Admitted:
1984, California and U.S. District Court, Central District of California

Education:
Tulane University; State University of New York at Binghamton
BA - Political Science/History with Honors
1980

Pepperdine University School of Law
Juris Doctorate
1983

Professional Associations:
Los Angeles County Bar Association; State Bar of California; Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, American Bar Association (Litigation Section), American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)

Practice Areas:
Insurance Defense, Catastrophic Injury, Premises Liability, Motor Vehicle Negligence, Medical Negligence, Legal Malpractice, Employment Litigation, Business Litigation, Lemon Law.

Biography:
Terri L. Masserman has substantial civil litigation experience in both the Superior Court for the State of California and the United States District Court. Terri Masserman graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. Ms. Masserman graduated from Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles in December 1989. During law school she was a member of the Moot Court Board of Governors and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Book Award for excellence in Constitutional Criminal Procedure. She was admitted to practice law in the State of California in 1990 and to the United States District Court in 1991.

Education:
University of California Los Angeles
BA – Political Science
1985

Southwestern University School of Law
Juris Doctorate
December 1989

Professional Associations
State Bar of California (Litigation Section)
Los Angeles County Bar Association
San Fernando Valley Bar Association
Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
Bruin Professional

Practice Areas:
Business, contract and general civil litigation; transactional

Biography:
As a partner with the firm, Mitchell F. Ducey has substantial experience in all aspects of business and civil litigation. Mr. Ducey also has considerable experience in insurance coverage law, environmental and maritime law, and state and federal appellate law. He provides a wide range of legal services to assist his clients’ businesses to run more efficiently. Mr. Ducey is admitted to practice in all state, federal and appellate courts in California and has been admitted pro hac vice in large litigations in Missouri and Oklahoma.

Mr. Ducey has achieved successful outcomes for corporate and individual clients. He second-chaired a binding arbitration resulting in a defense verdict for his client, an insurance carrier, in a $65 million lawsuit brought by a large airline manufacturer. He has successfully obtained dismissals of a number of lawsuits based on contractual defenses, and has negotiated favorable outcomes in dozens of business, lease and personal injury disputes.

Mr. Ducey continues to achieve excellent results both prosecuting and defending business, insurance and other disputes for a wide array of clients. He consistently looks for creative solutions to his clients’ matters. As an example, in 2008 Mr. Ducey negotiated with an insurance carrier for the payment of over $1 million for the defense and settlement of four large lawsuits brought against his client when the insurer had been denying coverage, and at the same time assisted his client in procuring a new insurance carrier to better serve the client’s growing business operations.

Bar Admissions:
California, 1991
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1991
U.S. District Courts for the Central, Northern, Southern and Eastern Districts of California, 1991-1993

Education
University of North Carolina, B.A. in History summa cum laude, 1977
University of North Carolina, M.A. in History, 1979
University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1989

Professional Associations and Memberships
State Bar of California (Litigation Section member)
Los Angeles County Bar Association

Publications/ Published Opinions
Published articles:
North Carolina Law Review on lost profit damages in business disputes and on school desegregation (1986)
University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal on comparative fault in recreational boating law (1992)

Published decisions:
Bolkiah v. Superior Court, 74 Cal. App. 4th 984, 88 Cal. Rptr. 2d 540 (1999)
Kelso Enterprises, Ltd. v. M/V WISIDA FROST, 8 F. Supp. 2d 1197 (1998)
Slaven v. American Trading Transportation Co., 146 F.3d 1066 (1998)
Yang Ming Transportation Corp. v. Oceanbridge Shipping Int’l, Inc., 48 F. Supp. 2d 1049 (1999)

Law School Highlights
Editor-in-Chief, North Carolina Law Review
Director, North Carolina Pro Bono Program