The WTJ team is happy to welcome Brodie Surfus to the practice of law as our newest attorney. After learning this week that he had passed the February 2023 California Bar Exam, his swearing-in ceremony took place on May 11, 2023, before the retired Justice James Ardaiz. We are excited to celebrate Brodie’s success and know he will continue to add value to our team, supporting our clients across a wide array of legal matters.
Congratulations, Brodie!
Recently, the State Bar of California Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC)* published concerning the ethical duties owed by an interviewing lawyer and his or her law firm to a prospective client. These duties are addressed in Rule 1.18 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct.
When a person is a prospective client within the meaning of rule 1.18(a), the interviewing lawyer owes the prospective client the same duty of confidentiality pursuant to rules 1.6 and 1.9 even though no lawyer-client relationship thereafter ensues. (Rule 1.18(a)). The lawyer may not use or disclose such information without the prospective client’s informed written consent. (Rule 1.18(b), Rule(a)). This is so even if the information would be material to the representation of an existing client of the lawyer or the lawyer’s law firm.
An interviewing lawyer who receives material confidential information from a prospective client is prohibited from accepting representation materially adverse to the prospective client in the same or a substantially related matter. This prohibition extends to members of the lawyer’s law firm as well. These prohibitions may not apply if the client has provided informed, written consent either before the interview or after. Additionally, such prohibition can be avoided as to the lawyer’s law firm if the lawyer and his or her firm complied with Rule 1.18(d) which provides:
When the lawyer has received information that prohibits representation… representation of the affected client is permissible if: (1) both the affected client and the prospective client have given informed written consent, or (2) the lawyer who received the information took reasonable measures to avoid exposure to more information than was reasonably necessary to determine whether to represent the prospective client” and a timely ethical screen is put in place by the law firm and “written notice is timely given to the prospective client.
A significant aspect of the Opinion is its discussion of the “reasonable measures” that are contemplated under Rule 1.18(d). The Opinion explains those measures are only those that are necessary to determine whether to represent a prospective client as well as whether the proposed representation was ethically proper and economically acceptable. This may include:
This opinion discusses different scenarios that may arise when a lawyer has conducted an interview with a prospective client and the law firm is not engaged by the prospective client. Each scenario illustrates the conditions that may or may not permit an ethical screen in the absence of an informed consent, governed by rule 1.18. Although this opinion is not binding, it should provide useful guidance to assure compliance with the ethical duties owed to a prospective client.
*Marshall Whitney is a former member of CORPAC. To read the full opinion click here.
Since the Summer of 2019 when Anna Barcus Allen came to WTJ from Baker, Manock and Jensen, Anna has been an essential part of the WTJ transactions team. She is extremely knowledgeable in many areas, with extensive experience counseling clients and negotiating through various matters pertaining to business, real estate, employment, agriculture, corporate governance, finance, and healthcare. Anna’s achievements were affirmed in 2018, when she was first selected for inclusion in the Northern California Rising Stars list. She has been selected every year since. There is no question that Anna is a leader in her areas of practice, someone clients trust, and an attorney WTJ is proud to call a Partner.
When Anna isn’t hard at work helping her clients, she serves as Director and Vice President of Katey’s Kids—a foundation dedicated to helping children in the community through literacy, education, and community development. She is also the Director of Exceptional Parents Unlimited—an organization created to provide services for the parents of children with special needs. She has also served as President of Fresno County Young Lawyers’ Association. In her free time, Anna enjoys traveling, wine tasting, relaxing on the Kings River with her husband and spending time with their dogs.
We are excited to announce Anna as a Partner at WTJ, and we look forward to many more years of her dedicated service to our clients. Congratulations, Anna!
After a long and prestigious career, Presiding Justice James A. Ardaiz is retiring from the active practice of law and from WTJ, the firm where he spent his final years as a highly successful litigator, mediator and arbitrator. Prior to returning to the courtroom as a litigator, he retired from a longstanding career in public service as Chief Deputy District Attorney in charge of Homicide prosecution in the District Attorney’s Office, a trial judge and ultimately as Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal where he served as one of only six Administrative Presiding Justices governing the state appellate courts. During his tenure as an appellate jurist, he helped craft several monumental, impactful and highly regarded decisions. Mr. Ardaiz returned to private practice with a zeal and intellectual tenacity that thrust him into the upper ranks of trial attorneys who handle significant, complex cases, achieving several of the largest verdicts in the Central Valley of California. WTJ was extremely fortunate and honored to have had such an experienced, distinguished attorney as part of the team.
During his decorated, 30-year career as a judge, Justice Ardaiz served at every level of the state judiciary, including as Pro Tempore Justice of the Supreme Court on multiple occasions. Early on in his career, he was one of the youngest lawyers in the State of California to achieve the designation of Chief Deputy District Attorney in charge of homicide cases. Elected to the Municipal Court in 1980 at the age of 32, he served as a trial judge with two terms as Presiding Judge. In 1985, he was appointed by Governor Deukmejian as a Superior Court Judge, where he served as a general trial judge with one term as Criminal Presiding Judge. Then, in 1989, he was nominated by Gov. Deukmejian to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. In 1994, by the nomination of Gov. Pete Wilson, he became Administrative Presiding Justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeal. During his tenure, he authored more than 2,000 appellate opinions and participated in over 6,000 cases. Justice Ardaiz served on the California Judicial Council, including a term as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Council replacing Ronald George upon his appointment as Chief Justice. He was selected as California Jurist of the Year for his successful negotiation with over 120 unions of legislation to create a new personnel system for the trial court employees of California which Chief Justice George proclaimed as “a monumental achievement” necessary to securing a system of trial court funding for the 58 counties of the State judicial system.
Justice Ardaiz retired from the judiciary in 2010 and re-entered private practice as an arbitrator/mediator, ultimately acting in the role of general counsel to a major California-based developer and farmer, in addition to continuing to build his dispute resolution practice. In 2015, he advised on a matter for that client on an appeal from a $78 million verdict. The appeal on which he advised resulted in a complete reversal for the client. He acted as co-counsel of Sweetwater Unified School District v Gilbane before the California Supreme Court resulting in successful resolution on behalf of his client, Sweetwater and as consultant on Bolger v Amazon resulting in application of product liability against Amazon. In 2016, he reentered the courtroom as a trial lawyer and, with his co-counsel, obtained a $25 million bad faith title insurance judgment (Top 100 Verdicts in America, 2016). In 2017, he went on to litigate an eminent domain matter for a client wherein he obtained a settlement with the State of California resulting in an aggregate award worth $59 million, including a $40 million monetary settlement and $19 million valued property resolution. In short, his “retirement” from the bench led to an extremely successful civil practice wherein he participated successfully in litigating several high dollar matters for some prestigious California clients.
Justice Ardaiz went on to join WTJ in 2019, bringing decades of experience in a variety of areas including business, personal injury, governmental policy, dispute resolution and land/water use matters. In 2021, he book-ended his career by co-trying two major cases to verdict successfully alongside WTJ Partner Marshall Whitney and another of his former law partners. His final trial resulted in a jury verdict of $88,800,000.
Over the years, Justice Ardaiz also dedicated his time to education, serving as a frequent instructor at the California State Judicial College at Berkeley, CA, teaching judges on the subjects of trial practice, judicial decision making, evidence, and administration. He also served as a lecturer at the national level in judicial administration and evidence, as well as acted as a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation with respect to DNA evidence. In addition to his judicial and legal accomplishments, Justice Ardaiz found time over the years to become a published author in the field of law, non-fiction, and fiction, authoring one work of non-fiction, and three works of fiction as well as co-authoring a text on California evidence. He has also drafted numerous articles on legal policy and legal humor, acted as a frequent speaker on judicial policy, and in his remaining free time paints for leisure and spends time with his adult children and grandchildren.
As Justice Ardaiz steps away from WTJ, he is excited to spend more time with his family, his wife of 51 years, Pamella , his three children and five grandchildren. On top of all of his accomplishments and recognitions, he is also a trained oil and watercolor artist who creates portraits and still-life artwork in his free time. He is looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time on his art and continue writing. WTJ is honored to recognize Justice Ardaiz for his incredible career and wish him the very best in his retirement.
The WTJ team stepped out of the office on Friday, December 3, 2021, to celebrate our own Jessica Thomason. She passed the California Bar Exam and was sworn in by retired Justice Stephen J. Kane in front of her friends, family, and colleagues. Jessica’s passion and dedication to our clients make her an integral part of our team of attorneys. We look forward to her continued success with our firm. Congratulations, Jessica!
WTJ was proud to welcome two hardworking Central Valley natives, Brodie Surfus and Jaskarn Chahal, as Summer Associates between May and August of 2021. We are even more excited to announce that both accepted full-time post-bar offers at the end of their summer tenure.
Brodie grew up in Visalia, and has been attending UCLA School of Law. He is on track to graduate in the spring of 2022, and will then take the California Bar Exam.
Originally from Fresno, Jaskarn (“JC”) Chahal is currently attending Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. He is currently finishing up his law classes as he prepares to take the California Bar Exam after graduating in the spring of 2022.
Both Brodie and Jaskarn plan to practice business litigation and will re-join the WTJ team after completion of the summer 2022 bar. We are thrilled to welcome Brodie and Jaskarn permanently to WTJ in 2022!
Since its inception, WTJ has strategically grown to enhance its team and allow it to provide additional services to its clients. WTJ is excited to announce that it is moving to a new location that will enhance its commitment to a collaborative approach to serving its clients that results in excellence. WTJ looks forward to serving its clients in its new home.
Please note the below changes to California minimum wage and overtime requirements coming into effect in 2021. As always, the WTJ team is available for any and all employment questions as you prepare to enter a new (and hopefully better) year.
*The overtime limit for small ag employers (25 or fewer employees) remains at 10 hours in a work day and 60 hours in a work week for 2021. However, effective January 1, 2022, small ag employers will be required to pay overtime for work days exceeding 9.5 hours or work weeks exceeding 55 hours.
From its inception, Whitney, Thompson & Jeffcoach has been a women-owned firm. Fresno business litigation attorneys Mandy Jeffcoach, Niki Cunningham, Marshall Whitney, and Tim Thompson joined together in 2018 with the intention of building a firm dedicated to serving clients with the highest quality of legal representation, while still maintaining a culture that encourages teamwork and a healthy work-life balance.
Two years later, the WTJ team has added a new owner, Carl Refuerzo, and grown from four to 15 attorneys who share the same core values from the start: teamwork, excellence, collaboration, integrity, and dedication. Being a majority-woman-owned business and emphasizing balance and flexibility has remained a priority for the leadership at WTJ, particularly as the community encounters and overcomes unprecedented challenges.
The women at WTJ continue to excel in 2020, despite unusual circumstances and unforeseen challenges. Mandy Jeffcoach was named on the list of 2020 Top 50 Women Super Lawyers, and Niki Cunningham was selected as a 2020 Rising Star. Partners Courtney McKeever and Kristi Marshall were also included on the 2020 Rising Stars list. WTJ’s emphasis on collaboration has created an environment of excellence, and the female leaders at the firm consistently uphold this standard.
One of the biggest challenges females face is balance—particularly now, as we adjust to online schooling and the many other demands of our “new normal.” Females are generally expected to succeed in all things—family, business, friends, community involvement—the list goes on. However, we cannot be everywhere at once. It is necessary now, more than ever before, to find balance and accept that you may not be able to go to every school function or community event (when they resume again) or take every case presented to you. I will admit that as a leader, as an attorney, and as a mom, this has been a very real, personal struggle for me.
Fortunately, my partners and I have always agreed that finding a balance and making family a priority is key to long-term success. When we started WTJ, we made sure to set up our system so that people can work remotely. We also focused on making sure people knew that “one size does not fit all”—our team may need to work different schedules, have unique arrangements, or step away unexpectedly, and we strive to accommodate them and help them succeed.
My partners at WTJ continue to be my most significant professional influence. I have been blessed to work with many of my partners for my entire career. They taught me not only how to be a lawyer, but also how to be a leader. They were always there to answer any question I may have, introduce me to clients and members of the community at events, celebrate my victories, and “brainstorm” my failures so we could make sure they did not happen again. They also showed me the importance of teamwork and how, without a team, you will inevitably fail. Law is organic and always changing, and without a team to work with and bounce ideas off of, I believe there is no growth. That is why our company focuses so much on teamwork—every single member of our team is critical to our clients’ success.
Leadership is likely going to look different in the years to come, as we are asked to adapt to new challenges and solve unique problems. It is going to require flexibility and a willingness to approach things in different ways. The nation is currently in crisis, and it will require leaders who are flexible and willing to see both sides of every issue for things to improve. A true leader understands that there is no right or wrong answer—the best response is usually somewhere in the middle.
I hope that the push for transparency in business will influence people to realize that open communication is crucial. Most issues can be resolved if people just sit down, recognize all sides, and make a decision together. As Albert Einstein said, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” Leadership, particularly as we embark on this journey in our “new reality,” will undoubtedly require a fundamental change in how we address issues and resolve them. I am grateful for my fellow leaders at WTJ, who never shy away from change. When you have a great team, anything is possible.
As a business owner, attorney, and mother, I have learned so much about leadership, and yet I still learn new things every day. I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to grow and become an even better leader for my partners at WTJ, our clients, and my family. Leadership is hard work, and you will stumble and make mistakes—but that is part of the process. Some of my greatest learning moments have been in my failures. The lessons I carry with me help me every day, and I hope they can help other aspiring leaders, as well.
Surround yourself with good people, and never be afraid to push the envelope. In my experience, taking the easy road is not always the best road. Without good people in your everyday environment, whether that is coworkers, clients, friends, or family, you will not succeed. If there are things that you want to change, push the envelope and see if you can change them. If you realize that things cannot change, do not be afraid to say, “This is not working for me,” and move on. Change can be terrifying, but without it, growth is impossible.
All leaders have different traits and experiences they bring to the table, but three characteristics resonate for me: listen, be patient and treat people the way you want to be treated.
Listen. One of my favorite quotes is, “Listen to understand, not to respond.” With our fast-paced society, many people simply want to get a response out and fail to listen to what the issue really is. A good leader is able to listen and understand, then respond. Something that may seem trivial to you may mean a lot to someone else, and effective listening ensures that people who are important to you always feel heard and understood.
Be patient. Being a leader requires you to slow down and see the bigger picture. A quick reaction can be disastrous if it is solely driven by emotion. Part of being a leader is stepping back and looking at the issue from all angles, reflecting on the potential consequences, and then making a decision. Patience is also part of the mentoring process, as someone new to the industry is not going to have the institutional knowledge others may have. If you do not take the time to teach them what they need to know, they will never succeed.
Treat people the way you want to be treated. I learned this lesson as a child and it has carried with me throughout life. You are bound to encounter people in life that may make decisions that you disagree with, for a variety of reasons. However, that does not necessarily make the decision wrong. Even if the decision was wrong, having empathy for that person and making it known that mistakes are okay will go a lot further than making someone feel bad. (Remember, leaders make mistakes, too!) Above all, it is critical to treat people with respect, listen to them, and recognize that different opinions make our community great.
