San Francisco, CA December 28, 2021 – Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP is pleased to announce the election of David “Duff” Beach, Hannah L. Jones, Laura Srebro, and Christopher J. Wiener to the firm’s partnership. These promotions are effective January 1, 2022.
“We are delighted to welcome four outstanding individuals to the Coblentz partnership,” said Sara Finigan, co-managing partner. “Our new partners mirror the depth and breadth of our practice areas and represent the best talent in our industry. Duff, Hannah, Laura, and Chris have shown a deep commitment to clients and our firm, and we look forward to their future contributions as our partners.”
The 2022 new partners are:
David “Duff” Beach, Litigation.
Duff Beach’s complex commercial litigation practice focuses on construction, financial services, land use, and privacy. He has extensive experience in breach of contract, fraud, unfair business claims, antitrust, and class actions for a wide range of clients, including in the real estate development, engineering and design, energy, technology, and consulting fields. He has appeared in all manner of proceedings, from state and federal trial and appellate courts to mediation, arbitration, and in front of regulatory bodies. Duff earned his J.D. from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco in 2003 and served as the Symposium Editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. He earned his B.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996. After college, Duff served four years on active duty as an officer in the United States Army, and served four more years in the Army Reserve.
Hannah L. Jones, Employment and Litigation.
Hannah Jones has a multi-faceted litigation, investigations and counseling practice focused on the legal issues affecting today’s employers. She represents clients in individual and class action litigations and administrative proceedings involving employee mobility and intellectual property issues (including non-compete agreements, trade secrets, employee raiding, invention assignment rights, and non-solicitation obligations), discrimination, wage and hour practices, and wrongful termination. Hannah also works directly with clients to solve thorny pre-litigation counseling matters including managing internal investigations, risk management and compliance, negotiating and preparing employment-related agreements, conducting workplace trainings, and formulating corporate policies and manuals. In 2021, Hannah became an Association of Workplace Investigators certified attorney-investigator. She earned her J.D. from the University of California, Davis, School of Law in 2014, where she received six Witkin Awards for Academic Excellence. While in law school, she served as a member of the UC Davis Law Review and was elected Order of the Coif. She earned her B.A., with honors, from Lewis and Clark College in 2010.
Laura Srebro, Family Wealth.
Laura Srebro advises high-net-worth individuals and families with respect to estate planning, trust administration and business succession planning. She works closely with clients to achieve their planning objectives and navigate difficult decisions. As part of her practice, Laura prepares essential estate planning documents, including revocable living trusts, wills and powers of attorney, and counsels clients on advanced estate planning techniques including intentionally defective grantor trusts, generation-skipping trusts and grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs). She also prepares gift and estate tax returns and advises clients throughout the trust administration process. Laura is certified as a specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Laura received her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2013, where she served as the Executive Managing Editor of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy and was a member of the Dean’s List. She earned her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame History Honors Program in 2009.
Christopher J. Wiener, Litigation.
Christopher Wiener focuses on complex commercial and intellectual property disputes. With extensive experience in copyright, trademark, and trade dress litigation, Christopher represents clients in federal and state courts with matters at the intersection of technology and commercial products. He has advised high-profile companies operating in a range of industries, including smartphones, music licensing, computer virtualization, headphones, semiconductors, and computer-aided drafting. He has also litigated and tried complex commercial matters for clients in areas such as software licensing, partnership disputes, consumer product development, and real estate. Christopher earned his J.D. from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco in 2011, where he graduated summa cum laude. While at Hastings, he was a senior articles editor for the Hastings Law Journal and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston University in 2008.
