Business Law Lawyers

Jonathan A. Arjonilla is an associate in the Employment Law Group in the Irvine office of Payne & Fears. He represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law and related litigation. He emphasizes efficient service, strong advocacy, and close teamwork with clients. Before joining Payne & Fears, he defended California public entities in labor and employment, civil rights, and personal injury matters, which gives him experience on both public and private sector employment issues. He contributes to the firm's employment law updates and case summaries. He is admitted in California and in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 2015 and his B.A. in Criminology, Law & Society from UC Irvine in 2009.

Laura Fleming is of counsel in the Employment Litigation Group at Payne & Fears in Irvine. She represents clients ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies, defending complex class and PAGA actions that can involve tens of thousands of employees, as well as single-plaintiff suits and pre-litigation disputes. She advises in-house counsel and human resources teams on compliance and litigation avoidance. Her practice also covers union arbitrations and negotiations, employment agreements, internal investigations, and responses to charges before the NLRB, EEOC, California Civil Rights Department, and Labor Commissioner. She provides day-to-day counsel to small and mid-sized businesses and serves as a mediator in employment and business disputes. She speaks and writes frequently on employment law. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, her B.A. from Harvard College, and a mediation certificate from Pepperdine.

Leilani "Lani" E. Jones is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine who defends employers in single-plaintiff and wage-and-hour matters and handles complex commercial litigation. In addition to employment defense, she has substantial experience with consumer class actions involving unfair competition, false advertising, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Her practice spans employment, business, and insurance litigation in state and federal courts, from trade secrets and business torts to employment counseling and insurance bad faith claims. She has represented clients in fintech, healthcare, manufacturing, staffing, construction, and homebuilding. She earned her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she spent hundreds of hours as a student associate in the Entrepreneurship and Veterans Legal Clinics and worked as a research and teaching assistant. She earned her B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University on a full academic scholarship.

Ray E. Boggess is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine who represents and advises employers in all areas of employment law. He defends employers at the trial and appellate levels against claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, and wage-and-hour violations. His trial experience includes jury and bench trials, private arbitrations, and administrative hearings. He also handles traditional labor matters, including arbitrations over discipline, discharge, and collective bargaining agreements. He focuses on high-risk and class action employment litigation involving off-the-clock work, meal and rest breaks, overtime, termination pay, unfair competition, and PAGA penalties. His firm describes successes that include defeating class certification and dismissing class claims at the pleading stage. He is proficient in Portuguese. He earned his J.D. from UCLA School of Law and his B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University.

Richard K. Zepfel is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine whose practice focuses on business transactions and employment law counseling. He handles corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, private equity deals, and major commercial contracts. He also handles real estate matters, including the acquisition and leasing of commercial and industrial property. On the employment side, he prepares and negotiates executive employment agreements, executive compensation and equity incentive plans, separation and severance agreements, and employee handbooks. Clients, many of them entering complex transactions for the first time, rely on him to understand their objectives and design efficient strategies to reach them. Before joining Payne & Fears, he was managing partner of the Orange County office of Graham & James LLP and earlier an associate at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. He earned his J.D. from the USC Law Center and his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Taylor B. Brown is an associate at Payne & Fears in Irvine who represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law, including wage-and-hour, discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, and PAGA claims. She also has a strong general litigation background that includes medical malpractice and products liability. She began her career at LaFollette Johnson, a medical malpractice defense firm, where she defended healthcare providers and hospitals. She then joined the products liability group at Buchalter, where she defended automobile and equipment manufacturers, insurers, and technology companies in negligence, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases. There she third-chaired a three-week products liability jury trial and later served on another trial team, and both trials ended in verdicts for the firm's clients. She earned her J.D. from Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law in 2018 and her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Thomas L. Vincent is a partner at Payne & Fears in Irvine who concentrates on business, real estate, and construction litigation, including trials, appeals, and related transactional work. He has served on the firm's Management Committee. He represents developers, owners, suppliers, contractors, consultants, and brokers in development and construction transactions, ownership and management disputes, landlord-tenant matters, construction defect claims, real estate sale and broker disputes, payment, bond, and lien claims, and title and contract disputes. His firm notes his appellate work, including the first appellate challenge under California's Right to Repair Act (SB 800) in Greystone Homes, Inc. v. Midtec, Inc. Clients look to him for courtroom experience and practical, creative solutions. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from UC Santa Barbara.

Brett Bitzer is a senior supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex, high-value cases throughout California. After passing the California bar in 2009, he worked at a Sacramento boutique civil litigation firm focused on trial work before moving to Southern California. He chose early in his career to focus on trying cases. His preparation centers on identifying the best evidence and the most effective procedure for each client's goals. His practice covers business litigation, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, breach of contract, and employment matters. He earned his J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif and with great distinction. He earned his B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he played on the Division I tennis team.

David J. Darnell is a senior partner and trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine. He focuses on business, contract, and complex commercial disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, partnership, fraud, and other tort claims. He has handled matters through jury trial, arbitration, and mediation for both plaintiffs and defendants. His firm biography highlights the complete dismissal of claims against his clients under California's litigation privilege (Civil Code section 47), which the Court of Appeal affirmed in a published opinion. It also describes a shareholder dispute that ended on the first day of trial with the plaintiff dropping all claims. He is admitted before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, among other courts. He earned his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law, where he served on the Board of Governors of the Moot Court Honors Program, and his B.A. from UC Santa Barbara.

Frank Dunn is a senior corporate and transactional attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who handles complex business, insurance, reinsurance, and real estate matters. Having worked as in-house counsel at Fortune 100 financial services organizations, he brings experience in corporate governance, commercial contract negotiation and management, mergers and acquisitions, holding company requirements, employment counseling, risk management and compliance, regulatory relations, and operations. Before joining Callahan & Blaine, he held senior roles including general counsel, president, and board member in the insurance services divisions of Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, and QBE America. He has advised clients in financial services, insurance, health services, retail, manufacturing, construction, automotive, and food service. He has practiced in Orange County since passing the bar in 1992. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School and his business administration degree, with honors, from USC.

Grigory "Greg" Rchtouni is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who handles high-stakes litigation. His work focuses on catastrophic injury and wrongful death, mass and toxic torts, product liability, complex business litigation, professional liability, and state licensing proceedings. He began his career at a defense firm representing physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in professional negligence and medical fraud cases, and he now applies that defense perspective to representing seriously injured clients. He handles cases from inception through trial, and sometimes appeal, in state and federal courts. Before law school, he counseled clients with serious psychological conditions and worked with formerly incarcerated people on reentry. He earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame, where he received a Dean's Award in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program. He also holds an M.S. in Clinical Psychology and a B.S. in Psychology.

Jason Casero is a supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who serves as lead counsel in high-stakes litigation, jury trials, and arbitrations. His cases involve intellectual property, real estate, contract, fraud, and free speech issues, and he also advises business owners on reducing legal exposure. Before law school, he worked in business and technology startups. After graduating from Boston College Law School, he began practicing in the New York office of McDermott Will & Emery, where he helped lead internal corporate investigations and argued in state and federal court. He won the Wendell F. Grimes Moot Court Competition, has coached in Fordham Law School's Mentor Moot Court Competition, and has judged the National Moot Court Competition. He has volunteered with local veterans' charities. He is admitted in California and in federal courts in California and New York. He also holds M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Houston.