2025 Ethics in the Attorney Client Relationship for Real Estate Attorneys

Howard Gould is a practicing lawyer and also holds a California real estate broker’s license and he is a registered patent attorney with the US Patent and Trademark Office. 

Mr. Gould’s practice covers many areas of commercial law, with specific emphasis on corporate and partnership disputes, real estate transactions and litigation, and business formation and transactional agreements. Over more than 40 years of practice, his experience covers a wide variety of industries, nationalities, and issues ranging from the mundane to the extraordinary, especially in his litigation and corporate governance practice. These industries include retail, restaurants, manufacturing such as the plastics industry, aerospace related industries, banking, provisions to common carriers, financing, homeowners associations, and many, many others. He attended numerous Boards of Directors meetings, obtained the appointment of provisional directors, and handled various types of appraisal issues in both the corporate setting and real estate matters. 

He served as a judge pro tem for 10 years, an arbitrator, a mediator and attended training for those roles. He also provided extensive service to various types of non profit activities, including public schools. Mr. Gould earned his AB in physics from Columbia University in NYC and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Finally, for over 30 years his firms actively participated through his efforts in international lawyer referral networks including Lawyers Associated Worldwide and IR Global. LAW’s member firms (lawyers and other consultants) hail from 100 firms in 50+ jurisdictions and IR Global covers 155+ jurisdictions engaging over 1000 professionals spanning 60 practice areas.

Joel A. Osman is Partner and General Counsel at Parker Shaffie LLP, focusing his practice on litigation and trials. He joined the firm in 2014 after a distinguished career in both private practice and in-house leadership roles. Prior to joining Parker Shaffie, Joel was principal of Osman & Associates in South Pasadena and previously managed a related entity that served as staff counsel to Travelers Indemnity Company. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of Travelers’ Southern California liability practice, overseeing a multi-million-dollar budget and managing a team of 54 attorneys and staff handling general liability, automobile, fire, and subrogation matters.

Earlier in his career, Joel was a senior partner at Anderson, McPharlin & Conners LLP in Los Angeles. Over the course of his career, he has represented clients in professional liability, general liability, product liability, construction defect, and commercial litigation, and has tried numerous jury trials to verdict. Joel has devoted significant attention to the defense of lawyers and issues of legal ethics. His professional activities include longstanding service with the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee, where he served as chair from 2008 to 2009, as well as service on the State Bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct from 2015 through 2018.