million dollar properties, negotiated sales...

Ms. Benedetto has assisted hundreds of clients with the creation of their Wills, Living Trusts and other estate planning documents. She assists families with trust administration and probate procedures when loved ones pass away, and also prepares legal documents for conservatorships of elderly clients and limited conservatorships for developmentally disabled adults. In 2006, Ms. Benedetto created the Family Trust Law Center, later incorporated to Family TLC, Inc., to be a firm where families come for professional estate planning by licensed attorneys, at flat, reasonable fees. Amendment of documents and other hourly work is done as...

Michael J. Young is an Estate, Probate and Asset Protection Attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. Mr. Young helps his clients plan for not only "What Happens if You Die", but for "What Happens If You Don't Die And Become Ill and Need Care." He helps his clients in the design of their estate plans, to protect their assets for their senior care and to also provide a legacy for their loved ones.

Mr. Young, who has been in practice for over forty years, gives workshops every month in Walnut Creek on basic estate planning and advanced estate planning. The basic...

Attorney John Fetto was born in New York, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles. He then went on to earn his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings, where he specialized in trial advocacy. Mr. Fetto is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and the Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association. It did not take Attorney Fetto long to realize that his passion was personal injury law, and he has been representing clients for 26 years. During this time,...

Thomas M. O'Connor is a founding partner of the firm and currently focuses his practice on Criminal Defense and Personal Injury. As a partner in OâConnor, Runckel & O'Malley LLP, Mr. O'Connor regularly litigates personal injury and wrongful death actions and defends clients in all misdemeanor and felony matters. Mr. O'Connor is a 5th generation San Francisco native and comes from a long line of distinguished attorneys. His grandfather and namesake, Thomas Martin O'Connor, held the office of City Attorney of San Francisco from 1961 until he retired in 1977. His great-grandfather, also Thomas Martin O'Connor, was...

Attorney Adam M. Carlson is managing partner at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook. While he is skilled in various areas of law, he focuses the majority of his practice handling cases related to wrongful death, civil rights, and personal injury. He believes that tailoring each case to each client’s needs is key to providing aggressive and compassionate legal representation.

Before joining the firm, Carlson served as an intake assistant for our team, where he was responsible for fielding calls from potential clients. It was at this time that Carlson decided he wanted to do more. He found that he was passionate...

Areas of Expertise

Business advice and counseling
Contract drafting and review
Corporate structure and transactions
Licensing and regulation
Employment and labor negotiation
Insurance coverage and claims handling
Education

B.A., Colgate University, 1991
Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude
J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School, 1994

Martin is an experienced business attorney who facilitates transactions while minimizing the risks and pitfalls facing his clients. Martin takes a “can-do” approach to legal problems that focuses on crafting deals through an integrative and value creating process rather than conflict.

Stephen offers experienced business and legal counseling to individuals and corporations throughout the Bay Area, including: (1) Business litigation and dispute resolution services involving misappropriation of trade secrets, non-compete/solicitation agreements, mechanics lien and payment bond claims, commercial leases, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent misrepresentation and unfair, unlawful or fraudulent business practices (Bus. & Prof. C. sec. 17200); (2) Construction contracting; (3) Intellectual Property licensing and distribution; and (4) E-commerce, website terms of use, privacy policies and data protection and security.

In my early years as a financial planner, I realized that estate planning was an often-overlooked area of planning not only by clients but by their financial advisors. The reason I became an attorney was to help people make sure that their wishes are carried out during incapacity and after death. I had seen too many people impacted by the lack of estate planning or poor estate planning. I did not want to see the government or the courts take control of a person's property in a way that was not consistent with the person's wishes and intent. I am passionate...

For more than 30 years, Mike Appel has devoted his practice exclusively to personal injury and wrongful death cases. He represents clients throughout California, both in State and Federal courts. Born and raised in Redondo Beach, Mike attended St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California, where he majored in English. He was an editor of the college’s literary magazine, "The Phoenix." He also played rugby for the Gaels, and was a member of the team that went on the first annual rugby tour of the East Coast. Mike received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. At graduation he also received...

Joseph A. Motta was born and raised in the East Bay. He attended St. Mary’s College and graduated in 1984. He graduated from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1987. Joe’s legal career started as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County; from 1988 to 2004. There, he handled thousands of cases. He was a trial attorney on every team including Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Homicide. He supervised the Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault Teams; as a supervisor, he maintained his own load of serious cases. As a deputy D.A., Joe prosecuted a number of high...

Shahrad Milanfar is a Trial Attorney and Mediator who has focused his career on serious personal injury, automotive, asbestos and other types of product liability, transportation/ trucking, and habitability cases. Since the beginning of his career, Shahrad has worked on catastrophic injury cases such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), serious orthopedic injuries, including quadriplegia and paraplegia.

Shahrad gained his trial and courtroom experience while working with the district attorney’s office and as a civil trial attorney. He has handled cases form inception to verdict as the primary trial attorney. Over the past 20+ years, Shahrad has managed serious personal injury and...

Mr. Cross is an expert in the field of criminal law. Mr. Cross will fight more aggressively than anyone to bring you the best outcome possible. He passionately cares about defending his clients and does everything within his power to help them. Having attended the University of California, Berkeley for Undergraduate studies, he received a B.A. in Legal Studies. He subsequently attended the prestigious San Francisco Law School to receive his J.D. He is a member of many associations, including the State Bar Association, the Alameda County Car Association, the San Mateo County Bar Association and the Delta Theta Phi...

MANJULA MARTIN is a criminal defense attorney at Lamano Law Office. Prior to her work with LLO, she clerked for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office where she worked on domestic violence cases, sexual assault crimes, and felony preliminary hearings. She received the Cali Excellence Award for Criminal Litigation in 2008 and helped draft a presentation that was used at an international conference on identifying and combatting Human Trafficking. It was during this tenure that she realized that her true passion in helping people.

Ms. Martin went on to represent low-income women seeking to leave abusive situations in...

Mr. Poulin is experienced in the areas of real estate, business, and construction litigation. He has trial experience in both state and Federal court, and has experience in all aspects of dispute resolution. Mr. Poulin has successfully represented clients in broker disputes, foreclosures, neighbor disputes, title insurance coverage, fraud, breach of contract, breach of lease and landlord-tenant issues. Real estate issues include construction defect cases, damages on behalf of contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers in mechanic's liens, stop notice, payment and performance bond actions. Prior to joining The Williams Firm, Mr. Poulin was an associate at the law...

Jenny Tiu received her B.S. degree in Physiological Science from UCLA. During her undergraduate studies, she was a research assistant at UCLA for both spinal cord injury and atherosclerosis research. Ms. Tiu then earned her J.D. degree at Golden Gate University School of Law with an emphasis in Public Interest Law. During law school, she interned for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit. She then went on to intern for the Solano County Alternate Public Defender's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit and later in the Misdemeanor Unit. After being...

Richard is a USPTO Registered Patent Attorney who loves helping creative people realize their dreams. Rich received his BA from Princeton University, then completed his Physics coursework at San Francisco State University. Rich received his J.D. with Honors & Certified in Intellectual Property from the University of Oregon School of Law. Rich has practiced in patent prosecution, patent litigation and military law, having served as an Army JAG Corps Captain stateside and overseas. Many lawyers call themselves "i.p. lawyers," but few are truly Registered with the USPTO, licensed to secure you your patent or ® Trademark. Look...

In 2003, Carl R. Gustafson graduated from UCLA Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors in History. In 2005, he was a legal intern for Global Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he drafted sections of human rights situation reports and submitted them to the United Nations and other international bodies. He also researched issues of international jurisdiction and the enforcement of international treaties. Carl went on to graduate with honors from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2007, where he was also an associate editor for the Ecological Law Quarterly. It was Carl's yearning to right wrongs...

I have litigated many contract disputes. I taught the law of contracts at JFK University Law School for ten years. I know contracts from the practical as well as the academic point of view.

Attorney with over 30 years of experience representing clients in Divorce and Family Law matters. Certified Specialist in Family Law, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. My practice includes representation in all areas of divorce and family law, including child custody; child visitation; child support; spousal support ; division of community property (including high value assets); annulment; paternity; and drafting marital settlement agreements. I am also available to provide limited scope representation or consultation for self-represent parties. Representing clients throughout Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.

Karen S. Fenchel

Professional Biography

Karen Fenchel is a sole practitioner in Walnut Creek, CA. She is a Certified Family Law Specialist and has focused on all areas of family law. Her practice is settlement oriented and includes both family law mediation and collaborative law. Karen has a strong commitment to helping clients resolve issues without going to court. She utilizes her training in both mediation and collaborative practice to assist families in crisis and help them gain control of their lives. Through mediation, collaborative process and negotiated settlements, she works toward equitable solutions that consider the...

Otto P. Cipolla, Jr. is the founder and owner of The Law Offices of CIPOLLA, CALABA, MARRONE, WOLLMAN & SILVA. Mr. Cipolla founded the firm in 1995. He has since grown the firm from 2 attorneys to 30 attorneys. The firm now has seven offices throughout California. Mr. Cipolla has taught, lectured and given seminars in all aspects of Workers’ Compensation Law for employers, insurance carriers, brokers and third party administrators. Mr. Cipolla has been a Judge Pro-Tem not only at the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board but also in both Municipal and Superior Court. CCMW&S practice is...

Since 1990, Bob Gonser has practiced in the securities area, including representation of public investors before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly NASD), New York Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange. He has successfully handled hundreds of cases involving losses sustained in brokerage accounts as a result of wrongdoing, mismanagement and fraud by brokers and brokerage firms. Over the years, Mr. Gonser's efforts have resulted in a multitude of awards and settlements for his clients including over $1.2 million in damages and interest for four employees of Cisco Systems in arbitration before the Pacific Exchange (Read the decision.) At Hunsucker Goodstein, he...