Law Firm Overview

Leland, Parachini, Steinberg, Matzger & Melnick, LLP has been offering clients a comprehensive range of legal services for nearly one hundred years. The firm represents a diverse client base in a stimulating practice, dedicating itself to providing clients the highest quality legal service in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner.

The firm was originally known as Cerf, Robinson & Leland, and was founded by prominent California jurist, Marcel E. Cerf who began practice in 1900. In 1980, it merged with the firm of Matzger & Melnick to become Leland, Parachini, Steinberg, Flinn, Matzger and Melnick. In 1997, upon the appointment of David Flinn to the Contra Costa Superior Court, the firm's name was changed to its current form.

We pride ourselves on our responsiveness and accessibility to clients and encourage close working relationships between partners and associates, attorneys and clients. In this way we are able to offer a team of legal experts who not only can give sound advice on the law, but who also will achieve the optimum practical result for a client's business.

Our attorneys practice in three general areas: business, litigation, and family law. The business practice encompasses corporate formation, acquisitions and mergers, securities finance, banking, environmental concerns, labor and employment, pension plans and other employee benefits, real estate sales and exchanges, formation of general and limited partnerships and corporations, and other work of a commercial nature, including tax advice and planning. In addition, we handle probate and trust administration and have a significant estate planning practice.

The firm's litigation practice is also extensive. Our attorneys have considerable experience in handling major litigation in federal and state courts, trying both jury and non-jury cases, as well as handling arbitrations, concerning a variety of banking, business, bankruptcy, commercial, probate, employment, and real estate matters. We pride ourselves on having a team of attorneys who are among the most accomplished in the state and who have a commitment to the highest standards of legal work. The expertise of our litigators has been recognized in their selection as superior court pro tempore judges and as arbitrators in numerous matters.

The attorneys who handle the firm's family law practice devote their entire professional efforts to this sensitive specialty and its related areas. They endeavor to help the client resolve his or her marital problems with a minimum of animosity and expense. As a result, the firm has represented husbands and wives in almost every situation, including extremely sophisticated property, tax, business, and support matters. In addition to traditional representations in negotiated or litigated settings, the firm's family law attorneys provide a broad range of custom-tailored services for individuals involved in alternate dispute resolution processes. Several of the firm's family law attorneys practice collaborative law and have completed extensive training programs in family law mediation.

We have extensive experience in all phases of banking law, including acquisitions and mergers, operations, complex secured and unsecured transactions, documentation, regulatory and securities matters, and the full range of creditor's rights. We represent a variety of other business concerns, including title insurance companies, leasing companies, a convention facilities management firm, real estate developers and contractors, professionals (attorneys, physicians, architects), industrial designers, importers and exporters, travel agents, wholesalers of alcoholic beverages, and manufacturers of such products as printed circuit boards, clothing, fabricated steel products, and water treatment chemicals. We are often called upon to be the "Lawyer's Lawyer" by other law firms.

In all of our representation we work closely with clients to identify goals and develop strategic plans, doing so within an economic framework that, when combined with our legal expertise, maximizes positive results. Our philosophy and work ethic have resulted in long-standing relationships with clients that have spanned decades. We greatly value our clients and look forward to the opportunity of working with you.

Areas of Practice

• Business & Commercial Law
• Family Law
• Divorce
• Litigation & Appeals
• Securities Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Banking & Financial Services
• Corporate Finance
• Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Administration
• Intellectual Property
• Real Estate
• Small Business Services

Published Works

• Is your ADR Clause Enforceable?, Mitchell Chyette, May, 2007
• Appealing Classwide Arbitration Decisions, California Lawyer, California Lawyer - Mitchell Chyette, January, 2007
• Setting Aside Nonjudicial Foreclosure Sales: Extending the Rule to Cover Both Intrinsic and Extrinsic Fraud or Unfairness, 23 Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal 139, Molly F. Jacobson-Greany, 2006

West Practice Categories

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Banking & Finance Law, Business & Commercial Law, Business Organizations, Estate Planning, Family Law, Divorce, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation & Appeals, Probate & Estate Administration, Estate Administration, Real Estate Law, Securities Law