Current Employment Position(s)

Associate, since 2001

Lawyer Overview

From the beginning, a career in appellate law seemed the obvious choice for Cindy Tobisman. When she graduated from UC Berkeley with high honors, the faculty of the Rhetoric Department tapped Cindy as its top graduate. In addition to Cindy's rhetoric degree ("a B.A. in B.S.," as she puts it), her martial arts training she is a black belt who has studied numerous styles over the course of 27 years also helped prepare her for the give and take of oral advocacy.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley in 1992, Cindy took several years off from school and started a business making and selling didgeridoos (an Australian aboriginal wind instrument). After that got old, she returned to school and earned her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1998. There, she served as a member of the Moot Court Board and a contributing author to the Berkeley Women's Law Journal.

After graduating from law school, Cindy spent three years at Riordan & McKinzie practicing both as a litigator and as a transactional attorney. However, Cindy wanted to pursue civil appeals so, in 2001, she joined GMSR.  Cindy has been named a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers four years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008).

She was recipient of the Beverly Hills Bar Association's President's Award in 2008 for her work as Amicus Chair, and in particular, for drafting an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court in the same-sex marriage case that was joined by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, California Women Lawyers, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, Women Lawyers Association Of Los Angeles and San Diego County Bar Association.

During her tenure at GMSR, Cindy has enjoyed a varied diet of cases touching upon numerous topics including civil rights, artist royalties, employment discrimination, products liability, personal injury, real property, immigration, breach of contract, bankruptcy and trade secrets misappropriation.

Cindy and her spouse Nicole live in Los Angeles with their son and twin daughters.

Areas of Practice

• Appellate Law
• Anti-SLAPP Law
• Arbitration and Settlement Enforcement
• Business Litigation
• Constitutional Law
• Employment and Agency Law
• Entertainment Law
• Government Tort Liability
• Healthcare Law
• Intellectual Property
• Real Property
• Tort Litigation

Representative Cases

• Importante v. County of Los Angeles, 162 Fed. Appx. 740 (9th Cir. 2006) (2006)
• Prospect Medical Group, Inc. v. St. Jude Hospital, Inc., 2005 Cal.App. Unpub. Lexis 4661 (2005)
• Greines v. Ford, 2003 Cal.App. Unpub. Lexis 90 (2003)

West Practice Categories

Arbitration, Business & Commercial Law, Constitutional Law, Employment Law -- Employer, Entertainment, Health & Health Care Law, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Appellate Practice, State Appellate Practice, Real Estate Law

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Beverly Hills Bar Association: Amicus Briefs Committee, 2006 - 2007 (Chair)

Honors and Awards

• Super Lawyers Rising Star (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)., 2005 - 2008
• Beverly Hills Bar Association's President's Award, 2008

Past Employment Positions

• Riordan & McKinzie, Associate, 1998 - 2001

Education

• Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1998
  J.D.
  
  Law Journal: Berkeley Women's Law Journal, Member, Contributing Author
• University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, 1992
  B.A.
  Honors: With High Honors
  Major: Rhetoric

Published Works

• Gimme 5: What Every Lawyer Should Know About Responding to a Writ Petition, County Bar Update, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2006

Address

5900 Wilshire Boulevard
12th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Phones

(310) 859-7811

Faxes

(310) 276-5261

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.gmsr.com
http://www.greinesmartin.com