ARONOWITZ SKIDMORE LYON - Key Persons
Joshuah Kerby is a part of the firm's litigation and transactional team.
Mr. Kerby graduated from the University of California, Davis, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a minor in Professional Writing. After spending his first year of law school in New York City, Mr. Kerby returned to UC Davis, where he received his Law Degree in 2018. Along with his Law Degree, Mr. Kerby earned the King Hall Business Law Certificate for his concentration and academic achievement in areas such as Business Transactions, Tax, and Negotiations.
Mr. Kerby was admitted to the California bar in 2018, and he is an active member of the legal community. Formerly the Treasurer of the King Hall Chapter of the Christian Legal Society, Mr. Kerby remains an active member of the Christian Legal Society's Sacramento Chapter.
Mr. Kerby lives in Roseville and volunteers as a youth leader at Harvest Community Church. His non-legal passions include archery, playing the guitar, and backpacking with his two huskies.
Kathleen Córdova Lyon is a shareholder in Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon and an integral part of both the litigation and transaction law teams. Ms. Lyon specializes in working with businesses, realtors, homeowners and contractors to resolve construction defect and contract disputes, real estate disputes, employment conflicts, and business disputes. Ms. Lyon has represented clients in complex litigation as well as multi-million dollar real estate litigation. On the transactional side, Ms. Lyon works with our clients to draft and review commercial purchase and leasing proposals, contracts and security agreements to meet the unique requirements of our individual and corporate clients. In her time at Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon, Ms. Lyon has helped facilitate more than one billion dollars in mixed assets and multi-property commercial acquisitions.
Ms. Lyon graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from California State University at Chico, and secured her Masters in Business Administration from Santa Clara University. Ms. Lyon earned her Juris Doctorate from McGeorge School of Law, graduating Valedictorian. She is a member of the Order of the Coif and the Traynor Honor Society. Ms. Lyon is admitted to practice before all state courts and federal District Courts in California. She is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar and the Placer County Bar Association.
Prior to obtaining her law degree, Ms. Lyon was an electrical circut board designer and international compliance engineer. She later joined a high-speed internet start-up in the Silicon Valley, where she facilitated the creation and operation of several international joint ventures.
Ms. Lyon and her husband live in Granite Bay and maintain an alternate floating office on Lake Oroville.
Katrina Johnson is an associate with Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon.
Ms. Johnson practices transactional law and general business, real estate, labor and employment and estate litigation. Ms. Johnson has handled a variety of matters, including without limitation fraud, breach of contract and unfair competition matters, professional negligence, purchase and sale, landlord tenant, trademark infringement and trust contest issues. Ms. Johnson has defended employers in various labor and employment and workers' compensation matters, including discrimination, Labor Code section 132a, wrongful termination, harassment and wage and hour issues. She has also advised and counselled employers on compliance issues.
Ms. Johnson obtained a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction on behalf of a client and subsequently recovered all attorneys' fees for the matter. She also obtained a judgment in excess of one million dollars, which judgment was subsequently collected in full. She has fought hard to serve clients and vigorously defend their interests.
Ms. Johnson graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and minor in political science-public service. She obtained her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She is a member of the California State Bar and Eastern District of California.
Outside of the law, Ms. Johnson has a passion for photography, technology and animals.
Larry Skidmore is a shareholder in the firm of Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon and heads the firm's litigation department. His practice emphasizes real estate, construction, public contracts and general business matters. In those areas, he helps individuals and businesses resolve disputes involving boundary lines and easements, fraud and misrepresentation in real estate transactions, homeowners associations, the enforcement of and defense against covenants, conditions and restrictions, construction workmanship and the enforcement and defense of claims for payment on construction projects including mechanics' liens, stop notices and payment bond claims. He understands the importance of aggressive advocacy and pursues his clients' interests vigorously. At the same time, Mr. Skidmore respects the economic impact of litigation on his clients and seeks positive solutions to achieve his clients' objectives in the most cost effective manner.
Mr. Skidmore is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in political science and business economics. Following time away from school to develop business experience, Mr. Skidmore earned his law degree in 1988 from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. For his academic success there, Mr. Skidmore was awarded a lifetime membership to the Traynor Honor Society for academic achievement.
Mr. Skidmore was admitted to the California bar in 1988 and is admitted to practice before all California state courts and also the federal courts for California in the Northern District, Eastern District, Central District and the Southern District. In 2009, Mr. Skidmore was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Skidmore is an active member of the legal community. He served on the board of directors of the Placer County Bar Association for four years and is a past President of the Placer County Bar Association. He volunteers his time as a judge for the Placer County Peer Court program and as a settlement conference judge for the Placer County Superior Court. Mr. Skidmore is also active in his community and is a founding member of the Rocklin Educational Excellence Foundation and sits on its board.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Founder of the Firm
- Member of Several Auburn
Paul S. Aronowitz is the founder of the firm Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon. He leads the firm's transaction section. Mr. Aronowitz's practice emphasizes business formation, including choice of entities, real estate purchases, sales, development and financing, business acquisition and sales, estate planning, and general contractual matters. He presently represents numerous corporations and partnerships, the largest of which has gross annual revenues well over a billion dollars. Over the years, Mr. Aronowitz has been involved in numerous multi-million dollar business acquisitions, sales and financing transactions, including single transactions in excess of 175 million dollars. Mr. Aronowitz represents clients in obtaining funding from conventional funding sources, such as banks, as well as through the sale of stock through private placement offerings.
In the area of estate planning, Mr. Aronowitz has been involved with implementing numerous complex estate plans utilizing such estate planning vehicles as living trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts, private foundations and family limited partnerships.
From 1984 through 1998, Mr. Aronowitz taught business and real estate law at Sierra College as an adjunct professor, receiving a life-time teaching credential for California community colleges. Additionally, he spent several years teaching continuing education for real estate brokers and agents in the area of contracts, agency, ethics and creative financing.
Mr. Aronowitz graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law (Kendrick Hall) in 1978. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1978, and is also admitted to practice before all California's state courts, as well as the Federal Courts for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California. Mr. Aronowitz is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker, having received his license in 1982.
Besides being engaged full time in the practice of law, Mr. Aronowitz is an active member of several Auburn area real estate development entities. Their projects to date include Blue Oak Ranch, a 780 acre residential subdivision, Creekside, a 106,000 square foot business park, and Courtview, a 22,000 square foot office building.
Mr. Aronowitz has been actively involved in the greater Auburn community. His activities included serving as Director on the Auburn Faith Community Hospital Foundation, being a parent representative and then a community representative on the Placer High School Charter Council, and providing pro bono legal services for Boys & Girls Club of Auburn.
Mr. Aronowitz and his wife of over forty years, Diane, have two grown children. His pastimes include bicycle riding, snow skiing, scuba diving and cooking.
Ralph Laird is an associate attorney at Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon with over 27 years of civil litigation and insurance coverage experience. His civil litigation experience has spanned multiple disciplines including insurance coverage, claims handling and bad faith, personal injury, construction defect, business, trusts, mobile home park claims, employment/sexual harassment, and public entity litigation. Ralph has civil trial and appellate experience in California and Federal Courts, representing plaintiffs and defendants from all walks of life, from the destitute and disabled, to Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Laird began his career in 1993 working for Mackenroth, Ryan & Fong in Sacramento where he became a partner in 1999. His first major trial was in 1997, which he won for one of Sacramento's largest developers, Buzz Oates Enterprise, in a complex construction matter involving a defective geothermal HVAC system at the Old Arco Arena. In addition to his litigation work, Ralph also developed a strong insurance coverage and bad faith practice, representing insurance companies and also policyholders in disputes over coverage and claims handling practices. In 2004, he established a partnership in Auburn, California with David Mackenroth where he continued his litigation and insurance practice as managing partner. In 2013, Ralph started his own solo practice in Roseville and Auburn, handling assorted civil litigation and insurance matters. He also worked in house for Liberty Mutual Insurance representing defendants in complex personal injury claims involving all manner of accidents, products liability and property damage matters.
Mr. Laird joined Aronowitz Skidmore Lyon in July 2021, where he continues his civil litigation and insurance practice.
His career highlights include victories in nearly all of over twenty trials (jury and bench trials), almost all handled on a solo basis, from initial pleadings to final conclusion. He has achieved significant settlements for plaintiffs in multiple insurance bad faith cases, and also in a novel case against a cemetery for misplaced human remains. He has been responsible for third party liability claims on behalf of a Japanese insurance carrier, overseeing other attorneys in various litigated matters throughout the United States. He has authored hundreds of insurance coverage opinions, and he has a published opinion in an insurance coverage case won at trial and affirmed on appeal, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Shimon (12/3/15) 243 Cal.App.4th 29, as well as other unpublished appellate opinions.
In 2018, Mr. Laird received the annual PCBA Pro Bono award for his longtime work for the Placer County Bar Association Fee Arbitration program. Ralph's other community involvement over the years includes being a board member and Treasurer for the Rocklin Educational Excellence Foundation and a director for the Gathering Inn, spearheading the Gold Country Volleyball Classic fundraiser, mentoring high school students for the Placer County Peer Court program, and coaching youth basketball teams.
Mr. Laird received his B.A., from College of the Holy Cross in 1989, and his J.D., from McGeorge School of the Law in 1993. He is admitted to California State Bar and the United States District Court, Eastern District of California.