Mediator & Attorney - Extended Biographical Information        

Ms. Halbreich’s litigation experience has included a complete spectrum of employment law issues, including Title VII; claims of national origin, disability, race, gender, and age discrimination; sexual harassment; and all aspects of wrongful termination. She has successfully litigated toxic tort and environmental impact cases; and complex business and insurance coverage disputes. Ms. Halbreich also has significant experience and expertise in the handling of healthcare-related claims, including medical and hospital malpractice; hospital staffing and professional licensing disputes.

 

Ms. Halbreich represented various governmental agencies, including the EPA, while she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney. In private practice, she has represented aerospace companies; insurers and HMO’s; hospitals; small businesses; corporations and partnerships; and individuals.

PUBLIC SECTOR EXPERIENCE

Ms. Halbreich’s success in resolving complex disputes has led her to focus exclusively on the field of Family Law. Her expertise in the area of business litigation specifically allows Ms. Halbreich to deal with complicated Family Law matters such as marriage dissolution, asset division, spousal and child support, child custody issues and pre-nuptial agreements. Ms. Halbreich’s background as an expert litigator enables her to achieve successful results for her clients in all types of Family Law matters whether through Mediation, Collaborative Law or Court proceedings.

 

Ms. Halbreich has had extensive experience in federal court. During the first five years of practice, she represented the United States Government in approximately 20 complicated federal trials in various areas including environmental litigation, Title VII (involving some of the earliest discrimination claims on the basis of national origin and physical handicap cases), aviation litigation, design defects involving buildings, roads and other structures on federal lands, intentional and general tort liability, transportation, land use and noise abatement issues around major airports following deregulation of the airline industry.

She represented the EPA in environmental litigation, the FAA in air crash cases, the Department of Transportation in litigation about land use and transportation plans for Southern California, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Agriculture, among others. She has also handled litigation regarding major U.S. defense industry contractors. Ms. Halbreich was primarily responsible for several appeals and has argued cases before United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

PRIVATE SECTOR EXPERIENCE

Ms. Halbreich left the U.S. Attorney’s Office to begin private practice; in 1985 she co-founded Pivo & Halbreich. The firm has specialized in civil trials with an emphasis on professional liability and medical malpractice; employment law; toxic torts and environmental law; trade secrets and unfair business practices; construction defects and other civil trials.

TRIAL EXPERIENCE

Ms. Halbreich has tried in excess of one hundred civil jury and court trials to verdict. She has also handled numerous Binding Arbitrations. Most of her trials have been complex, lasting several weeks to over a month and have involved hundreds of exhibits, as well as multiple expert witnesses. Ms. Halbreich has tried numerous cases in Los Angeles County Superior Court, including downtown Los Angeles (central), Santa Monica, Torrance, Long Beach, Van Nuys, Norwalk, Pomona; Orange County Superior Court; Riverside County Superior Court; Ventura Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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• • Ms. Halbreich was involved in the first lawsuit that attempted to stop the use of commuter lanes on freeways in Southern California. She was also involved in environmental litigation regarding Santa Monica Airport, John Wayne Airport and the Burbank Airport, including claims of noise pollution and inverse condemnation claims.
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• • Ms. Halbreich successfully represented a California company that manufactured and sold products exclusively for the nuclear industry in a breach of contract claim against an Illinois corporation. Ms. Halbreich’s client (the plaintiff) served as the defendant’s exclusive representative for the sale of certain valves used by nuclear plants. She was successful on behalf of the plaintiff in this breach of contract case in obtaining a verdict of over $2,000,000.00.
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• • Ms. Halbreich represented a major California defense contractor in a series of alleged toxic exposure cases involving claims by former employees who lost their jobs following a reduction in force. Former employees claimed injuries from exposure to various chemicals in the work place.
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• • Ms Halbreich handled a series of trials involving claims of medical malpractice, fraud, product liability and unfair business practices involving medical implants and “cutting edge” technology alleged not to have been approved by the F.D.A. Ms. Halbreich successfully defended against these allegations of experimental surgery and experimental technology. She obtained a defense verdict in each of the cases tried.
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• • Ms. Halbreich represented a major industrial corporation in trade secret litigation involving satellite technology. The corporation was attempting to protect its own trade secrets as a nonparty witness in several lawsuits between three major defense contractors. The plaintiff alleged patent infringement and appropriation of trade secrets. The defendants attempted to defend themselves in these lawsuits by claiming that certain trade secrets were in fact public knowledge and technology known generally in the industry to others. Ms. Halbreich successfully prevented the parties in that litigation (her client’s competitors) from obtaining her client’s trade secrets in documents or depositions.
• MEDIATION
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• • Ms. Halbreich has been involved in hundreds of Mediations as an advocate on behalf of her clients which have lead to successful resolution of litigated cases. More recently she has handled over 75 Mediations as a Mediator on the Los Angeles Superior Court ADR panel and in private mediation.
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