Growing Firm Targets Upscale Conejo Valley

The largest law firm in Ventura County has opened a new office in Westlake Village to better penetrate the county’s afflucent Conejo Valley market. Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP in Ventura has 31 attorneys, who until now all worked at headquarters. Now four of the lawyers and two legal secretaries will handle business in the Conejo and San Fernando valleys from the new office at 2801 Townsgate Road. “Culturally it’s a big jump for a firm to open a second office, but we felt there is a lot of business we could compete for if we had a presence in the market,” said Michael Velthoen, managing partner. “Also, we outgrew the building in Ventura.” The firm mostly focuses on business law for small and mid-size firms, with practices in real estate, employment and business litigation, but it also has a few attorneys in family law and criminal defense. Velthoen said the stretch from Thousand Oaks to the Valley has a lot of growing startup companies that make it an attractive market for his firm’s main services. “We feel we offer an attractive rate structure. Because of where we are located, we compare well against law firms in the Los Angeles,” Velthoen said. Founding Partner Michael Case, a business and real estate trial lawyer, will anchor the Westlake Village office. Partner Bret Anderson will represent clients in business litigation and Joshua Hopstone will handle cases involving real estate, land use and construction disputes. Partner David Shain specializes in personal injury and criminal defense. Velthoen said several of the attorneys live in Encino and Thousand Oaks, so the new office will “help them expand their personal network and generate business.” Baby Trusts Sona Tatiyants believes estate planning should start early. Before birth, preferably. The Glendale attorney has a solo practice specialized in estate planning for young families. She counsels parents to set up an estate plan before their first child is born to protect assets in case either parent dies. Tatiyants, 35, started her legal career in litigation, but she found long hours weren’t good for her family after she had two daughters. “As a young mom, I saw a need for young families to take care of their children, and they have different needs than someone who’s older,” she said. According to Tatiyants, most parents think that if they have life insurance, their children will be taken care of. But if the kids are under 18, a legal guardian must care for them and the money. Even with a guardian, a judge will determine how the money is used. Like most attorneys, she has a few horror stories. One client bought insurance and named his child the beneficiary, but the father died when the child was 2. Since the child couldn’t administer money, the court had to appoint the mother as guardian – a needless and expensive legal process. “A better solution is to set up a trust, which will ensure that the child is raised in accordance with the parents’ wishes and will dictate how their money is to be spent,” Tatiyants said. She gets most of her clients by referrals or from other attorneys, as well as through women’s networking groups in the Valley. Also, on June 4 she will drum up business at a workshop she’s teaching at Pump Station, a lactation equipment store in Santa Monica. Because young families often have money shortages, Tatiyants charges fees that average about $3,000 to set up a trust, though the price can vary depending on the complexity of the case. Most of Tatiyants’ clients live in a swath between Glendale and Pasadena, but she has a second office in Sherman Oaks where she works one day a week. Lately she has started expanding her practice statewide, working with clients only via email and Skype. Nevertheless, she believes she provides a “high-touch service” to young parents. Growing Rosters Kevin Cruz has joined Alpert Barr & Grant as a senior associate. Cruz will work in the Encino firm’s business and real estate litigation, insurance law and construction defects practice. He previously worked at Gray Duffy LLP in Los Angeles, as well as Alternate Public Defender in L.A. Alpert Barr & Grant is a business law firm focused on real estate and bankruptcy law as well as outside general counsel services. … Marina Lang has joined SoCal IP Law Group LLP. She will work as a litigator in trademark, copyright, patent infringement and advertising law cases. The Westlake Village firm acts as outside counsel to protect client trademarks. Staff Writer Joel Russell can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or [email protected].