Our firm was founded over 35 years ago with a foundational commitment to delivering exceptional legal services through a blend of experience, resources, and diverse perspectives. We have grown significantly over the years, expanding to over 70 attorneys while maintaining a steadfast focus on providing individualized attention for each of our clients.
At Walsworth, we bring extensive experience to a wide range of transactional, pre-litigation, and litigation matters in order to effectively meet our clients’ objectives. We proudly offer expert advice and strategic counseling in both complex and more simplified matters and also litigate a vast range of matters in both state and federal courts. Our full complement of services also includes significant trial work and briefing and arguing appeals before prestigious courts, including the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals.
With offices in major counties and lawyers positioned throughout California, we are strategically poised to handle our clients’ legal needs throughout the state. Additionally, we regularly serve clients with legal matters in Washington and have the capacity to manage legal affairs in other states as well.
In addition to our refined legal acumen and ability to serve clients across a wide region, our firm is distinguished by our genuine dedication to diversity and inclusion. Our dedication is exemplified by our status as one of the largest California-based, certified “Women Business Enterprise” law firms. It is further demonstrated by our membership, also as the largest California-based firm, in the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms and by our Mansfield Certification Plus status.
Values & Mission
Core Values
At Walsworth, honesty and integrity anchor our practice. These values guide every aspect of how we conduct business, represent our clients, and engage with everyone with whom we interact. We are deeply committed to upholding these principles in all our professional endeavors.
Mission Statement
We are dedicated to celebrating the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our team, recognizing that our differences only enhance our personal and professional relationships. Our inclusive environment not only supports one another, but also provides a competitive edge for our valued clients.
We strive to provide a forward-thinking, diverse, and inclusive firm, both within the legal profession and our community at large by embracing and normalizing the differences which make each of us unique, and ensuring a space for all at our firm. We are committed to leveraging our diversity to develop bold and innovative solutions to the challenges of our world – now and into the future.
From Our Managing Partner
Welcome to Walsworth.
As I look forward to my 30th year with the firm, there is a single word that best describes how I feel about my time here: grateful.
I think about how much we have grown – not just in size and scope, but as a community focused on excellence in service to our clients, and as colleagues, equally dedicated to supporting each other. Outstanding legal advice and representation are at the forefront of what we do. The core of who we are, however, goes much deeper. We take pride in building meaningful relationships grounded in trust, respect and a deep commitment to our clients and team members.
I am so fortunate to have been chosen to help lead this exceptional team and am excited for the future we continue to build together, with the support of our loyal clients.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.
Sincerely,
Dee Cohen Katz
Managing Partner
Walsworth Cares
We have a continuing commitment to the communities in which we work and live and support each member of the firm in helping to fulfill that commitment.
By way of our pro bono legal work, our attorneys and staff play an active role in promoting the progress and well-being of these communities. We encourage pro bono legal work as one of many pillars of value here at Walsworth so that our attorneys and staff know that their contributions not only ensure access to justice but also are recognized and celebrated as contributions to our firm at large.
Our Pro Bono Committee works closely with pro bono law firms and providers of pro bono legal services, including Orange County’s Public Law Center, Los Angeles’ Public Counsel, and San Francisco’s Bay Area Legal Aid, to make pro bono opportunities available to our attorneys and staff. Our attorneys and staff are also proactive when it comes to identifying causes and cases to which to devote their valuable time, contributing to organizations such as Kids In Need of Defense and Immigration Justice Campaign, to name a couple. We recognize that this investment in our communities is returned tenfold in the positive impact it has on our culture and well-being as a firm.
In addition to our longstanding commitment to pro bono legal work, the following are some of the local community, outreach organizations, and programs in which our attorneys and staff are involved.
Public Counsel’s Leadership Council: In furtherance of our partnership with Public Counsel, Partners Soniya Khemlani and Sadaf Nejat serve as members of Public Counsel’s Leadership Council. Public Counsel is the nation’s largest not-for-profit law firm specializing in delivering pro bono legal services to disadvantaged children, immigrants who have been victims of crimes, and indigent individuals and institutions in underserved communities. In partnership with Public Counsel and as members of the Leadership Council, Khemlani and Nejat organize and implement events and initiatives for fundraising, including Team Walsworth’s participation in the annual Run for Justice, the recruitment of new members, and promoting the professional development of other members.
Food From the Bar: Each year, our Pro Bono Committee facilitates our participation in Orange County and San Franciscos’s respective Food From The Bar campaigns. Law firms and legal services providers donate food and funds as well as their time volunteering for local partner food banks in exchange for points in a friendly competition aimed at resolving the hunger crises in these communities.
The Education Foundation for California Schools: Founder Jeff Walsworth and Partner Cindy Hughes are avid supporters of the Education Foundation for California Schools which provides grants to fund innovative programs designed to encourage students to excel. Hughes advised and prepared the legal paperwork for SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union and the Orange County Department of Education (OCDOE) to jointly create the foundation. Each year we help sponsor the foundation’s golf tournament and participate in other fundraisers like their casino nights.
Waggin Trails Rescue Foundation: Passion for rescuing animals extends beyond lip service for partners Ingrid Campagne and Chuck Sheldon. In 2011, they created a 501(c)3 nonprofit — Waggin’ Trails Rescue Foundation (WTRF) — which rescues and locally re-homes or transports dogs and cats (and sometimes horses, rabbits and goats) that have been abandoned or abused or are scheduled for death because of lack of space in California shelters.
The Foundation focuses on a robust adoption transport program, local adoption program and, community education regarding animal care, kindness to animals and the importance of spay/neuter. It assists community members with animal care resources and pet medical needs to change the dynamic of animals being surrendered to the shelter for lack of resources to a community-based care model where animals can stay in their homes with assistance. WTRF partners with other local, state-wide and out-of-state rescues on the above efforts and works with the community on safe shelter and resources during disaster events.
Juvenile Diabetes Research: For over 30 years, general counsel Ron Bevins hosted the Annual Seagull Golf Tournament to raise money to fund Juvenile Diabetes research. We rallied behind the cause, volunteering our time, donating auction items and funds, and of course attending the tournament and dinner that followed.
Servite High School and Rosary Academy: Ron Bevins has previously served on the Servite High School Board of Regents, and on the Rosary Academy Consultative School Board, and Athletic Advisory Board, contributing his time and efforts to support those two highly respected college preparatory High Schools.
Awards & Recognition
Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
Our firm is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). We are proud to have one of the largest California attorney presences of certified WBE law firms in the United States.
The national standard of certification provided by the WBENC is a meticulous process, including an in-depth review of the business and a site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm that the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women.
By including women-owned businesses among their vendors, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier/vendor diversity programs. Historically, corporations developed these programs to meet the requirements of one of their customers, the federal government, which requires companies that the government does business with to procure five percent of their goods and services from women-owned businesses and 5 percent from minority-owned businesses.
As one of the largest WBE law firms in the country, we are in a unique position to handle both volume and a wide variety of litigation and transactional matters.
Midsize Mansfield Certification
We are proud to have achieved Mansfield Plus certification in 2023, following an 18-month certification process that began in 2021. This certification, launched for midsize firms in 2020, demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that at least 30% of leadership roles and pipeline activities are held by diverse lawyers, including women, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those with disabilities.
The certification process includes frequent firm-specific check-ins, data collection, participation in knowledge sharing, and increased transparency. These elements, as part of the Mansfield Rule, drive collective progress in diversifying law firm leadership, marking a significant step forward in the legal industry’s efforts towards greater inclusion.
Diverse Supplier for the California Public Utilities Commission
We are certified by the Supplier’s Clearinghouse as a part of the Utility Supplier Diversity program for the California Public Utilities Commission. This program monitors supplier diversity and maintains an accurate database of firms that are accessible to utility providers.
The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)
We are proud to have among us distinguished trial attorneys who are members of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an invitation-only organization composed of leading attorneys and judges from across the U.S. ABOTA-member attorneys must have tried at least 10 civil jury trials to a jury verdict or hung jury as lead counsel. Members must also demonstrate the virtues of civility, integrity, and professionalism as outlined in ABOTA’s Code of Professionalism and Principles of Civility.
There are currently more than 7,000 ABOTA members across 95 chapters in all 50 states, and the District of Columbia.
ABOTA’s mission is to enhance the ethical and technical standards of advocacy, ensuring that litigants receive the highest quality representation. Our members bring a wealth of experience and a commitment to these standards, reflecting our dedication to effective and principled legal practice.
Martindale-Hubble Preeminent Attorney Rating
The AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell is the highest peer review rating available.
This esteemed rating is awarded to attorneys who demonstrate exceptional levels of professional excellence across several key areas. Martindale-Hubbell’s rigorous peer review process involves evaluations from fellow attorneys and judges, who assess candidates based on their professional ability and ethical standards. Given the AV Preeminent rating is a prestigious acknowledgment of an attorney’s dedication to excellence and is a testament to their esteemed reputation in the legal field, we stand tall knowing we have attorneys within our firm who have accomplished the rating.
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