What is Orange County’s Best Law Firm
Over the years, becoming a premier business and legal center, Orange County has developed into one of the largest legal hubs in California. Not only are Orange County law firms knowledgeable about California law, it also has attorneys specializing in a variety of legal fields such as estate planning, business transactions, litigation and employment disputes. Orange County law firms have gained national and international recognition over the recent years and have built a reputation for excellence in delivering what clients want, be it big firm experience at boutique studio prices or a full-service alternative to the top-tier firms . California’s diversity has fueled a variety of new businesses, whether they are technology centric, health care or retail merchants, these diverse businesses require a spectrum of legal services.
The Orange County area has more than 600 law firms in the region employing nearly 2,000 attorneys. The lawyers serve a multitude of clients, ranging from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. Top ranked Orange County law firms are known for their litigation and corporate law practices.
The Benchmark for a ‘Best’ Law Firm
Part of what makes a firm one of the top law firms in Orange County is the case success rate. For many clients, this is the primary factor in hiring a specific attorney. The majority of these firms have resolved over 90% of the cases successfully for clients. This means not only wins in court, but also settlements that satisfy the needs of the client. In fact, the settlement offer is one of the top factors for being a top Orange County law firm. Clients always want someone who can achieve the highest possible financial recovery for their case.
In addition to high case success rates, a top ranked firm will typically have an exceptional level of client satisfaction. Satisfaction is a factor that is much more difficult to quantify than some of the others in this list. Websites such as FindLaw and Yelp are helpful in determining client satisfaction, but those clients are not necessarily the clients who have secured the top level of representation. For example, a client of a top OC personal injury firm may be primarily concerned with the settlement offer for their injury case. That client may not leave behind a Yelp review. A client of a top ranked business litigation firm, however, will be much more likely to leave behind a Yelp review. The lawyer-client relationship in the business litigation world is generally much less transactional than in the personal injury world.
The reputation of the firm is also taken into consideration for the ranking and status of the firm. An up-and-coming young attorney with great case success will not start out as an elite top ranked attorney. The reputation comes after a few years of experiencing great levels of case success and improving the reputation of the firm amongst the clients. Another factor in the firm’s reputation is peer recognition. Prestige in the legal industry is generally based upon the recommendations of other attorneys. Peers of the firm’s attorneys all around the country are contacted to recommend the firm based on the firms and attorneys that they are familiar with.
Best Corporate Law Firms
Several top law firms in Orange County focus on corporate work, including major deals and transactions, and civil litigation involving corporations. Latham & Watkins has a massive corporate practice and a huge bi-coastal presence in both Los Angeles and Orange County. The firm started out as a LA based firm and simply grew into Orange County. Co-founder Charles Laemmle was the head of Universal Studios for many years and was key to making Latham into one of the biggest firms in the country. The firm represents a large range of clients from mega corporations to media companies to small start-ups. They are best known for their real estate and technology work and have significant energy, real estate, healthcare and pharmaceutical practices. Latham made a huge splash when they won the Silicon Valley IPO for Solar City (now Tesla Energy) in August 2012. This was part of a huge IPO success year for Latham. Paul Hastings is the biggest law firm in Orange County with over 350 attorneys, and over 1,000 attorneys in total on their team. The OC side is headed by Randy Reiter in the corporate group. The firm has a huge practice in the business center of the heart of Orange County, Irvine and Newport Beach. The firm has a reputation for being not only the biggest, but the best law firm in Orange County. They boast a Fortune Magazine choice as one of the 20 most powerful law firms in the world, and were voted Corporate Law Firm of the Year by Corporate International Magazine from 2010-2013. Clients include big names like Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Cigna Retirement and Benefits Services, Target Corporation, Comerica, Mattel, Intel Corporation, Arconic, Boeing and Nissan. One of the most recent deals the firm handled was the acquisition of XRS Corporation by Omnicomm Systems. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton specializes in NDA’s and FDA clearance issues, and is particularly strong in the defense contracting, private equity and investment fund practice areas. One of their biggest recent wins was the $2.4B acquisition of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, Inc. by Hawkeye Systems, Inc. Another recent large acquisition was the $4.1 billion acquisition of Quest Software by Dell. Other current clients include Blackstone, Boeing, General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, SAP, Samsung, Siemens, Sony, Verizon and Walgreen’s. The firm has also represented the defense contractors who have appeared in front of the House Armed Service Committee in Washington DC, and have been involved in many of the major defense contract bids including Space Based Infrared Systems, the Wide Area Motion Imagery System, and Global Combat System – Networked Battlefield.
Top Family Law Practices
On the civil law side, there are a number of Orange County law firms that specialize in family law. Their lawyers have considerable experience in family matters such as divorce, de facto relationships, custody, and child maintenance and support. Some firms also provide family mediation services.
These law firms are as follows: Fisher & Akhtiar, which specializes in family law; Law Offices of Gregory C. Cardona, who handles family matters; McGahn Law Firm, which specializes in divorce, support, and property matters; and Orlando & Associates, who handles family law and divorce matters.
Criminal Defense Law Firms
We have noted that there is a bewildering amount of law firms to choose from in Orange County. But the same can be said for any number of other practice areas as well. So in this blog post we have highlighted some of the area’s top and most qualified law firms based on the experience, background and level of expertise of the partners and attorneys employed by those firms.
Criminal Defense – Orange County criminal defense attorneys are experienced professionals who handle all criminal cases, from simple misdemeanors to felony charges, as well as more serious cases like sexual assault, robbery, tax evasion, drug-related crimes, and homicide. We all know about the high-profile criminal cases that occur in OC but here are a few lawyers and firms you may want to check out.
nPatterson Law Group – If you need the best Orange County criminal lawyers, then you need to contact Patterson Law Group, APC. Mr. Scott Miller has tried multiple complex cases and they get commensurately higher fees in return for those results. He is not going to come cheap but if there is a trial to handle, he is the right person for the job. Scott is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist and a former Deputy District Attorney. The partners of Patterson Law Group have over 20 years of experience handling criminal law and traffic court matters. They are also former Deputy District Attorneys who know how the system works and focus on DUI defense, professional license defense, and criminal law.
nLaw Offices of David L. Freiburger – The Law Offices of David L. Freiburger was founded in 1982, handling thousands of criminal cases throughout California, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Florida. Freiburger is a former prosecutor and affords his clients a special perception regarding case strengths and vulnerabilities. Freiburger is skilled and knowledgeable in all aspects of the criminal justice system and holds several testimonials from happy clients. The Law Offices of David L. Freiburger is one of the premier law firms in Southern California and has a reputation for being one of the best criminal defense firms in the State. He has won numerous awards for his professionalism and ethics. Freiburger will only take your case if he is certain he can provide a high level of service and he often turns cases into successful outcomes where others failed to do so. Freiburger has appeared on numerous news stations such as NBC, Telemundo, Univision, LA Times, USA Today, the Phoenix News, Arizona Republic, Newsweek and others. Freiburger has formed alliances with some of the best lawyers in Orange County for specialty representation.
nGordon Pitard – Gordon received his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego in 2008, after receiving his Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from UCLA. He has served in the Orange County Superior Court in the Central Justice Center since 2010. Gordon spent two years as a Deputy District Attorney in the Homicide and Major Narcotics units, and now serves as Senior Deputy District Attorney Manager in the Central Justice Center.
Personal Injury Attorneys
Several law firms in Orange County have distinguished themselves in personal injury litigation. McGrane & Echevarria obtained a $25 million jury verdict for their client who suffered catastrophic injuries during a vehicle accident in 2011 . Gilleon, Olson & Olson, LLP has achieved numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in Orange County personal injury cases, and Ferra, Guzy & Williams, APC recently recovered nearly $8 million in total settlements on behalf of several clients in personal injury matters. Depending on the case, however, achieving a successful result in personal injury litigation may require extensive effort and time.
Best Employment Practices
In addition to their expertise in business law, many prestigious law firms in Orange County are also recognized leaders in employment law. Whether employers seek representation or need advice regarding employment matters, these firms set themselves apart for their commitment to providing the highest possible level of service. They are well regarded as some of the top employment law firms in Orange County.
As employers appreciate their most valuable asset—their employees—highly trained and skilled employment law attorneys in Orange County are prepared to offer a range of services tailored to their clients’ concerns. From advising clients on compliance issues, to representing business or individual clients in a wrongful termination dispute, these employment law firms have the experience to handle almost any legal dispute related to the workplace. Full service offerings often include services in the areas of employment law such as:
In addition, these highly rated law firms in Orange County are often sought to speak publicly on employment law topics, from basic training seminars to executive briefings about new laws and regulations.
Thoughts on Orange County Client Reviews
Both client testimonials and reviews are critical to the success of law firms in Orange County. Positive reviews and testimonials can have a big impact on potential clients who are looking online to do research on these firms before making any decisions. First law firm received positive feedback and testimonials. We were so impressed by the time they took to really listen to our needs – earlier firms introduced us to other law firms to do work that was not in their specialty area. They understood what we were looking for and have assisted us with an 11 year child custody battle and helped us win! They helped me feel empowered to stand up for our family! Thank you to Matt, Matt, Amy and all of the other wonderful people that were on our team. Second law firm received positive feedback and testimonials. I just wanted to take a moment to thank Matt and his team of lawyers. I have gone through a contentious divorce and has a lot of legal issues thereafter, but I am glad to say that Matt and his team has prevailed in all my cases with no issues. Matt is very knowledgeable and truly cares about his clients and he also knows the law inside track. We had some experiences with other lawyers but they were not as swift and prompt as Matt and his team. He was able to bring my son back home from another state after his narcissistic mother ran away with him. Me and my son love you guys!
The Future of the Orange County Legal Market
Given the legal market’s changing dynamics, the newest Orange County law firms are becoming increasingly more flexible in terms of pricing and services to meet client needs. The most successful firms are those that are willing to explore the use of new technologies and alternative legal service providers to reduce costs for their clients. Also, firms are now ranked by their business acumen and industry knowledge above their areas of practice.
From a demographic standpoint, there is a new generation of attorneys in our midst, the millennials . They are entering the legal profession with sharp business acumen, a strong emphasis on work/life balance and are tech-savvy. This group tends to be more demanding of their law firms to be responsive to their needs and the needs of their clients. Orange County currently has a healthy balance of mid-size to large law firms that are firming up their succession plans. The top firms in the area are rethinking their approach and the future in terms of what types of services they are offering and to whom and this flexible attitude is at the core of what it takes to compete today.