Our firm’s history over the past 65 years has included innumerable contributions to our clients and communities’ successes by scores of great lawyers and great people. At our firm’s annual meeting in Carmel this past March, Albert Horn treated us to a review of the foundation of that history by recounting the contributions of Luther Carr, Jed McClellan, Frank Ingersoll and Bob Thompson. We look back with pride on our past ever mindful of our responsibility to live up to the standards of excellence set by the “greatest generation.”
While we are mindful of our heritage, our focus is on the future. Earlier this year, the firm elevated six of our lawyers to the status of directors of the firm. Their clearly demonstrated intellect, knowledge, skill and excellence made them worthy of following in the footsteps of our founders.
Sinclair Hwang, a new director in our Estate Planning, Trusts and Wealth Transfer group, a Princeton and UC Berkeley Boalt Hall graduate, has brought his early career big firm corporate transactional experience to our firm in 2004 and quickly demonstrated his ability to master the complexity of sophisticated estate planning techniques.
Jen Johnson joined our Real Estate group’s directors after having honed her skills in both litigation and bankruptcy matters. Her unique breadth of knowledge and experience allow her to provide clients with advice and counsel in all aspects of complex commercial real estate transactions. She sports UCSD and UCLA as her academic pedigree.
Dave King joined Carr, McClellan as an experienced trial lawyer in the Business Litigation Group, having successfully built a practice focusing on insurance defense matters including personal injury, aviation, toxic tort and construction defects. Since joining us in 2006, Dave has expanded his area of expertise and experience to include Estate & Trust litigation and governmental entity defense.
Brendan Lund, brought his LLM in Taxation, as well as his J.D. from Gonzaga University, to our Tax Group in 2006. He has added depth and breadth to our firm’s ability to handle complex income tax issues, including international tax planning and dispute resolution. A Bay Area native, Brendan is contributing his facility to work through complex issues to his alma maters, Santa Clara University and St. Ignatius College Preparatory as a member of their alumni boards.
John Minton, a UCSB and UC Hastings graduate, has added IP litigation experience and expertise to our Business Litigation Practice after having practiced for a well known and highly regarded Silicon Valley firm. John has proved his mettle at our firm by taking on some of the most complex and difficult problems of our clients. John’s easy going nature belies his underlying competitiveness which he exhibited as a Varsity Baseball player for UCSB.
Quyhn Tran also joined our group of superlative Estate Planning, Trusts and Wealth Transfer directors who are able to design and implement estate plans for all our clients, whether they are entrepreneurs in hi-tech or established clients with real estate portfolios. Quyhn is our expert in Exempt Organizations, both with regard as to how they fit into estate planning or as contributors to the vibrancy of our communities. With two degrees from Stanford and a JD from UCLA, we often see Quyhn mixing cardinal with blue and gold.
Our foundation is strong and our future is bright.