By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced a final rule, “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional (EAP), Outside Sales and Computer Employees,” increasing the salary threshold for an employee to qualify for exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule takes effect on July 1, 2024. The DOL estimates that 4 million workers who are currently classified as exempt under the FLSA will become newly non-exempt and, therefore, entitled to overtime...
Buchalter
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Overview
Buchalter is a full-service business law firm that has been teaming with clients for eight decades, providing legal counsel at all stages of their growth and evolution, and helping them meet the many legal challenges and decisions they face. Our clients are engaged in a diverse global economy governed by complex laws and regulations, and they trust us as advisers and business partners because we are involved in their world. They rely on our forward-thinking to help them resolve problems before they arise.
At Buchalter, we practice in that spirit.
Our founding principle-providing our clients with the best business solutions-continues to lead us. We value each client relationship, recognizing that their success is our success. Our overarching goal-getting the best results for the client in a timely manner with sensitivity to cost-has engendered client loyalty, and the firm has grown from that loyalty.
Our lawyers are accessible, resourceful, skillful and adept at responding to change. Our technological capabilities keep case law and rule changes at our fingertips and client communications current, enabling us to create efficient, superior outcomes.
We strongly believe that technology is a tool that furthers the practice of law and have used that belief to develop a cutting edge platform for our firm. We use a meshed (NVPN) network to facilitate work among offices, Cisco VoIP telephony and Video-over-IP conferencing. Sharing documents is seamless through FileSite, which is also utilized to create our Client Extranets. To support our litigation matters, we use Concordance and Opticon, as well as LiveNote and Sanction. Unlike many firms, we have the capacity to process e-Discovery in-house, reducing client costs.
Buchalter lawyers are also active members of the communities in which they live and work. Leadership is a value the founding partners practiced and passed on to the current generation of attorneys. Our lawyers sit on the boards of prominent organizations, teach and lecture frequently. We actively participate in many associations and groups including the Public Law Center, San Francisco Legal Aid Society, Practicing Law Institute, California State Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the LACBA Domestic Violence Project, the Sojourner Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Phoenix and many others.
Buchalter is consistently ranked among the leading law firms by Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, The Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Business Journal. It is also ranked among the leading firms nationally by American Legal Media and the National Law Journal.
Buchalter's commitment to reflecting and enhancing the rich diversity of the clients and communities in which we practice is more than eight decades strong. The firm's diversity of attorneys and staff provides clients with a greater array of creative talent and alternative thinking, benefiting all.
Areas of Practice
Professionals
Partners
Artin Betpera
ShareholderFarah Bhatti
ShareholderPaul L. Bressan
Partner EmeritusJason Brooks
ShareholderRoxana K. Chamouillé
ShareholderLee C. Cheng
ShareholderJoanne N. Davies
ShareholderSteven Di Saia
ShareholderCaroline Djang
ShareholderAnne Marie Ellis
ShareholderMartin P. Florman
ShareholderJeffrey K. Garfinkle
ShareholderJason E. Goldstein
ShareholderRobert B. Hinckley Jr.
ShareholderPeggy Hosking
ShareholderEric Kennedy
ShareholderMitchell Kim
ShareholderBarbara Lichman, Ph.D.
ShareholderRobert Collings Little
ShareholderDavid A. Lurker
ShareholderDamaris L. Medina
ShareholderMichael L. Meeks
ShareholderPeter Rho
ShareholderJoshua M. Robbins
ShareholderPhilip Schroeder
ShareholderMark M. Scott
ShareholderRoger Scott
ShareholderMatthew L. Seror
ShareholderStephanie Shea
ShareholderScott O. Smith
ShareholderRobert J. Stemler
ShareholderJ. Rick Taché
ShareholderDouglas E. Wance
ShareholderAssociates
Daniel D. Dow
AttorneyDaniel S. Dubyak
AttorneyRachel W. Fong
AttorneyRoss Garrett
AttorneyKaren N. George
AttorneyMitchell Hadley
AttorneyPaula B. Hernandez
AttorneyJulia E. Kilpatrick
AttorneyLauren Lee
AttorneyAli Montes
AttorneyNina Moreno
AttorneyKatrina N. Neumann
AttorneyBailee Pelham
AttorneyBrian Shaw
AttorneySara Tanner
AttorneyT. Mark Tubis
AttorneyAdeline Tungate
AttorneySarah Vega
AttorneyOf Counsel
Robert M. Dato
Of CounselBenjamin C. Deming
Senior CounselJeffrey Farano
Special CounselDerek R. Guizado
Senior CounselKathleen Juniper
Of CounselAshley Milnes
Senior CounselTricia A. Pham
Senior CounselPaul Tobin
Of CounselBrandon Q. Tran
Senior CounselArticles
U.S. Supreme Court Decision Impacts California Developers
April 23, 2024 By: Alicia Guerra, John Epperson, and Braeden Mansouri On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important decision that may have major impacts on developers in California, although the degree of impact will depend on how lower courts interpret that decision. In Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, the Court ruled that a traffic impact fee imposed by the County of El Dorado based on a fee schedule in the County’s General Plan was a violation of the Takings Clause in the U.S. Constitution...
Press
Buchalter San Diego’s Growth Featured in Law360 Pulse
Office Snapshot: Buchalter Grows At Swift Pace In San Diego April 25, 2025 By: James Mills When Buchalter PC opened its San Diego office in March 2018 with two lawyers, firm CEO Adam Bass hoped the office might reach about 25 attorneys after six years. Instead the office located in the 655 West Broadway building in the city's downtown hit that number after only three years, and now it has 50 attorneys. "San Diego for us was a natural place. We never hesitated" to open in the city, Bass said. "I just didn't think that we would grow at the pace we grew...
Buchalter’s San Diego Office Growth Featured in The Recorder
There’s Something in the Water: San Diego Is Once Again a Hot Market for National Law Firms April 22, 2024 By: Ronald E. Wood and Dale Durham San Diego has the popular image of an idyllic seaside university and beach town, protected by the U.S. Navy and nearby Marines. Yet, its siren song continues to lure some of the nation’s largest corporate law firms even as others have pulled up stakes and departed...
Blogs
Chemical Law & Prop 65 Blog
Chemical Law & Prop 65