Litigation
Jun. 15, 2002
Challenging Mission
Top 30 Women Litigators - Carla Feldman - Carla Feldman started her career as a litigator with a mission to change the system after her little brother and eight others were killed in 1979 by a drunken driver who never served any time in jail.
Carla Feldman
Carla Feldman started her career as a litigator with a mission to change the system after her little brother and eight others were killed in 1979 by a drunken driver who never served any time in jail.
"When I went about trying to change the world, it ended up I was defending people who had urinated on statues, for instance," Feldman says.
Feldman, a partner at Los Angeles' Loeb & Loeb, refused to give up. The 43-year-old employment defender tried her first jury trial as a second-year lawyer and has gone on to try more than 65 cases. She represents retailers, accountants and financial institutions in a variety of business disputes.
"She's everything that you want in a litigator," Judge Diane Wayne says. "She's intelligent, prepared, a problem solver and gets along with people."
Feldman enjoys working in areas where the law is in flux.
"I'm always challenged by changes in the law," Feldman said.
Feldman, it seems, is up to the challenge. She successfully defended Lion's Gate when the Citizens for Truth in Movie Advertising sued it and nine other movie studios. The group claimed that the reviews featured by studios in advertisements are a result of the studios' wining and dining the reporters at press junkets. On Jan. 24, 2002, the Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed the case. Rector v. Sony Corp. of America, BC253397 (L.A. Super Ct., filed June 29, 2001).
"Class actions are a huge risk California businesses are facing," Feldman says.
Feldman also uses her extensive trial experience to counsel her clients: She advises them on policies and procedures to avoid such class actions.
Feldman believes she probably has more trial experience than any woman in the city except Patricia Glaser of Los Angeles' Christensen Miller Fink Jacobs Glaser Weil & Shapiro.
Wayne agrees, "She and Patty Glaser are in a class by themselves."
Stefanie Knapp
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