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Mr. Zeldin joined the Firm in 1993 after spending 20 years at Dinkelspiel, Donovan & Reder. He specializes in general business litigation, including contract disputes, real estate-related matters, business torts, corporate and partnership governance and dissolution matters, securities litigation, creditors’ and debtors’ rights, and employment issues. He has handled nearly every type of real estate litigation, and has resolved numerous disputes through transactional solutions involving the sale or lease of real property. He has extensive experience in both state and federal courts, at the trial and appellate levels. He was chosen as a “Super Lawyer” by the Northern California Super Lawyer magazine and as one of “The Best Lawyers in America” for 2008 by that publication.
Mr. Zeldin has recently litigated two disengagements of adverse second generation family members from successful family real estate empires, successfully defended a law firm against a professional negligence suit, defeated a $70 million claim by a shareholder against the corporation and his co-founding shareholder, and turned the defense of a dispute between venture capitalists into a multimillion dollar judgment against the plaintiff who initiated the action. He has also successfully defended class actions involving the use of $200 million worth of real estate in San Francisco, claims of fraud against the manufacturer of hi-tech equipment, allegations of insider trading in a publicly-held company, and a challenge to a local tax measure. He has successfully defended and prosecuted derivative claims, has handled a wide variety of disputes involving real estate partnerships, and has litigated intellectual property disputes. In the employment context, he has represented employers in wrongful termination and discrimination cases, and has represented executives in separating from both public and private employers.
Mr. Zeldin’s clients include entrepreneurial individuals, many small and medium-size businesses, a number of publicly-traded companies, and several public entities. Among Mr. Zeldin’s most active clients has been an East Bay city, for which he has successfully tried jury and non-jury cases involving real estate disputes, allegations of sex, race, age, and political affiliation discrimination, and police brutality. A significant portion of his practice includes the representation of lawyers, in defense of malpractice, fraud, and securities claims, the dissolution of and disengagement from law practices, and extrication from failed investments. He has also successfully represented title companies in major Northern California lawsuits alleging escrow negligence, breach of a title policy and real estate fraud.
Mr. Zeldin’s philosophy of litigation is: focus on the most effective way to achieve the clients’ objectives in the shortest possible time. Be as imaginative, creative and aggressive as the facts and law allow. Do the very best for every client.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Mr. Zeldin taught a class in trial practice at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley for 20 years. He has authored and co-authored extensive teaching materials on litigation strategies and techniques as well as administrative law. He has lectured for Continuing Education of the Bar and the Federal Practices Institute for many years on civil procedure and evidence. He has conducted seminars and given guest lectures for various law school and continuing education programs on settlement strategies and techniques. His publications include an article on Choosing Between Federal and State Court (ABTL Report, Vol. 2, No. 1, November 1992), and The Ten Commandments for Avoiding A Fraudulent Real Estate Transaction (California Land Title Association Claims Awareness Hot Sheet, Vol. 10, No. 3, June 1999). Mr. Zeldin is a member of the American Bar Association, Bar Association of San Francisco and the Association of Trial Lawyers of Northern California, and has served as a Judge Pro Tem in the San Francisco Superior Court’s Early Settlement Program. Mr. Zeldin was again named a Northern California Super Lawyer for 2007 by Law & Politics.
EDUCATION
Mr. Zeldin received a B.S. degree with honors in Business-Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1968 and a J.D. degree (Order of the Coif) from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1971. He clerked for Chief Justice Donald R. Wright of the California Supreme Court in 1971-72. In 1972-73, he did test case litigation in Washington, D.C. as a Ford Foundation Fellow affiliated with the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center, from which he received an L.L.M. degree. He has been in private practice since 1973. | 