Estate Planning Lawyers

Richard K. Zepfel is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine whose practice focuses on business transactions and employment law counseling. He handles corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, private equity deals, and major commercial contracts. He also handles real estate matters, including the acquisition and leasing of commercial and industrial property. On the employment side, he prepares and negotiates executive employment agreements, executive compensation and equity incentive plans, separation and severance agreements, and employee handbooks. Clients, many of them entering complex transactions for the first time, rely on him to understand their objectives and design efficient strategies to reach them. Before joining Payne & Fears, he was managing partner of the Orange County office of Graham & James LLP and earlier an associate at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. He earned his J.D. from the USC Law Center and his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Thomas L. Vincent is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine who concentrates on business, real estate, and construction litigation, including trials, appeals, and related transactional work. He has served on the firm's Management Committee. He represents developers, owners, suppliers, contractors, consultants, and brokers in development and construction transactions, ownership and management disputes, landlord-tenant matters, construction defect claims, real estate sale and broker disputes, payment, bond, and lien claims, and title and contract disputes. His firm notes his appellate work, including the first appellate challenge under California's Right to Repair Act (SB 800) in Greystone Homes, Inc. v. Midtec, Inc. Clients look to him for courtroom experience and practical, creative solutions. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from UC Santa Barbara.

Frank Dunn is a senior corporate and transactional attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who handles complex business, insurance, reinsurance, and real estate matters. Having worked as in-house counsel at Fortune 100 financial services organizations, he brings experience in corporate governance, commercial contract negotiation and management, mergers and acquisitions, holding company requirements, employment counseling, risk management and compliance, regulatory relations, and operations. Before joining Callahan & Blaine, he held senior roles including general counsel, president, and board member in the insurance services divisions of Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, and QBE America. He has advised clients in financial services, insurance, health services, retail, manufacturing, construction, automotive, and food service. He has practiced in Orange County since passing the bar in 1992. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School and his business administration degree, with honors, from USC.

Jason Casero is a supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who serves as lead counsel in high-stakes litigation, jury trials, and arbitrations. His cases involve intellectual property, real estate, contract, fraud, and free speech issues, and he also advises business owners on reducing legal exposure. Before law school, he worked in business and technology startups. After graduating from Boston College Law School, he began practicing in the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery, where he helped lead internal corporate investigations and argued in state and federal court. He won the Wendell F. Grimes Moot Court Competition, has coached in Fordham Law School's Mentor Moot Court Competition, and has judged the National Moot Court Competition. He has volunteered with local veterans' charities. He is admitted in California and in federal courts in California and New York. He also holds M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Houston.

John D. Van Ackeren is a senior supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine. His practice focuses on complex litigation involving business, insurance, and catastrophic personal injury matters. He has litigated cases from inception through trial in state and federal courts around the country and before the major arbitration bodies, representing clients from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. His work includes corporate, LLC, and partnership disputes, fraud, fiduciary duty, unfair competition, trade secrets, contract disputes, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice, product liability, class actions, real estate, and employment litigation. His firm describes representative matters such as an arbitration award on all counts in a trade secret and fraud case and a trial judgment for bank and director clients in a shareholder fraud class action. He is admitted in California, in three federal districts of California, and in the U.S. Tax Court. He earned a joint J.D./M.B.A. from Loyola Law School.

Peter S. Bauman is a senior partner and trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who resolves business, construction, and real estate disputes through litigation and negotiation. His practice includes real estate and development, construction, business and intellectual property, employment, and general litigation. His firm biography describes his role as lead counsel for Hyundai Motor America and a publicly traded real estate investment trust in commercial construction cases over defective curtain wall and glass systems. It also describes his work for a landowner in complex landslide litigation in San Clemente and his representation of homeowners in custom home construction disputes. He is admitted in multiple federal district courts in California and in the Ninth Circuit. A Southern California native, he earned his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, with certificates from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and the Center for Entrepreneurship, and his B.S. from USC.

Scott D. Nelson is a supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who focuses on business and employment litigation. His employment practice represents both employers and employees in wage-and-hour compliance and class actions, PAGA claims, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and trade secret cases. He has tried multiple employment class actions. He prevailed before the California Supreme Court in Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, Inc. (2014), a significant decision on independent contractor classification and class treatment. He also tried an employment class action in San Diego County that was affirmed on appeal in Espejo v. The Copley Press, Inc. (2017). His business practice covers commercial, real estate, contract, insurance coverage, and products liability disputes. He earned his J.D. from the UC Davis School of Law, where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the UC Davis Law Review.

Jakob S. Weitz is a trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents businesses and individuals in complex commercial disputes, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases, construction and contractor licensing matters, insurance disputes, and real estate litigation. He handles cases at every stage, from pre-suit investigation and discovery through trial, arbitration, mediation, appeal, and judgment enforcement. He has argued many contested motions in California state courts and has served as first and second chair trial counsel. He previously led a team handling claims arising from the Paradise wildfires for homeowners and property owners. He has written and spoken on contractor licensing and mechanics lien law, including a Daily Journal article on the Contractors State License Board's suspension policy. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 2023 and his B.A., cum laude, from Loyola Marymount University, where he captained the Division I rugby team.

Bryan C. Oberle is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants on complex legal issues. He focuses on business and contract disputes, employment law, professional liability, and intellectual property. He also handles matters involving business formation and dissolution, bankruptcy, and corporate governance. His practice areas also include real estate, architecture and engineering law, torts, and personal injury and wrongful death, and he has handled trials, arbitrations, and mediations. His firm biography describes a significant settlement for homeowners opposing the construction of an oversized neighboring mansion. He is admitted in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California. He graduated magna cum laude from USC with dual majors and earned his J.D. from USC Gould School of Law, where he was a research assistant and a law journal editor.

David C. Palmer is a supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who focuses on high-stakes business and real estate litigation, along with civil rights, environmental, and government tort cases. His practice areas include commercial and complex civil actions, eminent domain, contract and corporate governance disputes, defamation, employment litigation, false advertising, fiduciary duty, fraud, partnership disputes, securities litigation, trade secrets, and unfair competition. His firm biography says he has obtained favorable verdicts in each of his trials and also resolves matters before trial. He earned his B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and his J.D. from Loyola Law School, where he spent two years on the Byrne Trial Advocacy Team and served on the Student Body Association board. Before entering practice, he completed the American Board of Trial Advocates Fellowship in Trial Advocacy.

Edward Susolik is the President and CEO of Callahan & Blaine in Irvine, which he joined in 1994. He is a trial attorney with an interdisciplinary litigation practice that covers complex business and real estate litigation, insurance bad faith and coverage, catastrophic personal injury, professional liability claims involving attorneys, accountants, brokers, and agents, and trademark and copyright litigation. He trained as a defense lawyer at an international law firm, and his practice now divides evenly between plaintiff and defense work. Under his leadership, his firm describes itself as the largest catastrophic personal injury firm based in Orange County. He is a member of the Orange County, Los Angeles County, and American bar associations. He earned his J.D. from the USC Gould School of Law in 1990 and his B.A. from USC in 1986, with majors in philosophy, English, and history.

Juan J. Cueto is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes litigation. His cases involve complex personal injury, medical malpractice, elder abuse, sexual abuse, wrongful death, premises liability, and products liability, as well as business and real estate disputes. For the first seven years of his career, he worked at a defense firm representing physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in professional negligence, elder abuse, and medical fraud cases. He now uses that experience to represent seriously injured clients. He also handles real estate transaction, contract, fiduciary duty, good faith, and fraud disputes for individuals and businesses. He litigates from inception through trial in state and federal courts and is admitted in three federal districts in California. He earned his undergraduate degree from USC and earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School while also completing an M.B.A. at Loyola Marymount University.