Leading California Law Firm Names Three New Partners
01 | 05 | 2010
New Partners
Luce Forward today announced it has elected three of the firm’s attorneys, Todd Kinnear, Micah Parzen, and Tony Toranto, as partners, effective January 1, 2010.
“Each attorney selected for the Partnership embodies the characteristics we value most at Luce Forward,” said Kurt L. Kicklighter, Luce Forward’s managing partner. “They are dedicated towards providing the best quality service for our clients and are clearly talented, consistently achieving professional success. We welcome and embrace them in their new role as firm partners.”
Kinnear is a member of the firm’s Business / Complex Litigation practice group. He focuses primarily on defending unfair competition claims, consumer class actions, business disputes, and related actions. Kinnear, who has participated in all aspects of pretrial litigation, arbitration, and appeals, in both federal and state courts, also has significant experience representing counties and law enforcement officials in federal civil rights litigation. Kinnear earned his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego in 2000 and a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University in 1996.
Parzen, a member of Luce Forward’s Labor & Employment practice group, provides counsel to clients regarding all aspects of the employment relationship. He also handles employment-related lawsuits and administrative complaints against employers. His particular areas of expertise include wage & hour issues, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Parzen's client list includes entities from a wide range of industries, including banking institutions, hotels/restaurants, home health care agencies, skilled nursing facilities, property management companies, and non-profit organizations, among others. He frequently speaks on a variety of issues related to employment law and regularly provides trainings on how to prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Since 2006, Parzen has taught a course on employment law at San Diego State University's College of Extended Studies. He earned his law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002, a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University in 2000, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. Parzen was named a "40 under 40" by San Diego Metropolitan Magazine in 2007.
Toranto, who practices in the firm’s Real Estate Transactions practice group, also handles a wide range of finance and business transactions and co-chairs the firm's clean technology practice. He counsels clients on the acquisition, disposition, development, financing and leasing of real property. In addition, he advises clients across a wide range of complex transactional issues, including assisting borrowers, lenders, and guarantors on loan issues totaling billions of dollars. Toranto also serves as outside general counsel for a variety of companies and advises renewable energy companies on the particular needs of the clean technology sector. He earned both his Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Stanford in 2004, and also his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Stanford in 1994.