GIPSON HOFFMAN & PANCIONE A PAPERSTREET WEB DESIGN - Key Persons
Brian Heitzer counsels high-tech and traditional companies on corporate and commercial matters. His counsel focuses on both the legal and the business aspects of a given transaction in order to help clients address their short-term and long-term goals.
Brian has experience structuring and drafting a variety of business agreements, including investment agreements, technology transactions, development agreements, terms of service, joint ventures, manufacturing and supply agreements, marketing and distribution agreements, and mergers and acquisitions transactions. In addition, Brian helps startups and emerging growth companies navigate formation, internal governance, capital raises, and commercial arrangements.
Brian M. Hoye is an attorney in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione's Business Transactions practice area, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions, as well as the range of other legal and business issues that startups and mature businesses face. Brian has extensive experience representing public and private companies, family offices, entrepreneurs, and institutional investors. He has represented underwriters and issuers and consults with companies on legal, business, and strategic matters ranging from private equity investments, joint ventures, and strategic alliances to equity incentive plans and Rule 144 compliance.
Brian has served as an adjunct professor of law at Southwestern Law School, where he taught courses on federal securities law.
Education
J.D., University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
Corey J. Spivey is an attorney in the Litigation practice area at Gipson Hoffman & Pancione with more than twenty years of experience counseling and litigating matters on behalf of clients. Corey's practice is best described as acting as outside general counsel to businesses and individuals whom he advises and acts for on litigation and related matters. He has broad experience in all aspects of general business litigation, copyright, trademark, privacy, Internet, media, First Amendment, and employment legal issues. Additionally, Corey regularly counsels and represents clients in commercial and residential real estate matters, including litigation of easement disputes, commercial and residential lease disputes, construction defects, water intrusion and related issues, retaining wall and boundary disputes, agents' commissions, homeowner association and CC&R disputes, and insurance coverage issues.
Corey's clients include domestic and international television production studios, motion picture production companies, major entertainment finance lenders, national broadcast networks and local television stations, a large Southern California private university, major real estate developers, and individuals.
Following the firm's philosophy on litigation and dispute resolution, Corey's specific approach is to avoid and defuse disputes where possible by providing clients with wise and strategic counsel aimed at preventing escalation at the beginning of the matter. He strives to achieve efficient results on behalf of his clients, leading to early settlement of disputes whenever possible. When disputes cannot be resolved in the early stages, he aggressively and vigorously litigates those matters (through court proceedings, arbitrations, and mediations) to achieve the best results for his clients. Throughout the process, Corey is always mindful to provide his clients with direct answers to their direct questions. He believes that the attorney-client relationship is most successful when attorney and client have clear understandings of expectations and direct communication on risks and likelihood of specific outcomes.
Corey also works closely with colleagues in the other practice areas within the firm, including Business Transactions, Entertainment & Finance, Intellectual Property, and Real Estate, enabling him to manage matters and strategically advise in these other areas.
Corey was born in Houston, Texas, and he received his undergraduate degree from Rice University, where he graduated as the top-ranking Economics major in his class. He subsequently received his law degree from Yale Law School, before deciding to make his career in Los Angeles. Outside of the practice of law, Corey enjoys snowboarding, adventurous dining, and travel.
Education
J.D., Yale Law School
Daniel R. Paluch is an experienced litigator, with a record of success representing businesses and individuals in complex litigation matters in state and federal court. His multi-faceted expertise covers torts, breach of contract cases, finance and lender liability disputes, residential and commercial real estate matters, intellectual property claims, consumer protection matters, family law, and trusts and estates controversies. Daniel is also among the nation's most experienced Property Assessed Clean Energy ("PACE") financing litigators, having personally handled in excess of eighty PACE-related cases on behalf of PACE financing providers and their government partners.
In addition to serving his clients as a litigator, Daniel has experience advising myriad businesses on how to minimize regulatory, enforcement, and litigation risk. In this capacity, Daniel has successfully helped consumer and commercial lenders, banks, short-term rental platforms, data brokers, consumer goods manufacturers, pharmaceuticals companies, healthcare providers, and other companies adjust their internal processes and procedures to avoid adverse regulatory actions and address other legal risks.
Daniel began his practice at a large, international law firm representing clients in complex litigation matters. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where he served on the staff of the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Daniel received his B.A. in Political Science-Economics from Columbia University.
Prior to practicing law, Daniel worked as an economic forecaster for a large international brokerage firm and as a software developer for several startups in the Los Angeles area.
Daniel is fluent in German.
Education
J.D., University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
B.A. (Political Science-Economics) Columbia University
Raymond Gross is a transactional entertainment attorney with a specialty in motion picture and television finance transactions. Ray is not only experienced in handling most types of motion picture and television contracts, including rights acquisitions, talent agreements, and distribution agreements, but he also has extensive expertise in representing clients involved in entertainment financing matters.
Jason Wallach is an attorney with long and deep experience in efficiently solving business and corporate problems with legal and practical solutions. While litigation and bankruptcy are often needed, Jason also solves or mitigates these problems through well-thought-out contracts, properly-formed entities, consensual workouts, mediated settlements, well-informed defaults, asset divestitures, and other creative solutions. His experience encompasses all these solutions, before and after problems arise or on an ongoing or preventive basis.
Jason has successfully addressed, avoided, or ameliorated problems involving a wide range of financial, industrial, entertainment, agricultural, health care, professional, and other service companies and individuals, including representation of public and private companies and individuals, based in the United States and internationally.
Jason's professional leadership and service activities include chairing the Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section, the Pro Bono Bankruptcy Committee, and the Remedies Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has lectured in multiple Continuing Legal Education programs under the auspices of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. This leadership and service led to receiving the William J. Lasarow Award for Pro Bono Service, the Public Counsel Law Center Advocate of the Year Award, and annual Certificates of Appreciation from the United States District Court and Bankruptcy Court for his volunteer mediation of disputes referred by the Courts.
Kenneth D. Crews is an attorney, author, professor, and international copyright consultant. At the center of his work for Gipson Hoffman & Pancione clients is finding creative solutions to diverse copyright and intellectual property challenges. He has negotiated and developed strategic approaches to the contentious nuances of copyright ownership and acquisitions, work made for hire, fair use, termination of transfers, and licensing rights. His legal work is primarily transactional, but Dr. Crews also provides specialized support for litigation and has been an expert witness in a wide range of copyright cases, involving fair use, university policies, software ownership, transfer terms, artworks, and fabric design on bikini swimsuits.
Kenneth Crews served nearly twenty-five years on the law faculties of leading universities, including Indiana and Columbia Universities. He has been an invited speaker in forty-five states and on six continents and has consulted with national governments on copyright reform in all parts of the world. The World Intellectual Property Organization (a U.N. agency) commissioned him to analyze copyright exceptions from all 193 member countries, and that study is informing current discussions in Geneva regarding possible treaty development.
Known to many of his friends and clients as Kenny Crews, he received the Mark T. Banner Award from the American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law, and he was the first recipient of the L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award from the American Library Association. He is the author of multiple books and is listed in Who's Who in America. He enjoys art, architecture, movies, hiking, biking, and early rock and roll.
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Kenneth I. Sidle has extensive experience in a broad range of business litigation. He has a record of success in the courts, winning favorable jury verdicts in several high-profile cases in the areas of copyright and intellectual property, mismanagement, and breach of contract.
He was trial counsel to John Fogerty in winning a jury verdict and argued and obtained a unanimous decision in the United States Supreme Court against denial of attorney fees to Fogerty. He was also trial counsel to the estate of Jimi Hendrix in obtaining summary judgment in action brought by an alleged son seeking right of renewal of the copyrights to Hendrix songs and trial counsel to Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in obtaining a jury verdict in a copyright infringement case involving the motion picture theme song "9 to 5," affirmed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Job Titles:
- Paralegal
- Paralegal in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione 's Business Transactions
Minoo Foroutan is a paralegal in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione's Business Transactions practice area with more than thirty years of experience in the legal field, either as a legal secretary or paralegal. Minoo has experience in many areas of law, such as contracts, employment, estate planning, real estate, securities, and litigation.
As a transactions paralegal, Minoo is responsible for the preparation of various business agreements, and she works closely with clients and attorneys in connection with diverse business transactions.
Minoo assists three attorneys in the firm with all their paralegal and legal assistant needs. She is fluent in Farsi and speaks both Hebrew and Spanish; she has traveled to many countries on four continents.
Education
Certificate in Paralegal Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, Extension
Associate in Arts, Fashion Merchandising, Los Angeles Valley College, Burbank
Norman S. Oberstein is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of the University of Iowa and an Order of the Coif graduate of the Berkeley School of Law, University of California (formerly Boalt Hall), where he participated as a member of the Board of Editors for the California Law Review. Norman was a senior partner in the litigation department and a managing member of the Beverly Hills law firm of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin.
In January 1982, Norman formed his own firm, and in April 2006, he merged his practice with Gipson Hoffman & Pancione, where he is Of Counsel to the firm. Norman is also the chairman of the board of an active nonprofit 501(c)(3) private foundation (www.fredericklenzfoundation.org) and has many years of experience in this area of practice.
Norman's legal career has been devoted to the litigation of complex business disputes in a wide array of general business, entertainment, intellectual property, and trust and estate matters. Norman has successfully handled many high-profile cases, including family law matters.
Education
J.D., University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law
Job Titles:
- Director
- Paralegal
- Senior Corporate Paralegal in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione 's Business Transactions
Rita Silverman is the senior corporate paralegal in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione's Business Transactions and Real Estate practice areas and is also our trademark administrator. She has worked in the legal field for more than thirty years.
She has extensive experience in preparing and filing all documents related to entity formation and organization, fictitious business names, UCC financing statements, foreign registration, mergers and acquisitions, and dissolution of business entities in all states, assisting clients with corporate compliance matters, maintaining minute books and stock ledgers, preparing minutes and written consents, UCC financing statements, and statutory annual reports. She works closely with clients and attorneys in all aspects of corporate and business transactions, performs due diligence and legal research, coordinates transactional closings, and attends to post-closing matters. She also prepares applications for nonprofit corporations to obtain favorable IRS and state determination letters and assists with annual nonprofit statutory filings.
As our trademark administrator, Rita prepares and files trademark applications, statements of use, responses to office actions, assignments, renewals, and other maintenance filings. She also conducts and analyzes preliminary trademark searches to determine the availability of proposed trademarks; reviews clients' advertisements, product samples, and marketing materials to prove use of a mark; coordinates international filings with foreign legal counsel in more than thirty countries; and maintains our trademark management and docketing system.
Rita assists our real estate attorneys in a variety of real estate transactions, including due diligence review, title report review, preparing real estate documents, organizing and coordinating closings, and attending to post-closing matters.
In her free time, Rita serves as a director for a community nonprofit organization. Her interests include traveling and sailing.
Education
B.S. (Finance), California State University, Northridge
Robert E. ("Reg") Gipson brings to his legal counseling the strategic and practical perspectives of one who has had extensive real-world experience as a founder of businesses, as a key executive, and as a member of the boards of private and public companies, both commercial and charitable. In addition to being a member of the bar, Reg is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder and a member of the CFA Society of Los Angeles. Reg serves on the investment policy committees of several families and private trusts.
His clients include businesses and public and private charities, as well as the families or investors that own or support them. Company owners turn to Reg for counseling and insight on issues of corporate governance, strategic transactions, generational and executive succession planning, and when an entrepreneur is purchasing or launching a new enterprise, or the owner is ready to sell an established business. In more than four decades of legal practice and business and investment experience, Reg has probably seen just about everything, which is why his clients trust him to explore and advise them on the most novel and the cutting-edge business, charitable, or investment issues that few people have encountered or ventured.
Reg is a member of the Board of Directors of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide. He serves on the strategic planning group of World Gym International. He was for many years Chair of the Board of First California Financial Group, Inc. (ticker "FCAL"), a publicly traded bank holding company, and he has held board positions for several publicly traded banks and other financial institutions.
In support of nonprofit and charitable organizations, Reg has served on the Board of the Sundance Institute and as member and chair of the Board of Overseers of the Claremont University Consortium. He also has been member and chair of the Board of Trustees of Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. Building on these experiences, Reg has worked with clients to organize and launch numerous public charities and private foundations.
Reg has taught law school courses, and he regularly leads seminars on business issues, corporate finance, and capital allocation. Reg is the Managing Partner of Gipson Hoffman & Pancione.
Education
J.D., Yale University
Robert H. Steinberg utilizes his business, accounting, and legal background in representing domestic and international banks, financiers, equity investors, and borrowers in sophisticated lending and financing transactions. He also advises his clients in many types of corporate and business transactions and agreements and corporate organization, governance, and structuring issues. In addition to being a member of the bar, Robert has an undergraduate degree in accounting and passed all four parts of the national CPA exam on his first attempt.
Robert's special emphasis in entertainment financing transactions includes single motion picture production financing, equity investments, film library acquisitions and financings, tax incentive financing, and working capital revolving credit facilities secured by all of the borrower's assets. In addition, he advises clients in general business/commercial transactions and real estate transactions. He recently assisted a client in selling an 80% interest in its company to Asian investors. He has also represented a number of private funds specializing in entertainment lending and investments. He has assisted entertainment clients that have become creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. He has also represented buyers of a number of film and television libraries.
Robert has been involved in the production and financing of the last five films in the Terminator franchise and assisted the current rights holder in the acquisition of the Terminator rights, including the review of the chain of title created from initial creation of the project through several bankruptcies.
In addition to advising his clients in a variety of business matters, Robert served as managing partner of Gipson Hoffman & Pancione from 2013 to 2019.
Education
J.D., University of California, Los Angeles
B.S. (Accounting), Indiana University
Stacey Klein is a business transaction and litigation attorney. Her deep understanding of contracts and her ability to foresee and address issues before they arise allow her to strategically negotiate for her clients and avoid litigation disputes.
Stacey's transactional experience includes helping clients with acquisitions, entity formation and corporate governance, trust administration, contract negotiations, and employment, settlement, and nondisclosure agreements. Prior to joining Gipson Hoffman & Pancione, Stacey was an in-house transactions attorney at a national credit card processing company and was responsible for a wide variety of corporate, business, and legal needs.
Stacey's courtroom experience includes litigating diverse contract and promissory note disputes involving licensing deals, copyright infringements, and secured loans.
In her free time, Stacey can be found traveling (she has been to six of the seven continents) or volunteering with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Education
J.D., Loyola Law School
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Stephen Kirschenbaum is an attorney in Gipson Hoffman & Pancione's Trusts & Estates practice area. He provides counsel across a wide array of industries in traditional estate planning and corporate matters. Steve focuses his practice on the full spectrum of his clients' estate planning needs and represents individuals and families who own and operate a diverse range of businesses. He assists clients with creating tailored plans that best protect and distribute their assets to attain not only the legal realities of their wishes but their spirit and context as well.
In that regard, Steve frequently works with clients utilizing a variety of tools to aid in business succession planning to transition the ownership, management, and distribution of a family business from first-generation business owners to the next generation of family business operators. He provides an assortment of services, including estate planning and administration, later-life or longevity planning, and business succession planning, as well as assistance with charitable planning and establishing or refining family foundations.
Prior to joining GHP, Steve served as an attorney at a law firm in midtown Manhattan. While in New York, he assisted clients with employment-based and family-based nonimmigrant and immigrant matters, including employment petitions for immigrant employees, intracompany transferees, treaty investors, specialty workers, and individuals with extraordinary ability. His clients included companies in the advertising, entertainment, media, investment, health care, software, technology, and real estate industries, as well as nonprofit organizations.
Steve speaks English and Hebrew.
Education
J.D., Seton Hall University School of Law
B.A., Yeshiva University
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Member of Gipson Hoffman & Pancione 's Business Transactions
Won M. Park is a member of Gipson Hoffman & Pancione's Business Transactions and Litigation practice areas, with strong experience in professional liability litigation.