Scott L. Levitt
After serving as General Counsel for a medium-sized company for almost a decade, and running his own firm since 2012, with hundreds of business clients, Mr. Levitt is vastly familiar with all corporate, and transactional needs of any business. He has great experience in company formation and governance, contract drafting and negotiation, business dispute resolution and settlement structure in attempt to avoid litigation. His tremendous experience in real estate development, construction, and related transactions stems from working within the industry since 1997. Mr. Levitt has taught college courses at Chapman University, Cal Poly Pomona extension services and Cerritos College as well as MCLE classes in the area of construction law and mechanic lien law. He is a member of the State Bar of California, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, admitted to the U.S. District Court, and Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Levitt is also a licensed real estate broker and general contractor.
Mr. Levitt received his Master's in Law degree (LL.M.), from Chapman University School of Law, specializing in Business Law and Economics, graduating in the top 10% of the class. He studied directly under the 2002 Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Mr. Levitt received top grades in Spontaneous Order & the Law, and Adv. Seminar in Land Use Dispute. Mr. Levitt received his Juris Doctorate degree from Chapman University School of Law with an emphasis in Real Estate, Land Use, and Environmental Law, while working the maximum number of hours allowed by the ABA. He was the only member of his class to graduate a semester early. Mr. Levitt entered Chapman on a full tuition Provost Scholar Scholarship and served as the class commencement speaker. He served as Chairperson of the Honor Council, served on the Mock Trial Board and competed at several competitions. He also served as an editor of the Nexus Law Journal.
Mr. Levitt is active in his community. He currently or has served in the following organizations: Chairperson on the Chapman School of Law Alumni Board, Chapman Law's Dean's Council, Chapman50, President, VP, and Director for the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce, member of the Seal Beach Lions Club, volunteer for the Orange County Superior Court, the Inland Empire Latino Lawyers law clinic and other pro-bono organizations. He is a lifetime member of the Seal Beach Animal Shelter. Mr. Levitt was a Republican primary candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2010, for the State of California.
Eric M. Schiffer, Of Counsel
Eric is an experienced litigator, having practiced extensively in the areas of intellectual property (including trademark, trade dress, copyright and design patent infringement), business disputes, and real estate and banking matters involving lending, escrow, and title. Eric also handles complex class action matters, and heads up the firm’s appellate section. Eric has been certifed by the State Bar of California's Board of Legal Specialization as an Appellate Law Specialist (one of only about 300 statewide), and has argued dozens of appeals in both state and federal appellate courts across the country, some of which have resulted in published opinions on important issues. In his two decades of experience as an attorney, Eric has developed an unparalleled ability to manage all facets of litigation and to directly and efficiently satisfy clients' needs. Eric takes great pride in his ability to see the big picture for his clients and provides personal, high quality attention to their matters. Through Eric's career, he has been instrumental in overseeing a multitude of litigated matters to successful results. Eric has implemented efficient, high quality solutions to clients' needs, and has become known and trusted for his candid legal analyses and written legal product.
In addition to the practice of law, Eric also donates his time by serving on several boards, including Southwestern Law School’s Alumni Board of Trustees, and the Temple Beth David of Westminster Board of Trustees. Eric was also previously appointed by the city council of Westminster to serve as the chair of the City's personnel commission. Eric has also been a member of several professional associations, including ProVisors, the Orange County and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, and the Intellectual Property Law section of the California state bar. Eric was most recently an Associate Adjunct Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, where he taught in the Graduate Advancement Program (GAP). He previously served as an Adjunct Professor of law at Western State University College of law, where he taught Legal Research and Writing. Eric has also been a speaker and presented seminars on topics including preservation of evidence, handling intellectual property litigation, preparing corporate clients for depositions, and various topics in lending litigation. Eric volunteers to counsel humanities students and members of the Campuswide Honors Program at UC Irvine on opportunities in the legal profession.
Eric's practice areas include appellate, intellectual property, business, real estate and lending, class actions, and anti-SLAPP jurisprudence.
William L. Buus, Of Counsel
William is a trial lawyer who has handled a wide variety of complex business and personal injury cases in state and federal court, as well as before various administrative agencies. He has also argued before federal and state courts of appeal. Among others, he has handled cases involving claims of trademark infringement, patent infringement, copyright infringement, unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, fraud and false claims, wrongful termination, disputes arising in the sales of businesses, securities law before FINRA, shareholder disputes, real estate disputes, and serious injury and wrongful death. His cases have been the subject of several news media reports.
William is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization that is highly respected throughout the legal community. ABOTA is a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In order to become a member, a lawyer must have conducted and completed a certain number of jury trials. William has also been rated by Martindale Hubbell as "AV - Preeminent." Also, because of his litigation successes, William has been listed many times in Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine (most recently in 2019), having been recognized by his peers as one of the top lawyers in Southern California. He has also received the highest rating of "10" on AVVO since 2009, and has been recognized by OC Metro Magazine as one of Orange County's top lawyers. In fact, in OC Metro’s 2012 and 2013 publications, William was identified as one of the top ten litigators in Orange County.
William's practice areas include business, contracts, intellectual property, unfair competition/antitrust, corporate shareholder/securities, employment, real estate, wrongful death, and serious injury.