Sean M. Kneafsey is a business, real estate, employment, and intellectual property trial lawyer.

Mr. Kneafsey’s business and real estate experience includes litigating lease disputes, construction contracts, design professional claims, insurance matters, purchase and sale agreements, unlawful detainer actions, partnership agreements, quiet title actions, fraudulent transfer actions, and general breach of contract cases. Mr. Kneafsey was formerly an adjunct professor of real estate law at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.

Mr. Kneafsey’s intellectual property experience includes litigating patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret matters. He is a Past President of the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association and was previously on its Board of Directors for eight years.

Mr. Kneafsey's employment experience includes litigating discrimination, wrongful termination, and wage and hour matters on behalf of both employers and employees.

Mr. Kneafsey graduated cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law where he was in the top 10% of his class. He was Managing Editor of the Santa Clara Law Review, member of the Moot Court Board, received several academic scholarships, and published the comment: The Fourth Amendment Rights Of Probationers: What Remains After Waiving Their Right To Be Free From Unreasonable Searches And Seizures?, 35 Santa Clara L. Rev. 1237 (1995).

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• $14 million judgment on behalf of real estate investment fund in action for breach of a costs sharing agreement in a $300 million high rise condominium development.

• $5 million settlement in patent infringement matter.

• $3.56 million judgment in patent infringement matter, including enhanced damages and attorneys' fees based on willful patent infringement.

• $1.1 million judgment for breach of contract and alter ego liability.

• $850,000 judgment, including punitive damages, for fraudulent transfer act violations, as well as a permanent injunction and the appointment of a receiver. Subsequent successful prosecution of criminal contempt trial for violation of the permanent injunction resulting in the incarceration of the judgment debtors.

• $830,000 judgment for breach of contract and alter ego liability.

• $430,000 judgment, including punitive damages, in a hotly contested partnership dispute that included successfully defending a $1.1 million counter claim.

• $258,000 judgment for violations of the California Labor Code.

• $253,000 judgment and 20 year injunction for trade secret misappropriation.

• Millions of dollars in judgments and settlements in employment matters.

• Successful prosecution of multiple lease disputes, unlawful detainers, and related personal guaranties on behalf of commercial landlords.

• Successful representation of insurance policyholders as cumis counsel in property damage, tort liability, and false advertising cases, as well as successful prosecution of insurance coverage matters.

• Permanent injunction for patent infringement on behalf of Nike corporation.

• Permanent injunction for copyright infringement on behalf of jewelry manufacturer and designer.

• Temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction for trade secret misappropriation of a customer list.

• Summary Judgment in RICO action with over $30,000 in sanctions awarded against the plaintiff and its counsel.

• Successful defense of multiple fraud and unfair competition claims.

• Successful representation of business in a FINRA arbitration involving a complicated hedging transaction used in the sale of the business to a publicly traded company.

• Successful defense of unfair competition and trade secret action against one of the world’s largest independent distributor of inductive components.

HONORS:

• Southern California Super Lawyer 2014, 2015, 2016

• Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• All Federal and State Courts in California.

• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

• Pro hac vice to the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Texas, and District of Minnesota.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

• Past President, Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association

• Executive Committee, Los Angeles County Bar Association Litigation Section

• Past President, Irish American Bar Association

• Association of Business Trial Lawyers

• Association of Trial Lawyers of America

• American Intellectual Property Law Association

• Federal Circuit Bar Association

• Past Member, Board of Directors, Santa Clara School of Law Alumni Association

• Advisory Board Member, Marycrest Manor

• Board Member, Santa Monica Rugby Club

• Volunteer Attorney, Kids In Need of Defense ("KIND")

• Volunteer Attorney, Central District of California Pro Bono Panel

Kurt A. Dreibholz is senior counsel with The Kneafsey Firm. Mr. Dreibholz's experience includes business, copyright, employment and real estate litigation in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. He divides his time equally between state and federal court, and between prosecuting and defending claims.

He has prosecuted and defended claims involving the Uniform Commercial Code, the Copyright Act, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the Unfair Competition Law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, misappropriation of trade secret, fraud, breach of contract, intentional interference with contractual relations, breach of fiduciary duty, alter ego, and false advertising. He represented clients in other disputes involving real estate transactions, commercial leases, unlawful detainer and the dissolution and winding up of small companies.

While working at Clyde & Co. LLP, Mr. Dreibholz represented international air carriers, motor carriers, shippers and leasing companies in cases involving mass air disasters, leasing and financing, lessor and lender liability and the application of the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions, the Death on the High Seas Act, the Hague Convention and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Mr. Dreibholz was previously associated with the internationally- and nationally-recognized law firms of Clyde & Co. LLP and Morris Polich & Purdy LLP (now Clark Hill PLC).

Mr. Dreibholz graduated from Boston College, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, and Albany Law School of Union University.

HONORS:

• Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star 2009, 2010 and 2011.

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• California State Courts

• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

• United States District Court for the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

• American Bar Association, Real Estate, Business Law and Litigation Sections

• Association of Business Trial Lawyers

• Santa Monica Bar Association

• Century City Bar Association

• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Business and Corporate Law Section

NOTABLE CASES:

• Successfully represented minority member CEO in an arbitration for breaches of employment agreement, LLC agreement and fiduciary duty.

• Represented a partner in the auction of a general partnership’s assets wherein a receiver had to be appointed.

• Pursued a limited partner’s demand for an accounting and dissolution and winding up of a limited partnership.

• Successfully represented an architectural firm in a suit brought by an owner-developer who claimed lost profits due to construction delays. Plaintiff’s claims were essentially defeated when it became clear that the lost profits were suffered by a non-party corporation created by the owner-developer sometime after the architect had performed his services.

• Brought a derivative claim and obtained a TRO and preliminary injunction against the owner of a half-interest in a corporation to prevent that owner from looting the corporation.

• Tried cases in state and federal court; arbitrated cases before JAMS.

• Drafted and argued anti-SLAPP motions, motions to dismiss based on forum non conveniens, motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, motions for determination of applicable law and motions relating to the Hague Convention (service of process and taking of evidence abroad) and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

• Worked on behalf of foreign-based entities, manufacturers and airlines.

• Enforced judgments in state and federal courts.

• Unlawful detainer on behalf of commercial landlords.

• Prosecution and defense of copyright infringement actions.

Joshua Shin is a business and employment litigation attorney. Mr. Shin received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. While at UCLA, he was a member of the Sports Law Clinic and worked under the guidance of attorneys from the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Golden State Warriors, Mr. Shin earned his undergraduate degree from UCLA where he was on the Dean’s List. Mr. Shin is fluent in Korean.