Law Firm Overview

Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP is one of the leading appellate firms in California. Our lawyers have extensive experience in a wide variety of appellate proceedings and have developed a uniquely sophisticated understanding of the appellate process.

In the appellate courts

We have handled cases in the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit, every appellate court in California, and the Supreme Courts of Alaska and Nevada. We have been counsel of record in over 400 published decisions and in many more hundreds of unpublished decisions, and we have represented amici curiae in many additional matters.

In addition to appeals, we have prepared and responded to countless petitions for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, petitions for review to the California Supreme Court, and petitions for extraordinary writ relief to intermediate appellate courts. We also frequently submit amicus curiae letters to the California Supreme Court urging it to take some action, such as granting review in cases presenting issues of statewide importance or "depublishing" intermediate appellate decisions that muddle the law.

In the trial courts

Although our practice is concentrated in the appellate courts, we serve our clients in the trial arena as well. Planning for an appeal often begins as early as drafting the complaint or answer, and sometimes even before that. Our clients frequently call upon us to assist their trial counsel in specific areas, including the initial formulation of a case, briefing and arguing dispositive motions, developing legal theories and trial strategy, preparing trial briefs and jury instructions, and briefing and arguing post-trial motions in anticipation of an appeal.

In short, we are lawyers who specialize primarily in written advocacy. What we do not do are the things trial lawyers do best develop evidence through discovery and present and cross-examine witnesses.

As counsellors

Another substantial portion of our practice involves consultation with clients regarding complex legal issues, including issues involving insurance coverage and duties to insureds. Institutional clients frequently ask us to conduct legal research, formulate arguments, draft opinion letters, and prepare sample briefs on important issues for use by the client's trial counsel, enabling the client to obtain a consistent, focused and effective argument without unnecessary duplication of effort. When clients appear headed towards litigation, we are sometimes asked to draft crucial correspondence that may later become evidence in the litigation. On other occasions we have been called upon to formulate arguments in connection with settlement negotiations.

A particular benefit to our institutional clients is the quality and consistency they achieve by having a single firm provide appellate work and consultation on issues that surface repeatedly in their businesses.

Scope of issues

We do not limit ourselves to any particular substantive areas of the law. We have represented clients both plaintiffs and defendants in such diverse areas as constitutional law, civil rights, governmental torts and immunities, personal injury torts, insurance coverage and bad faith, complex business disputes, business torts, copyright, unfair competition, antitrust, RICO, securities, entertainment and environmental law, employment discrimination and wrongful termination, maritime law, family law, bankruptcy and probate.

Clientele

Our diverse clients include banks, national manufacturers, major liability, casualty and title insurance companies, state and local governments, hospitals, state universities, entertainment industry companies and talent and trial lawyers.

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We strive to provide the highest quality of legal services through painstaking research, critical analysis and interchange of ideas among our lawyers. We believe that, despite the talent of our associates, every case requires the intense and continuous involvement of a partner.

Areas of practice

• Appellate
• Administrative Law
• Anti-SLAPP Law
• Arbitration and Settlement Enforcement
• Business Litigation
• Constitutional Law
• Employment and Agency Law
• Entertainment Law
• Family Law
• Government Tort Liability
• Healthcare Law
• Insurance Law
• Intellectual Property
• Legal Malfeasance
• Probate and Trusts
• Punitive Damages
• Real Property
• Tort Litigation

Honors and Awards

• Anti-Defamation League Jurisprudence Award - Pro Bono Legal Services (Soldinger v. Northwest Airlines), 2000

Published Works

• Everything You Need to Know About the State Bar Court and Then Some (Barbara W. Ravitz, Author), Los Angeles Daily Journal, October 3, 2006
• Representing Anna Nicole (Kent L. Richland, Author), The Appellate Advocate, Issue 2, 2006
• What Every Lawyer Should Know about Effective Alternative Research Techniques (Feris M. Greenberger, Author), Gimme 5, County Bar Update, Vol. 26, No. 2, February, 2006
• Waiver of Objections Revisted (Carolyn Oill, Author), ABTL Report, Fall, 2005
• In the Thicket of Appellate Jurisdiction (Marc J. Poster, Author), ABTL Report, Summer, 2005
• Not So Fast A Stipulated Reversal of Judgment Belies Its Name (Jens Koepke, Author), ABTL Report, Summer, 2005
• Strategic Opportunities in the Statement of Decision Process (Robert A. Olson, Co-Author), The Verdict, 2nd Quarter, 2005
• An Agreement Does Not a Stipulated Reversal Make (Jens Koepke, Author), Los Angeles Daily Journal, February 9, 1997
• The Looming Crisis in California's Courts: Apathy Over the Budget Crisis Imperils a Cornerstone of Our Democratic System (Robin Meadow, Author), Los Angeles Lawyer, July-August, 2003
• I Couldn't Wait to Argue (Timothy T. Coates, Author), The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring, 2003

Representative Clients

• Counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura
• Counties of Riverside, Kern, San Bernardino
• Cities of Los Angeles, Riverside, Beverly Hills, Oceanside
• Cities of El Monte, Moreno Valley, Beaumont, Westminster
• Great American Specialty Underwriters
• Farmers Insurance Exchange
• Farmers Group, Inc.
• Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London
• Beta Healthcare
• Inland Empire Health Plan
• Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
• Anna Nicole Smith
• National Football League
• Southern California Edison
• Sempra Energy
• Loma Linda University Medical Center;
• Hilton Hotels
• St. Paul Insurance Company
• Fremont General Insurance Company
• Warner Bros
• City National Bank
• Hyundai
• Honda
• The Los Angeles Times
• Regents of the University of California
• PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc
• Sutter Health
• Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company
• Old Republic Title Insurance Company
• California Land Title Association
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Smiths Aerospace
• Con Agra Foods

Representative Cases

• Marriage of Burkle, In re, 139 Cal.App.4th 712 (California Court of Appeal 2006)
• Marshall v. Marshall, ___ U.S. ____, 126 S. Ct. 1735, 164 L. Ed. 2d 480 (United States Supreme Court 2006)
• Fuller-Austin Insulation Co. v. Highlands Ins. Company, 135 Cal.App.4th 958 (California Court of Appeal 2006)
• Eddins v. Redstone, 134 Cal.App.4th 290 (California Court of Appeal 2005)
• Jonathan Neil & Associates, Inc. v. Jones, 33 Cal.4th 917 (California Supreme Court 2004)
• GAB Business Services, Inc. v. Lindsey & Newsom Claims Services, Inc., 83 Cal.App.4th 409 (California Court of Appeal 2000)
• Sharon P. v. Arman, Ltd., 21 Cal.4th 1181 (California Supreme Court 1999)
• Corder v. Gates (1996), 104 F.3d 247 (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 1996)
• Corder v. Gates (1994), 25 F.3d 883 (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 1994)
• Corder v. Gates (1991), 947 F.2d 374 (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 1991)
• Kerins v. Hartley, 27 Cal.App.4th 1062 (California Court of Appeal 1994)
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44, 111 S. Ct. 1661, 114 L. Ed. 2d 49 (United States Supreme Court 1991)

West Practice Categories

Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Employment Law -- Employer, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) -- Employer, Employment Discrimination -- Employer, Federal Employer's Liability Act (FELA) -- Employer, Wrongful Termination -- Employer, Entertainment, Family Law, State & Local Agencies, Health & Health Care Law, Insurance Law, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Appellate Practice, State Appellate Practice, US Supreme Court, Trusts, Real Estate Law