Advanced Trial Tactics: Ethics in Cross Jurisdictional Litigation

Sid Kanazawa is a mediator, arbitrator, trial lawyer, and bridge builder bringing people together even when it seems impossible. For over 40 years, he represented plaintiffs and defendants, locally, nationally, and internationally, in jury and non-jury trials, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, crises, mediations, and negotiations. Sid builds bridges to take parties from anger and distrust to curiosity and hope. In the largest oil spill in the Port of Los Angeles, Sid quelled an angry mob and settled 600 claims within two weeks of the spill and all 2,000+ within three months. For plaintiffs and defendants, he has resolved multi-million matters over lunch and wrote about it in a 2004 article entitled, “Apologies and Lunch,” which has been republished multiple times. Recently, at the Edelman Children’s Court, he has engaged parents negotiating their parenting time and has converted their long-standing hate, anger, and distrust into solid agreements in nearly 100% of the mediations he has handled.

David Samani is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Professional Liability Practice. Mr. Samani has extensive experience in defending attorneys against claims of legal malpractice, malicious prosecution, and other third-party claims. Examples include:

• Defense of malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims arising from transactional matters, including complex direct and derivative claims against corporate counsel, claims relating to the negotiation of licensing agreements, the preparation of estate planning documents, and immigration matters.
• Defense of malpractice claims involving the alleged negligent handling of patent infringement, medical malpractice, construction, real estate, tax, and business litigation, as well as family law, probate, and workers’ compensation proceedings.
• Defense of malicious prosecution and fraudulent transfer actions brought by non-clients relating matters such as initiation and litigation of underlying fraud lawsuits and purportedly fraudulent asset protection efforts.

Mr. Samani is a co-author of the California Legal Malpractice and Malicious Prosecution Liability Handbook, a publication providing an overview of the issues and law governing legal malpractice and malicious prosecution litigation in California.