Whitney Hughes

Christopher Kao is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Intellectual Property and Litigation - Patent. Christopher, who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christopher is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Michele Ballard Miller is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment. Michele Ballard, who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Michele Ballard is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

James Bostwick is one of the most respected medical malpractice and personal injury lawyers in the nation. As Founder of Bostwick & Associates, he’s cultivated a reputation as a top-tier specialist in catastrophic malpractice cases and has secured numerous record-setting verdicts and settlements. He is one of a few lawyers in the U.S. deemed a Certified Medical Malpractice Specialist by the American Board of Professional Liability . Bostwick has spent more than 50 years specializing...

Matt Davis is a graduate of UC Hastings Law San Francisco, obtaining his law degree in 1989. He worked for a San Francisco litigation boutique until 1992, when he was recruited by the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. From 1992 through 2001, he represented the municipality and its employees in jury trials and appeals in both state and federal courts. While working for the City, he had an active role in San Francisco’s litigation against the Bank of America that culminated in a...

Jay L. Paxton is a Shareholder in Buchalter Nemer's Real Estate Practice Group in San Francisco and a former member of the Firm's Board of Directors. Mr. Paxton specializes in real estate transactions, leasing and land use planning. Mr. Paxton represents both sellers and acquirers in the negotiation and documentation of real estate sale transactions, including portfolios of properties. His experience includes representation of numerous Fortune 500 companies in acquisitions, sales, sale/leaseb...

Clarissa advocates zealously and effectively for employee benefit plans, plan administrators, plan sponsors, and other fiduciaries before federal and state courts and government regulatory agencies. As a director in our nationally recognized ERISA litigation group (First Tier Nationally in US News and World Report Best Lawyers), she has handled a broad spectrum of litigation, including cases involving benefit claims, fiduciary issues, plan administration, multiemployer plans, withdrawal liabi...

Amy L. Hespenheide is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. Amy L., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Amy L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Walter M. Stella is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment. Walter M., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2013. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Walter M. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Reza Torkzadeh is the Founder of The Torkzadeh Law Firm, a Plaintiff's only personal injury law firm with offices throughout California and Illinois. Reza has been recognized by his peers since 2010 as being a SuperLawyers Rising Star. Every year since 2014, Reza has been selected by his peers to the SuperLawyers list in California - an honor saved for no more than 5% of the lawyers in the country. In the past two years alone, Reza has obtained verdicts, judgments and settlements in excess of...

Mr. Storke has over 40 years of experience in the employee benefits field, and specializes in representing regional, state-wide and local multiemployer pension and health and welfare plans, including the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund, the largest Taft-Hartley trust in the United States. With this background, Mr. Storke has developed substantial expertise in reconciling the diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives, interests and opinions of the individual trustees se...