Emerson Wheat

Geoffrey M. Thorne is a lawyer recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area of Commercial Litigation. Geoffrey M. practices law in San Diego, California Best Lawyers has recognized Geoffrey M. Thorne since 2026. The Best Lawyers recognition is based on a peer-review survey of lawyers in the same geographic region and legal practice area. The recognition reflects the professional regard in which Geoffrey M. Thorne is held by other lawyers.

Agustín Ceballos is a Shareholder and Chair of Buchalter’s Latin America practice group and a member of the Corporate and Tax, Benefits and Estate Planning practice groups.

Carolina Bravo-Karimi is a member of the firm's Employment Law group. Her practice is focused on representing employers in a variety of employment disputes, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wage and hour litigation. Representing both public and private entities, Carolina is an expert in handling complex matters and balancing the needs of several high-profile stakeholders. Carolina also serves as Practice Chair of our recently launched Diversity, Equi...

Mr. Patiño is a partner with Cozen O'Connor and a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Department. He represents companies in high-stakes commercial and intellectual property disputes. Mr. Patiño has argued before the courts of 20 different states and has particular experience with patent litigation-specific proceedings, including before the International Trade Commission, and as special intellectual property counsel in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Among prominent represen...

Catherine M. McBain is a lawyer recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice areas of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs. Catherine M. practices law in San Diego, California Best Lawyers has recognized Catherine M. McBain since 2026. The Best Lawyers recognition is based on a peer-review survey of lawyers in the same geographic region and legal practice area. The recognition reflects the profes...

John E. Wehrli is a lawyer recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area of Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice. John E. practices law in San Diego, California Best Lawyers has recognized John E. Wehrli since 2018. The Best Lawyers recognition is based on a peer-review survey of lawyers in the same geographic region and legal practice area. The recognition reflects the professional regard in which John E. Wehrli is held by other lawyers.

Ed Chapin is the Managing Partner in the San Diego office of Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, a national law firm with offices in the District of Columbia, New York, California, Tennessee, and Maryland. Ed received his J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and his B.S. from Southwest Missouri State University. Ed is a veteran litigator whose practice spans class actions, unfair business practices, professional negligence, insurance coverage, bad faith, toxic torts, serious personal in...

HFM Partner Susan Mercure specializes in representing high net worth clients in sophisticated estate planning and estate and trust administration. On the estate planning side, Ms. Mercure utilizes techniques to reduce the size of an estate for estate tax purposes and employs other techniques to accomplish the distribution goals of her clients. She effectively communicates technical concepts and is able to convey complex concepts in a way that is easy to understand. She also assists her client...

Robert Brown focuses on tax structuring and deal-making across a broad range of transactions, with particular emphasis on multifamily, mixed-use, and office/retail investment real estate. Robert synthesizes tax structuring into his transactional practice with a combination of sophistication. creativity and pragmatism. He has served as lead counsel for approximately $15 billion in transactions over the last five years. Robert’s practice encompasses negotiating and closing large-scale inv...

Grant Puleo represents developers, owners, operators, investors, lenders, and financial institutions in real estate, finance, and business transactions across California and throughout the United States. He handles acquisitions, development, construction, syndications, dispositions, leasing and financing across commercial, multifamily, student housing, hospitality, data center and other product types. An experienced trial attorney with more than a dozen jury trials and dozens of binding arbit...