Best Lawyers in San Clemente, California

Whitney Z. Bernstein is an aggressive litigator and accomplished trial attorney with a track record for achieving success for her clients when the odds are against them. She has spent her career successfully defending felony and misdemeanor criminal offenses, leading companies in internal investigations to prevent litigation, and representing companies and individuals in contract and business tort claims and employment litigation. Whitney is a credible, tireless, and respected advocate who ha...

Thomas “Tom” H. Bienert, Jr. is a highly experienced trial attorney who handles the spectrum of litigation matters. After spending ten years as a federal prosecutor and two years at a national law firm, Tom founded Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP (BKLW) in 2000 and steadily grew the firm to its current size through the addition of other trial attorneys. Since starting the firm, he has obtained many multi-million dollar verdicts for plaintiffs in civil cases, multiple zero-su...

Jesse Gessin is trial counsel for businesses and individuals. He is the rare attorney who successfully tries both civil and criminal cases. For example, his multimillion-dollar jury verdict was recognized as the highest California verdict in several categories for that year. He entered the case only a few months before trial. In 2022, hired less than ten days before trial, Jesse achieved a complete defense verdict for a successor trustee against multimillion-dollar claims of wrongful investme...

John represents individuals and businesses in high-stakes disputes. A specialist in white collar defense and investigations, John has handled all types of fraud cases (including wire fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, mail fraud, health care fraud and securities fraud) as well as corruption and bribery, violations of international trade and export laws, anti-kickback statutes and other regulatory offenses. He advises clients under government scrutiny in highly regulated industries, including healt...

Jim Riddet has over 50 years of experience in defending criminal cases in state and federal court, and has tried nearly 100 cases to jury. For the past 35 years, the emphasis of his practice has been defending individuals charged in Federal Court. Over the years, he has represented individuals who are either charged with federal offenses or are under investigation by a federal agency such as the FBI, SEC, DEA, IRS, and the United States Secret Service. Jim deals repeatedly with members of the...