GRANT A. CARLSON
Senior Litigation Partner

Born on November 6, 1964, Grant is a native of Southern California, raised in Manhattan Beach. He received degrees in Political Science and Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988. In 1991, he earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School. He finished in the top 10 of Loyola's Scott Moot Court competition in 1990, and served on the Scott Moot Court Honors Board as an associate justice in 1990-1991.

Upon graduation from law school, Grant joined the law firm of Gelfand & Glaser, LLP, in Westwood, California. He served as an associate from 1991 through 1997, then became a partner. His areas of practice included both litigation, as well as business and real estate transactions and estate planning. While at Gelfand & Glaser, Grant litigated and tried numerous civil cases, both as lead counsel and second chair.

In 2000, Grant joined our firm as Senior Litigation Associate. In September, 2005, Grant became a Partner in our firm and succeeded to his Senior Litigation Partner status in early 2006. He has litigated a wide variety of business, employment and real estate matters with a superb record of success. Grant's experience includes numerous jury trials, court trials and binding arbitrations. Grant is admitted to practice before all courts in California, including the State's Superior Courts and the United States District Court, Central District, as well as the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court.

In addition to his commitment to the legal profession, Grant has a keen interest in civic affairs and, in particular, a deep devotion to the South Bay community, where he recently served as a planning commissioner for the City of El Segundo.

As an example of Grant's many professional accomplishments, in a recent lawsuit on behalf of one of our business clients, Grant demonstrated one of his foremost talents--a unique ability to position adversary proceedings for favorable settlement at the mediation level. While most attorneys agree that mediation and early settlement is desirable, Grant works tirelessly to assemble evidence and employ experts from the outset, and then actively engages opposing counsel to open lines of communication with an eye toward demonstrating to the opponent the weakness of its case and the corresponding need to compromise on terms favorable to our clients.

In the above-described case, before the lawsuit proceeded too far beyond the complaint stage, Grant was able to form a highly cooperative relationship with opposing counsel, including the voluntary exchange of documents and accountings. This process, which included multiple conferences (some of which were attended or participated in by expert witnesses for both parties), ultimately helped to narrow the issues so significantly that mediation became a natural forum to resolve any remaining controversy. While the settlement amount paid by the opposing party was far beyond what they expected at the outset of the case, the formation of a cooperative relationship and open communication on the merits of the case resulted in the opponent changing its position from demanding several million dollars to paying several million dollars to settle the lawsuit.

E-Mail: gcarlson@go4law.com

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