Jennifer Keller, a trial lawyer at Keller/Anderle LLP, was ranked the No. 1 attorney in Southern California by Southern California Super Lawyers, the Irvine firm announced last week.
Keller, with a focus on business litigation, intellectual property and white-collar criminal defense, has now been ranked No. 1 for two consecutive years.
Known as “one of America’s most successful trial attorneys,” she represents plaintiffs and defendants in a “broad range of high-stakes commercial litigation and white-collar cases,” the firm noted last week.
Not all her cases are ultra-high stakes, even if they involve the ultra-wealthy. Keller and partner Chase Scolnick represented Mark Towfiq in the software exec’s well-publicized dispute late last year with Pimco co-founder and neighbor Bill Gross.
The year-end resolution of the case, heard by Superior Court Judge Kimberly Knill and involving noise and privacy issues in Laguna Beach’s exclusive Rockledge Beach area, was seen by legal watchers as a resounding victory for Towfiq.
Keller said Gross’ attempts at settling the dispute during the court case was a sign that the Bond King was “losing the trial badly.”
Gross took Knill’s ruling, which included a restraining order, in stride.
The “infamous Gilligan’s Island trial ended the day before Christmas Eve with a resounding order for me not to play music louder than 60 decibels, whereas pre-trial, Laguna Beach noise ordinances decreed residents couldn’t play outdoor music louder than…60 decibels,” he quipped in an investment letter earlier this month.
His thoughts on 2021’s economy? “Growth stocks, SPACs, and the Teslas of 2020 may struggle to please day trading Robinhoods,” he wrote.
Brea Olinda High School’s 2003 Athlete of the Year, Evan Moore, a former tight end in the NFL, has scored another apartment complex via his Stratt-ford Capital investment firm. See page 10 for more on the Tustin deal.
Another North County athlete, Yorba Linda native Matthew Hoppe, is still scoring on the soccer pitch— in Germany.
The 19-year-old Schalke 04 striker tallied a trio of goals for his club in one match earlier this month; he’s the first American to score a hat-trick in the famed Bundesliga.
He followed that up with goals in his next two matches over the past week. Hoppe is reported to be the first American with a goal in three straight Bundesliga matches in 17 years.
Soccer has been a recent focus for Newport Beach’s Jeff Moorad, whose MSP Sports Capital has bought clubs in Spain and Portugal since its 2019 founding.
Moorad—the former sports agent at Steinberg & Moorad who previously served as general partner and chief executive of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and was also CEO of the San Diego Padres—also has a love for racing and was previously an owner of a NASCAR team.
Moorad, who is also a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, is back in the driver’s seat as his MSP bought a “significant minority stake” in the McLaren Racing team near the end of 2020. The reported $250 million investment by MSP values the Formula 1 team, where Moorad has a director’s spot, at nearly $800 million.
