ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Our approach to arbitration and other forms of ADR is innovative and effective, focusing on results- oriented strategies for our clients. We work closely with our clients to determine whether litigation, arbitration or other ADR approaches best serve their needs.  We represent clients under all of the major national and international arbitration rules. Our attorneys have extensive experience both as advocates and as neutrals (e.g., arbitrators, mediators). We represent clients in mediations, adjudications and conciliations. We negotiate and draft ADR agreements and dispute resolution provisions for international and domestic commercial transactions and design dispute resolution systems for corporate use. 

APPELLATE PRACTICE

Our belief in strong and forceful advocacy extends to legal writing. We know how to make an argument on paper.  We stake out legal positions effectively, economically and with style. We gear our arguments to the reader and tie them to the merits of each case.

Our appeals come from two sources. First, we handle appellate issues which arise in cases we are litigating.  Second, many clients send us cases exclusively for the purpose of preparing an appeal, writ or writing an amici brief on an issue important to their industry.  We offer distinct advantages for such outside referrals. We take a fresh look at the legal issues. Often, issues which loom as important before a judge or jury may not be significant on appeal. Of greater importance, other issues, while relatively minor in the overall scheme of things at trial, may produce a different result on appeal.

The cases we handle on appeal are as far-reaching as our caseload at the trial level. Our appeals work ranges from constitutional law challenges to evidentiary challenges to a particular verdict requiring painstaking analysis of lengthy trial testimony. Our attorneys regularly handle appeals before the various districts of the California Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Courts of California and Nevada as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

BUSINESS CONSULTATION AND FORMATION

Our attorneys provide a wide range of transactional and consulting services for our business clients. We represent hospitals, insurance companies, health clubs, construction firms, security companies, property owners, contractors, retailers, restaurateurs, and municipalities. In everything we do, we are responsive to clients’ needs and understand that each business is unique.

We offer comprehensive business transaction services, including contract negotiations, business entity formation, mergers and acquisitions, sales of businesses and member/waiver agreements for health clubs, sporting events and venues.

BUSINESS LITIGATION

We represent local, national and international companies in disputes over trade secrets, unfair competition, defamation and disparagement, interference with prospective advantage, partnership rights and dissolution, product defect and employment-related claims.  Many of our lawyers come to the practice of law after successful business careers.  This real world perspective is immeasurably valuable in assessing issues and providing our clients with cost effective advice.

CONSTRUCTION LITIGATION

Our construction defect attorneys know each construction project is different. Many of our attorneys have worked in construction or design.   Our clients benefit from a comprehensive business based and our experience with many important players in the construction business: owners, contractors, developers, suppliers, subcontractors and engineers.  Our attorneys regularly defend construction defect litigation, construction site and highway accidents, roadway design and maintenance, construction contract, payment, indemnity and bond matters.

EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION

Employees are suing their employers with ever increasing frequency. Our attorneys handle all types of employment law from consultation to litigation including discrimination, harassment and retaliation, whistle-blower claims, wrongful termination and other related claims.  Originally, workers' compensation was designated as an exclusive remedy for on-the-job physical injuries, and employees without written contracts of employment were hired on an at-will basis.  Fired employees now often sue their former employers. Even employees who are currently employed bring suits for emotional distress they claim to have suffered because of their treatment by their supervisors or their fellow employees.

California employers are also seeing litigation by persons who were never even hired, but who claim to have been victims of unlawful discrimination in the hiring process. Complex federal and state legislation ranging from The Americans With Disabilities Act to the Family Leave Act, has created a work environment where the uninformed and unprotected employer is regularly exposed to potential liability.

 ENVIRONMENTAL AND TOXIC TORT LITIGATION

Our attorneys have handle environmental matters ranging from government and private party litigation, administrative orders and proceedings, civil and criminal enforcement actions including federal and state Superfund matters, underground storage tank claims, Proposition 65 enforcement actions, to permitting, regulatory compliance counseling and transactional support. We work with clients to find practical, economical solutions to their environmental issues. Our clients include large and small companies engaged in manufacturing, mining, oil refining, hazardous and solid waste management and disposal, real estate and financial services, as well as municipal governments and public ports.  We make it a priority to understand our clients’ businesses. We also understand the technical aspects of environmental law, including toxicology, epidemiology, hydrogeology, biology and engineering.

ESTATE PLANNING

 
Our Estate Planning attorneys counsel clients on estate and tax planning, wealth preservation, business succession and related legal matters. We encourage the active participation of clients in the estate planning process and work closely with outside accounting, investment, insurance and banking professionals, as client interests dictate.

We assist families in dealing with family legal issues affecting seniors and children with special needs.  We prepare and implement living trusts, wills, insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, family partnerships, personal residence trusts, charitable trusts and other estate planning documents to effectuate our client’s goals.

GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY DEFENSE

 
We pride ourselves on our representation of cities, counties, special districts, schools, state agencies, elected officials and municipal employees. We have defended various law enforcement agencies and officers, including violation of civil rights claims, police practices litigation and administrative hearings.  The firm also handles public entity cases involving flood damage liability, public property design and dangerous condition of public property.

We are well versed in the procedural and substantive defenses afforded governmental defendants by the Federal Torts Claims Act, the California Torts Claim Act and on such related judicial doctrines as sovereign immunity, standing, exhaustion of remedies, and the government contractor doctrine.

HEALTH AND FITNESS CLUBS

We provide comprehensive legal services to health and fitness clubs. We represent health and fitness clubs, recreational facilities, resorts, and amusement parks in matters such as contracts, development of employment policies, and premises liability matters. We offer clients litigation, transactional, and consulting services. Our firm has developed a specific emphasis representing health clubs throughout the nation.

PERSONAL INJURY/PRODUCTS LIABILITY

Insurance defense has always been, and remains, our core practice area.  Prout • LeVangie is trusted by national, and international, insurance companies to defend both their insureds, in third-party liability cases, and the carriers themselves in "bad faith" litigation.  Our vast experience in many areas of insurance defense allows us to enjoy highly productive and effective relationships with our carrier clients.  Our attorneys regularly handle litigation involving personal injury, wrongful death, catastrophic injury and injury from defective products or services.

PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE

We pride ourselves at being at the forefront of new legal developments. We understand the differences between professional malpractice suits and other tort actions, and tailor our defense strategies to take advantage of them.  Our attorneys regularly defend long term care providers, physicians, nurses, dentists, orthodontists, real estate agents, engineers, architects and even other attorneys.

Despite its reputation for litigiousness, California provides a hospitable climate for professionals facing a professional malpractice suit. Legislation and favorable judicial decisions provide defense lawyers with a host of procedural and substantive mechanisms to reduce or eliminate liability for their clients.  The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), is perhaps the best-known of these reforms. There are others as well, ranging from procedural prerequisites for pleading fraud or conspiracy allegations against attorneys, to substantive privity requirements for attempted suits by third party strangers.

SPORTS AND RECREATION LAW

 Prout • LeVangie has a concentrated practice in sports and recreation law. An inevitable hazard of sporting events and recreational activities is the possibility of injury. Participants or spectators at sporting events may sue their fellow players, the sponsoring institution or numerous other entities for faulty equipment, improper conditions or negligence. Through our representation of clients like health clubs, churches, amusement parks, attractions, sports franchises, schools and nonprofit associations, we have acquired special expertise in some of the unique issues which arise in this area. We maintain a national publication for waiver and release law and work with insurance carriers and organizations nationwide on such immunities and defenses as the recreational use immunity, assumption of the risk, exculpatory agreements, trivial defects and open and obvious conditions. In addition, we are often retained to perform specialized transactional work ranging from exculpatory agreements to employee manuals.