Best Lawyers in California, United States for Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)
With nearly 200,000 licensed attorneys across a state known for its massive industries, progressive laws and regional differences, finding the right legal help in California can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re facing a business dispute in Silicon Valley or a custody battle in San Diego, it’s critical to find a lawyer in California who not only understands the law but understands how it works where you live.
That’s where Best Lawyers comes in. Our platform is more than just a directory. Every lawyer listed has been thoroughly vetted through a rigorous peer-review process, so you can search with confidence no matter what practice area you need.
Using the Best Lawyers Directory in California
The Best Lawyers directory makes it easy to find top-rated legal talent across California’s many regions and industries. You can search by:
- Practice area (e.g., environmental law, immigration, tech and IP, family law)
- Location (city or county)
- Lawyer name (if you’re researching someone specifically)
Each listed attorney has been recognized in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, a distinction earned through extensive peer feedback and professional evaluation. That means every name you see has already earned the respect of their colleagues—and likely their adversaries, too.
If you need to find a lawyer in California without wasting time on unverified referrals or endless Google results, start here. Our listings provide clear, up-to-date profiles that help you narrow down your options quickly.
California-Specific Legal Needs and Practice Areas
California law can be tricky. You need someone who knows the ropes. The state is a national leader in tech innovation, environmental regulation and entertainment law—and its legal landscape reflects that. Attorneys here must stay up to date not only with federal law but with fast-evolving state statutes, administrative rulings and court precedents.
Some of the most common practice areas where Californians seek legal help include:
- Real estate law, especially in high-cost markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orange County
- Family law, including divorce, child custody and support disputes, all governed by California’s unique family code
- Tech and IP law, a major concern for startups and established firms alike in the Bay Area and beyond
- Entertainment and media law, vital for clients in Los Angeles and surrounding creative hubs
- Environmental and land use law, which is especially important in light of California’s extensive regulations on development, conservation and climate compliance
California also has strict state bar licensing rules, making it essential to choose an attorney who is not just experienced in the area of law you need, but also well-versed in local procedures and precedent. That’s why using a trusted directory like Best Lawyers—where every listing has local context and professional vetting—can make the difference.
How to Find a Good Lawyer in California
Finding a good lawyer in California feels daunting. With so many billboards and online ads, don’t feel bad if you don’t know where to turn. The best results come from approaching your search with intention. Here are key things to consider:
- Know your legal issue. Attorneys often specialize. Make sure you’re looking within the right practice area.
- Check credentials. Always confirm that a lawyer is licensed and in good standing with the State Bar of California.
- Evaluate experience. Ask about similar cases the attorney has handled, especially in your city or county.
- Ask the right questions. When interviewing lawyers, consider asking:
- What is your experience with this specific type of case?
- How do you communicate with clients during the process?
- What outcomes have you achieved in similar matters?
- Read peer and client feedback. While reviews can be helpful, peer recognition carries additional weight. Lawyers know the strengths—and weaknesses—of their colleagues better than anyone else.
Choosing the right legal partner isn’t just about skill. It’s about trust, communication and shared expectations. That’s why using a curated directory that highlights attorneys recommended by their peers can help you filter out guesswork.
Why Peer Recognition Matters in Your Search
The Best Lawyers selection process is rooted in peer recognition—a factor that sets us apart from other platforms. Here’s how it works:
- Nominations come from fellow lawyers, clients and others familiar with a nominee’s work.
- Peer review follows, in which top attorneys confidentially assess the legal skill and professionalism of their peers.
- Analysis and vetting ensure lawyers meet strict ethical and professional standards before being listed.
This isn’t pay-to-play. Lawyers cannot buy their way into the directory and inclusion is never guaranteed. That’s why so many legal professionals and clients trust Best Lawyers as a reliable source of information.
In a field where reputation is everything, recognition from fellow attorneys carries exceptional value. It tells you a lawyer is respected not just by clients, but by those who face them in court or collaborate with them on deals.
Start Your Search with Confidence
Whether you’re seeking representation for a business dispute, criminal matter, estate plan or high-asset divorce, California’s legal market offers no shortage of options. But knowing how to find a lawyer in California—one who brings both credibility and local expertise—is the key to moving forward with clarity.
At Best Lawyers, we make it easier to connect with attorneys who have already earned the respect of their peers. You can explore by practice area, browse by city or search for a specific lawyer using our intuitive filters. No matter where you are in the Golden State, trusted legal help is just a click away.
Find a lawyer in California today and move forward with confidence—backed by a directory built on excellence and trust.
Practice Area Overview
Business Organizations is a broad field of law concerning companies and other forms of business enterprises of all types and sizes and those who create them. This includes corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and other associations that carry on economic or charitable activities. Legal advice in this field of law covers a wide variety of topics, including the choice of type of business entity, choice of jurisdiction, process of formation, corporate governance, nature of ownership, operational matters, asset protection, combinations, acquisitions, dispositions, and dissolutions. Therefore, lawyers practicing in this area of law need to be well-versed in many different but related legal disciplines, including corporate, partnership, securities, tax, real estate, nonprofit, intellectual property, insolvency, fiduciary duty, and mergers and acquisitions law. Furthermore, because many business organizations have operations or are involved in transactions abroad, advising such entities can implicate not only federal and state laws within the United States, but also those of various foreign jurisdictions.
While some business organizations are relatively small, including traditional family-owned companies and entrepreneurial start-up ventures, many are large and complex enterprises with highly sophisticated governance structures. Accordingly, the legal work involved can range from representation of an entire organization, including its owner(s), in all aspects of the organization’s legal activities to engagement as a specialist in one or more discreet areas.
The legal skills required of a Business Organizations lawyer also include the ability to advise clients with respect to divisions of ownership and passing of ownership to acquirers and/or future generations, in addition to more immediate concerns regarding initial entity formation and operation. Properly advising clients with respect to structuring business enterprises, therefore, often requires an in-depth understanding of not only clients' strategic business objectives but also their succession and estate planning concerns.
In addition to the myriad issues that arise within a business enterprise, practice in the Business Organizations area also involves relationships between businesses and the interactions and transactions among them, including contracts, joint ventures, licenses, settlements, and mergers and acquisitions. Business Organizations is wide-ranging area of law that often serves as an entry point or primary point of contact for businesses to a law firm and the various types of legal services it provides.
Linda Klein, Shareholder
David Rieveschl, Shareholder
Corporate Law & Commercial Litigation Legal Guide 2025
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Colby A Campbell is a shareholder with the law firm of Trainor Fairbrook. Her practice emphasizes real estate, taxation, business planning and estate planning. Ms. Campbell has particular experience in structuring new joint ventures and restructuring existing joint ventures to accommodate concerns relevant in the current economic environment, including those involving (i) personal liability and asset protection, (ii) additional funding through the infusion of new capital and the corresponding...
Mr. Grissom's primary practice areas are nonprofit organizations, business and corporate law and tax. Mr. Grissom represents a wide variety of public charities, private foundations, and other nonprofit organizations, including scientific research organizations, social welfare organizations, professional societies, trade groups, educational institutions and related groups, religious organizations, business leagues, hospitals and related groups, social clubs, and organizations dedicated to anim...
Defining the Automotive Liability Industry Since 1995 Jonathan Michaels has been in practice since 1995, and during that time has created an exemplary law firm. By challenging some of the largest companies in the world, Michaels has gained national recognition as the “go to” attorney for high stakes litigation, when everything is on the line. Michaels has developed a unique practice in the automotive industry, where he has litigated cases against nearly every major automotive manu...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.