SLATER COSME, PC - Key Persons
Calvin A. Slater has been a lawyer since 1981, with over 40 years of experience with helping clients, such as entrepreneurs, physicians, business owners and real estate investors. His legal expertise includes real estate matters, tax-deferred exchanges, trusts, estate planning, asset protection, as well as business matters such as formation, planning, and succession.
He emphasizes a personal connection with each client to understand their needs and provide effective solutions. He encourages a team approach by collaborating with a client's other professionals such as accountants and investment advisors. Mr. Slater is a certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California. He is a member of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association.
He has been awarded an A-V peer review rating, the highest rating for legal ability and ethics given by Martindale-Hubbell, the preeminent and recognized peer review rating authority for attorneys. An A-V rating is the pinnacle of professional excellence. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer for each year since 2011. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers limited to the top 5% of lawyers in each state.
He is co-author of For California Doctors, A Guide for Asset Protection, Tax and Estate Planning, published by Guardian Publishing.
Mr. Slater received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law, and a Masters in Economics, from the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management. He was awarded the John M. Olin Fellowship Award in Economics & Law.
His undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree was awarded from the University of Southern California, School of Business Administration, with a major in Real Estate and Finance.
Cynthia Wheeler has over 30 years of experience as a legal secretary with law firms in the Pasadena area and has a solid background in litigation support. Cindy is a graduate of Kent State University.
Ms. Ball focuses in the areas of trust, estate, and probate administration; asset protection planning; and general business transactions.
Ms. Ball received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology from the University of Southern California in 2007. She then earned her Juris Doctor Degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 2012, where she held leadership roles in the Public Interest Law Foundation and was actively involved in the Income Tax Assistance Program. While attending Loyola, her achievements were recognized through various awards including the Public Interest Law Foundation Scholarship; the Sande Buhai Public Interest Award; and the Loyola Law School Alumni Association Board of Governors Award.
While earning her law degree, she clerked for the Honorable Judge Michael I. Levanas (Probate Court) and the Honorable Judge Rolf Treu (Civil Court), of the Los Angeles Superior Court; as well as for the Office of the County Counsel, Probate Division.
Job Titles:
- Client Services Specialist / Legal Secretary
Shelee Joseph has over 15 years of experience working as a Client Services Specialist and Legal Secretary for West Los Angeles Law Firms. Shelee has a background in family law and estate planning.
Job Titles:
- Document Management Specialist
Ms. Cameron graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics. After graduating Ms. Cameron worked for both Eastman Kodak and W.W. Grainger as an Account Sales Manager for many years. She specializes in document management and provides support to the billing and accounting department at Slater Cosme, PC.
Along with her work at Slater Cosme, PC, Ms. Cameron dedicates her time to working with autistic students in the Capistrano Unified School District; volunteers as a Girls Scout Troop Leader; and is a Patroness for the National Charity League, Saddleback Valley Chapter.
Teny Nazari is an attorney at Slater Cosme, PC, with a focus in the areas of real estate, trust and estate administration, litigation, and business matters.
Ms. Nazari graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a Bachelors of Arts degree. She received her law degree from Southwestern Law School.
While in law school Ms. Nazari was a paralegal at a litigation firm where she worked on multiple civil and probate matters. She was also a Certified Law Clerk for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and an intern for the estate planning and trusts division of a family law firm.
Ms. Nazari is fluent in Armenian.
Job Titles:
- Director of Accounting Services
Tracy Thrower-Rodriguez is an Accounting and Trust Funding Specialist with Slater Cosme, PC. Ms. Thrower-Rodriguez has a wide array of experience in areas such as finance and trust administration. She assists clients with funding their living trust and asset transfers and distributions upon settlement of trusts and estates. Her background in the securities industry provides expertise with asset transfers and portfolios.
Prior to joining Slater Cosme, PC, Tracy was a Trust Administrator and Property Manager where she tracked the investment performance and tax details of multiple trusts.
Tracy was formerly an Assistant Vice President of Talbot Financial Services of Hawaii, Inc. where she worked as a liaison between multiple insurance companies and the Bank of Hawaii's investment program where she utilized her skills in office management and sales to expand the bank's product offerings.
Vaughn A. Blackman is a litigation and transactional attorney at Slater Cosme, PC, with a practice focusing on trust and estate litigation, real estate and trust administration. Prior to joining Slater Cosme, PC, Mr. Blackman was an associate attorney for six years at a global law firm and represented Fortune 500 companies, Am Law 100 law firms, and a major accounting firm in commercial litigation and professional liability actions. Mr. Blackman also clerked in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.
Mr. Blackman earned his bachelor's degree from Boston University in 2007 and graduated summa cum laude. He received his law degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2010. In law school, he was a Senior Articles Editor of the U.C. Davis Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Partner
- Certified Specialist in Estate Planning
Vida Velez Cosme is a certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law. She is a partner at Slater Cosme, PC, where she manages a dedicated team of attorneys, paralegals and legal specialists. Ms. Cosme devotes her practice to providing detailed and personalized legal advice to individuals, couples, families, physicians, lawyers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and business owners.
Her areas of expertise are in estate and retirement planning; the development and implementation of wealth preservation techniques and strategies; trust, estate, and probate administrations; and business and succession planning.
Ms. Cosme is also a co-author of For California Doctors, A Guide for Asset Protection, Tax and Estate Planning, published by Guardian Publishing.
Ms. Cosme graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles. She then earned her Juris Doctorate degree at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she received the American Jurisprudence Bancroft-Whitney Award and Loyola Law School's First Honor's Award for excellence in legal research and writing. She was also recognized with the law school's First Honor's Award for her achievements in the prestigious Hobbs Trial Advocacy Program.
She is a member of the California State Bar, the Probate and Trust Section of the California State Bar, WealthCounsel, and the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, having formerly served as Marshall for the Ford Division.
Wynda Wauran has over 11 years of office management experience in areas of commercial real estate, investments, and financial services. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Ecology from the University of California at Irvine, and a post-graduate diploma in Business Administration from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Slater Cosme, PC, Wynda managed the office operations at small firms and large corporations in Los Angeles and Vancouver, where she oversaw systems and processes for real estate transactions, accounting, marketing, and human resources.