Startup Law Initiative: Fundamentals of Startup Law for the Entrepreneur

At Olsen & Brueggemann, Thomas is the transactional team lead and specializes in Start-up Financing, Corporate Structuring, Private Equity Fund Formation, and Blockchain Technologies Regulations

Jeff represents employees in complex civil litigation and class actions.

Jeff is a past member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Board of Governors and past Chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section Executive Committee. 

Jeff received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2014. During law school, he served as Senior Editor of UCLA Law Review among other positions. Prior to law school, Jeff had a successful career as a journalist, including serving as a Metro Editor and Reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

Jonathan Menkes provides strategic trademark counseling and brand protection for clients across numerous industries. He is also the Co Chair of the firm’s CBD and Legal Cannabis Group.

Jonathan’s practice includes domestic and foreign trademark selection and searches, trademark audits, unfair competition, false advertising, and notice and takedown procedures involving copyright and trademark claims on social media and domestic and foreign e-commerce websites. His litigation experience includes opposition and cancellation proceedings, ex parte and inter partes proceedings before then Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and domain name disputes.

LaVonne D. Lawson is Counsel with Leech Tishman and a member of the firm’s Tax Group as well as the Estates & Trusts Practice Group. LaVonne counsels small businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups, as well as large businesses and established companies, in state, federal, and international tax matters. She focuses her practice on tax reporting and compliance, tax controversy and litigation, and estate planning.

LaVonne previously served as a Senior Attorney with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel, where she counseled revenue agents and revenue officers, represented the IRS in the U.S. Tax Court, and advised Department of Justice Attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorneys in tax cases outside of the Tax Court.

LaVonne regularly counsels clients on numerous statutes and regulations regarding substantive and procedural tax issues. She has significant experience representing clients in a variety of federal and California state tax controversy and litigation matters.

LaVonne also has experience advising clients on international tax reporting and compliance, and assists businesses and individuals in compliance matters involving offshore assets and account reporting.

Prior to joining Leech Tishman, LaVonne was owner of the Law Office of LaVonne Lawson, where she represented businesses and individuals in federal and California state tax matters.

After many years of practice with large, mid-size and local law firms in Beverly Hills, the South Bay of Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest, Layton Pace opened his own law practice. He currently practices in the heart of downtown Hermosa Beach. Mr. Pace provides tax and tax-related legal advice to sophisticated business and real estate clients, fiduciaries, and law and accounting firms of various sizes with complex transactions, structuring and tax controversy needs. Mr. Pace’s clients range throughout California, conduct a wide variety of business activities and include non-residents of the U.S. and California.