Burbank Attorneys Drop Unusual Union Bid

An 18-month campaign to unionize lawyers at the Burbank City Attorney’s Office came to an end last month as the group announced it would disband. Since early last year, the Burbank City Attorneys Association had tried to get a collective bargaining agreement on behalf of nine attorneys and one paralegal. During its existence, the group advocated for a 13 percent wage increase because pay had stalled for the five previous years. Instead, the City Council gave a 3 percent wage increase but required the staffers to pay their full pension contribution, which amounted to a slight pay cut. The group later filed a lawsuit and complaints with the Public Employees Relations Board over the new wages. Terry Stevenson, senior assistant city attorney and former president of the association, said in a statement the decision to disband was unanimous. “We can no longer effectively represent the interests of our members without potentially damaging our professional relationship with other members of city management and creating disharmony in the City Attorney’s Office,” he said in a statement. “We believe the only way to avoid this is to disband.” In a press release, City Manager Mark Scott expressed appreciation that the labor dispute will no longer be an issue, and city spokesman Drew Sugars said the city and staff didn’t want to discuss it further. “We are concentrating on moving forward,” he said. Charles Green, partner at Green de Bortnowsky & Quintanilla LLP in Calabasas, a firm specializing in municipal law, said he’s never heard of a city attorney’s office that was a union shop, and he sees inherent conflicts in the arrangement. That’s because one of the biggest tasks a city attorney performs is negotiating on behalf of the city with public service unions. “It troubles me that you could have a situation where a deputy city attorney was feeling allegiance to a union and that might be counter to the city’s interests,” Green said. “That’s one reason you don’t see this at cities.” One argument the union made for higher pay was that the salaries paid to staff amounted to $82 an hour, less than what the city paid outside firms, according to a report in the Burbank Leader. But Green said it’s not accurate to compare a salary with a fee paid to a vendor. “They are assured of a job the next day, and they are paid very substantial benefits,” he said, referring to staff lawyers. “One advantage for a city to hire outside counsel is they are not taking on a permanent employee and don’t have to pay those benefits.” Widening Web Attorney Search Network, a phone referral service in Sherman Oaks, has expanded to 22 California counties and has plans to eventually cover the entire state. The company launched in 1999 covering only Los Angeles. County and has steadily expanded since then. With its recent expansion it now covers the largest population centers – the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets – even though it includes less than half of the state’s 58 counties. Jake Baloian, executive director, said while the company faces plenty of competition both online and on the phone, it has found a niche because of its high-carefully selected network of lawyers. Also, lawyers submit explanations of their practice, and operators use that to refer clients to lawyers with particular expertise. “There are dozens of ways to find an attorney and we are one of them, but we offer a safe way to find an attorney,” Baloian said. “We pre-screen attorneys before we refer them.” The network, which has 15 employees, plans to keep expanding. “It’s our personal goal to be statewide and continue to grow,” Baloian said. Most of the phone calls fielded by the operators involve family law, criminal defense or immigration matters. However, the network also handles plenty of calls from business owners who need legal help. “We have a panel of attorneys who handle business formation, dissolution, LLC conversions, unwinding of partnerships, restructurings and even private security offerings – and of course business litigation,” Baloian said. Beverly Hills Merger A Glendale boutique and a Beverly Hills firm have joined together to form Tepper & Takvoryan APC. The Valley half of the deal is the former Takvoryan Law Group founded in 2009 by Ovsanna Takvoryan and her sister Kristine Theodesia Takvoryan. The firm mostly represented businesses Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The sisters are joined by Foster Tepper, who founded Tepper & Associates in 1991 to handle transactional matters in real estate, hospitality, taxation, estate planning, intellectual property and litigation. Tepper and Ovsanna Takvoryan will be co-managing directors at the new firm, which has eight attorneys in its Beverly Hills offices. As a bankruptcy attorney, Ovsanna Takvoryan would work with companies for one or two years and then part ways. She said the merger will allow her to continue the relationships after the clients are back on their feet. “Tepper provides exactly the kind services my clients needed post-restructuring,” she said. “It seems like a perfect synergy.” Staff Writer Joel Russell can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or [email protected].