Piedmont Lawyers

Specializing exclusively in criminal law, Joseph and this team of attorneys have represented thousands of criminal defendants facing serious felony charges. He has extensive experience defending MMJ collectives, cooperatives, cultivators, and caregivers facing criminal charges for helping patients. Joseph Tully has over fifteen years experience practicing criminal law in California and has been certified as a Criminal Law Specialist by the California Board of Legal Specialization. In addition, Mr. Tully has been recognized by The National Trial Lawyers as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in both 2013 and 2014. From Shasta to Oakland to Los Angeles,...

OLIVER GREENWOOD is the principal of the Law Offices of Oliver Greenwood in Pleasant Hill. He is the author of chapters 1, 4, 12, 16, and 17 in the CEB Guardianship Handbook. Mr. Greenwood received his B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. A frequent speaker regarding probate matters and a member of the Judicial Council's Probate & Mental Health Advisory Committee. Mr. Greenwood is also a contributing author to CEB's conservatorship and powers of attorney and health care directives books. Mr. Greenwood's areas of practice include conservatorships, guardianships,...

Mr. Poulin is experienced in the areas of real estate, business, and construction litigation. He has trial experience in both state and Federal court, and has experience in all aspects of dispute resolution. Mr. Poulin has successfully represented clients in broker disputes, foreclosures, neighbor disputes, title insurance coverage, fraud, breach of contract, breach of lease and landlord-tenant issues. Real estate issues include construction defect cases, damages on behalf of contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers in mechanic's liens, stop notice, payment and performance bond actions. Prior to joining The Williams Firm, Mr. Poulin was an associate at the law...

Jenny Tiu received her B.S. degree in Physiological Science from UCLA. During her undergraduate studies, she was a research assistant at UCLA for both spinal cord injury and atherosclerosis research. Ms. Tiu then earned her J.D. degree at Golden Gate University School of Law with an emphasis in Public Interest Law. During law school, she interned for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit. She then went on to intern for the Solano County Alternate Public Defender's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit and later in the Misdemeanor Unit. After being...

Joseph A. Motta was born and raised in the East Bay. He attended St. Mary’s College and graduated in 1984. He graduated from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1987. Joe’s legal career started as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County; from 1988 to 2004. There, he handled thousands of cases. He was a trial attorney on every team including Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Homicide. He supervised the Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault Teams; as a supervisor, he maintained his own load of serious cases. As a deputy D.A., Joe prosecuted a number of high...

Simon Mazzola is a shareholder in the Mazzola Law Office – Professional Corporation. He counsels and represents small and medium sized businesses and high net worth individuals in the Bay Area and Northern California. His litigation style is aggressive, results oriented, and cost effective.

Gerry Goldsholle is a nationally known expert in insurance and insurance law who uses his decades of knowledge and industry "insider" experience to help his firm's clients stop being taken advantage of by insurance companies and others seeking to wrongfully delay or deny claims or pay pennies on the dollar.

An honors graduate of the College of William and Mary and the Columbia University School of Law, Gerry later completed the Senior Executive Program at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and the coursework for a Masters of Liberal Arts at Stanford. He also served in the Army...

For 22 years, I have devoted my career as a lawyer to helping parties resolve their conflicts efficiently, effectively and respectfully. I believe the quality of a mediated resolution, and of the mediation process, to be as important to the parties as the fact of resolution.

Shahrad Milanfar is a Trial Attorney and Mediator who has focused his career on serious personal injury, automotive, asbestos and other types of product liability, transportation/ trucking, and habitability cases. Since the beginning of his career, Shahrad has worked on catastrophic injury cases such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), serious orthopedic injuries, including quadriplegia and paraplegia.

Shahrad gained his trial and courtroom experience while working with the district attorney’s office and as a civil trial attorney. He has handled cases form inception to verdict as the primary trial attorney. Over the past 20+ years, Shahrad has managed serious personal injury and...

Hannah Sargent received her undergraduate degree from University of California Los Angeles and graduated from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. While in school, she spent time clerking for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Jose. She is a former military officer, company commander, two-time Iraq war veteran and decorated AH-64D Apache Helicopter pilot. She is currently the principal attorney at Sargent Law Office, where she practices litigation, business and commercial law, and estate planning, and she lives in Castro Valley with her family. Between her time working and being with her family, she enjoys...

Visit www.ponlaw.com for comprehensive information about Poniatowski Leding Parikh Law Corp. and Mark D. Poniatowski.

Attorney Adam M. Carlson is managing partner at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook. While he is skilled in various areas of law, he focuses the majority of his practice handling cases related to wrongful death, civil rights, and personal injury. He believes that tailoring each case to each client’s needs is key to providing aggressive and compassionate legal representation.

Before joining the firm, Carlson served as an intake assistant for our team, where he was responsible for fielding calls from potential clients. It was at this time that Carlson decided he wanted to do more. He found that he was passionate...

My law practice focuses on representing injury and death victims and their families. Many of my cases have involved personal injury, car accidents, accidental death, wrongful death, truck accidents, big-rig accidents, motorcycle accidents, products liability, defective products, dog bites, nursing home injuries, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, and dangerous property. I have been highly successful in favorably resolving my clients' cases and obtaining monetary compensation for my clients for over 22 years. My clients have suffered catastrophic injuries, death of a family member, serious injuries requiring hospitalization or surgery and many other types of injuries including coma, brain injuries, quadriplegia, triplegia, loss of...

In my early years as a financial planner, I realized that estate planning was an often-overlooked area of planning not only by clients but by their financial advisors. The reason I became an attorney was to help people make sure that their wishes are carried out during incapacity and after death. I had seen too many people impacted by the lack of estate planning or poor estate planning. I did not want to see the government or the courts take control of a person's property in a way that was not consistent with the person's wishes and intent. I am passionate...

For more than 30 years, Mike Appel has devoted his practice exclusively to personal injury and wrongful death cases. He represents clients throughout California, both in State and Federal courts. Born and raised in Redondo Beach, Mike attended St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California, where he majored in English. He was an editor of the college’s literary magazine, "The Phoenix." He also played rugby for the Gaels, and was a member of the team that went on the first annual rugby tour of the East Coast. Mike received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. At graduation he also received...

Alexandra Danielle Wilson is a Calfornia State Bar member and a Contra Costa County Bar Association member. She is a passionate member of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and American Immigration lawyers Assocation (AILA). She volunteers at several Bay Area non-profit organizations. Alexandra graduated from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Alexandra is fluent in Spanish and passionately advocates for immigrant's rights.

While in law school, Alexandra focused almost exclusively in the area of immigration. She participated in the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic during which she travelled to Guatemala on a fact-finding trip to gather information...

Anne M. Whatley has been practicing family law for over 20 years, and has experience in all aspects, including divorce, custody, support, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, domestic violence, and any other family law issue.

Tammy J. Mercado has a passion for helping her clients achieve their desired result. She listens and she personally responds to your text, email, or phone call promptly. She offers real solutions to your legal matters. Tammy will carefully evaluate the legal issues in your case, provide you sound advice, and offer you the pros and cons of each possible scenario so you can meet your legal objectives. She encourages clients to participate in their own matters. Tammy believes that client participation is key to a positive result and to keep attorney fees as low as possible. You can be...

***Please note than any testimonials or endorsements found on this page do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your specific matter.*** Katie has over a decade of experience practicing general civil and employment litigation, representing individuals and small businesses in litigation, arbitration and administrative proceedings before state and local agencies. Katie has successfully handled cases in state and federal courts involving a comprehensive array of claims, including wage and hour, breach of contract; workplace harassment; discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, national origin, religious creed, and other protected categories; retaliation; violations of the...

Mr. Prutton graduated with high honors in 1979 from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Forestry. He received his law degree in 1982 (J.D. cum laude) from one of the top schools in the country, the University of Illinois College of Law. From 1982 - 1985 he practiced law with Baxter & Hammond in Grand Rapids, Michigan representing insurance companies and corporations. From 1985 - 1987 he represented similar interests while an associate with Low, Ball & Lynch in San Francisco. In 1987, Mr. Prutton opened his own law office in the Bay Area, switched sides...

David L. Fiol received his BA in Government from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) in 1984 and graduated from the Harvard Law School (Cambridge, MA) with his JD in 1988. He spent the first ten years of his career litigating aviation accident and other wrongful death and personal injury cases for a firm in New York City. He represented clients and family members injured by everything from automobile accidents to small private plane crashes to major disasters including the bombing and crash of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. During his tenure there he also litigated, insurance coverage, real estate...

Registered patent attorney with several years of experience in practicing intellectual property (IP) law, particularly in the areas of preparing and prosecuting patent, trademark, and copyright applications, patentability and infringement analyses, strategic IP counseling, and enforcing intellectual property rights.

Jason S. Buckingham is a California licensed attorney who helps people with estate planning (living trusts, trust administration) and real estate (practice limited to real property partition) issues. Mr. Buckingham graduated from John F. Kennedy University School of Law, Cum Laude, in December 2004, and was admitted to practice law in the State of California in May 2005, and to the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of California in February 2009 and the Northern District of California in March 2009. Mr. Buckingham is also a licensed real estate broker. Mr. Buckingham is a member of the California...

30 years of practice experience in Divorce Law; 12 years of Real Property practice prior to that; Real Estate Broker 20 years. Corporate background; business valuations; division of property. Years of trial experience, but love collaborative law and am a highly trained mediator. Highly skilled with custody of children at once heartbreaking and often cruel. Serious trial experience with false sexual abuse allegations; true sexual abuse allegations. Empathic, concerned, and compassionate, yet can draw boundaries because every minute I am engaged in your case; you will receive an hourly bill. Trial lawyer Trained Child Counsel Mediator Collaborative Law Practitioner

Eric Sternberger is a partner of Ragghianti Freitas LLP. Mr. Sternberger acts as outside general counsel to corporations, LLC's and partnerships with an emphasis on business and corporate transactions including entity selection, succession planning, joint ventures, contracts, mergers and acquisitions, buy-sell agreements, secured financing, licensing, and real estate matters. His representative clients include technology and intellectual property driven companies, shipping, construction, advertising/branding, web based, and the real estate and healthcare industries. Mr. Sternberger's business counseling also includes advising directors, officers, and managers regarding business strategies, consensus building and corporate governance. Additionally, he advises shareholders and LLC interest holders regarding...

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In 2003, Carl R. Gustafson graduated from UCLA Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors in History. In 2005, he was a legal intern for Global Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he drafted sections of human rights situation reports and submitted them to the United Nations and other international bodies. He also researched issues of international jurisdiction and the enforcement of international treaties. Carl went on to graduate with honors from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2007, where he was also an associate editor for the Ecological Law Quarterly. It was Carl's yearning to right wrongs...

I have been practicing solely in family law since 2011. In 2018 I was accepted as a Certified Family Law Specialist with the State Bar of California. I have also received training focused in Family Law mediation.

Attorney with over 30 years of experience representing clients in Divorce and Family Law matters. Certified Specialist in Family Law, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. My practice includes representation in all areas of divorce and family law, including child custody; child visitation; child support; spousal support ; division of community property (including high value assets); annulment; paternity; and drafting marital settlement agreements. I am also available to provide limited scope representation or consultation for self-represent parties. Representing clients throughout Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.

Helen has provided quality mediation services in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties since 1993. Her process permits private , effective resolution of legal disputes.