Meiners Oaks Real Estate Lawyers

A 1978 Harvard Law School graduate, Mr. Sloat advises clients pragmatically, from the perspective of his broad legal and business experience. Rather than merely raising issues which obstruct a transaction, he helps his clients evaluate risks in their business context, advising creative, practical solutions. He negotiates in a spirit of productive cooperation, to reach the client’s goals without undermining business relationships. Deals are documented clearly, anticipating and avoiding potential disputes. Where differences arise, he is a strong advocate, effectively articulating and advancing his client’s best interests, seeking to resolve disagreements without litigation.

Admitted to practice law in the State of California in 1999 after graduating from Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, California, with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration (BA) from The Central London Polytechnic, London, England. In 2000, after completing a course in Mediating the Litigated Case at the Pepperdine University School of Law, I served as a volunteer Mediator at the Los Angeles Superior Court. I started practicing law in 2000 and managed to garner valuable and extensive experience in Estate Planning, Real Estate law, Business Contracts, Commercial transactions and Personal Injury cases. My ancillary experience in insurance, real estate,...

I act as my clients outside general counsel and advise them on the full range of legal issues facing their businesses. In addition, I mediate both litigated and non-litigated matters and do workplace investigations. I built my reputation by achieving outstanding results for the clients and colleagues with whom I have been privileged to work.

As a Real Estate Attorney, Broker and REALTOR®, I am uniquely positioned to advance you through the complex maze of modern California real estate transactions and related legal issues unlike any traditional real estate approach. I work with Sellers and Buyers, Landlords and Tenants, and the entire real estate community to strategically realize your goals, maximize your leverage, ensure proper due diligence, advocate on your behalf and provide advice and analysis as only a licensed Attorney can. I am active with the Newport Beach Association of REALTORS® and the Orange County Bar Association and aggressively monitor local markets,...

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...

For over 40 years, attorney Daniel C. Carlton has devoted his professional life to protecting the rights of people in Orange County and throughout Southern California. Attorney Carlton is a licensed Real Estate Broker and has extensive experience in real estate law, including but not limited to real estate disputes, purchase and sales litigation, commercial transactions and leases, constructions disputes, DRE licensing and matters involving homeowners associations (HOA). He also has decades of experience representing people injured in slip and fall accidents, motor vehicle accidents and other personal injury cases.

Attorney Carlton is known for his personalized approach, getting to know...

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....

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...

Gregory M. Clement's practice focuses on corporate, real estate and other transactional matters, as well as a wide array of employment law issues. Mr. Clement has handled the purchase and sale of numerous companies, including several multimillion dollar acquisitions by publicly traded companies and represents clients in a wide variety of fields including transportation, software, entertainment, insurance, Internet and telecommunications. Mr. Clement began his legal career as a business litigator in Washington, D.C. before joining the business litigation firm of Whitcombe, Makin & Pentis in Long Beach. Before joining BKCG in 2000, he was general counsel of Golden Eagle...

Jesse L.B. Hill is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Economics. After working in the finance industry for a short time, he went to Law School and graduated from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 1980. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1981. He started a pension consulting firm that had over $1,000,000,000.00 in assets under administration. His firm administered and he has set up over 4,000 pension plans for clients ranging from the San Francisco Giants to the local gas station. He is an expert...

More than twenty years of diverse experience as a trial attorney representing and counseling domestic and international clients in a vast array of matters. More than ten years of experience providing arbitration, mediation and other ADR services involving many domestic and international issues. Representation and ADR services have included: REAL ESTATE (purchase/sale, title, easements, financing, mortgage lending:underwriting - securitization, leases, fraud, environmental, receivership, foreclosure, appraisal/valuation); BUSINESS & CORPORATE (purchase and sale, formation: corporation - partnership - joint venture - LLC - LLP, capitalization, equity adjustment, fiduciary duties, D&O liability, executive compensation, internal investigations, fraud, business torts, unfair...

Dale Ortmann is a partner and senior shareholder of Hunt Ortmann, a Los Angeles construction firm. With more than 30 years of experience in construction and real estate law, Mr. Ortmann has experience in handling construction projects from inception to completion.

Gail V. Phillips holds a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, as well as a B.A. in Psychology and M.B.A. from California State University Los Angeles. Ms. Phillips has over 25 years of experience in Business Law, Real Estate Law and Business Litigation. Ms. Phillips has drafted and negotiated hundreds of commercial leases for both landlords and tenants. She has counseled companies in all aspects of Business Law, from formation of entities, to contracts and dissolutions. She represents high wealth individuals as their private counsel, small companies and large, multi-national corporations. Ms. Phillips...

Ken Ruttenberg is the founder of The Ruttenberg Law Firm, P.C.. He is an experienced and seasoned civil litigator in a broad range of legal areas including employment, construction and personal injury.

In 2014 through 2017, Ken was selected to the list of Southern California Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Fewer than five percent of attorneys receive the Super Lawyers recognition. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Ken was named among the Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers. Ken is also an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review...

Mr. Weinberg manages all of the transactional real estate matters at the firm and participates in all aspects of land use and entitlement matters. Mr. Weinberg's specialty practice focuses on real estate sales, acquisitions, developments, leases and financings. Our client base is private developers and development companies across California, as well a few real estate equity funds, such as CityView. Some recent significant projects include the following: Obtain entitlements to redevelop the last mobilehome park in Santa Monica, CA with 400 luxury rental units and retail. Subsequent sale of the entitled land to a national multi-family...

JD, Northwestern Univ School of Law (1978)

Attorney Stacey Cutting brings ample amounts of experience and skills to Schimmel & Parks, APLC and is a devoted Southern California civil litigation lawyer. While she highly skilled in various areas of law, Attorney Cutting focuses much of her practice handling cases involving construction defects, personal injury, employment law, insurance bad faith, and consumer class actions. She plays an essential role in the discovery processes of cases, completes trial preparations, creates motion papers, and assists with various key parts of litigation processes. Before committing her life to judiciary work, Attorney Cutting attended California State University, Northridge, where she earned her...

I have had a vast range of experience both in the public and private sector. I was formerly Chief of Civil Litigation for the City or Torrance and ultimately became the City Attorney of Santa Monica with experience in Civil Litigation, Advisory functions and deal making, and Criminal Prosecution. When in private practice I had a broad range of experience wining significant trials and appeals. I have an AV (pierless (5.0) rating, which is the highest possible, and am Certified by the State Bar of California in Appellate Advocacy and the Nation Board of Trial Advocates in Civil Trial Advocacy....

Nick Moss is an Attorney at the Los Angeles Office of Talkov Law, where the focus of his civil litigation practice is in real estate and business law. In addition, Nick is an Attorney with the ASUCR Legal Clinic where he focuses his practice on helping UC Riverside students navigate the perils of Landlord/Tenant disputes. Nick is a May 2020 graduate of the UCLA School of Law where he specialized in Business Law. While at UCLA Law, Nick was a Managing Editor of the Journal of Law and Technology, an American College of Mortgage Attorneys Award Recipient, and the Sports Law...