Stephen J. Squillario

Overview

Mr. Squillario is the firm’s Associate General Counsel, Chair of the Professional Liability Practice Group, as well as a member of its Appellate, Fire Litigation, Product Liability, and Transportation Law Practice Groups.

His professional E&O practice focuses on the defense of lawyers and accountants. Mr. Squillario has worked with both domestic and London-based insurance companies, and his clients regularly entrust him to defend them against high-value, complex claims. For these matters, the underlying representation has concerned such fields as real property transactions, stock repurchase, promissory notes, defamation, unlawful detainer, Ellis Act evictions, administrative law, employment law, trust law, insurance coverage/bad faith, corporate law, business dissolution, mechanics’ lien, family law, elder law, contracts, torts, estate planning, probate, intellectual property, and debt collection. Mr. Squillario also provides risk management counseling to clients and has defended lawyers against malicious prosecution claims, in each instance filing successful anti-SLAPP motions resulting in dismissal. He recently served as the second chair in a four-week trial in a legal malpractice case with alleged damages in excess of $3 million where the jury issued a defense verdict based on the statute of limitations. In addition, Mr. Squillario previously served as the co-first chair in a legal malpractice binding arbitration where the arbitrator awarded the claimant less than 15% of his requested damages.

Mr. Squillario has extensive experience representing small, medium, and large businesses in California state and federal courts. He recently secured a defense verdict for his three clients as the second chair in a six-week jury trial for a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation case. He has also handled matters involving personal injury, product liability, property damage, construction defect, premises liability, contractor liability, employment law, Proposition 65 claims, and business disputes. In addition, he represents trucking companies involved in vehicular and workplace accidents as part of the firm’s Immediate Response protocol and in litigation in Northern California. Such accidents have involved multiple vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, and/or fatalities.

With respect to his appellate practice, Mr. Squillario has successfully handled appeals from start to finish. This included drafting the Respondents’ Briefs and arguing the matters to the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal, which, in one instance, affirmed the trial court’s decision granting his clients’ anti-SLAPP Motion and, in the other, affirmed the trial court’s decision imposing terminating sanctions upon the opposing party. In addition, he has drafted an Appellants’ Opening Brief, Petitions for Writ of Mandate, and a Petition for Review to the California Supreme Court.

In a previous life, Mr. Squillario worked at a national law firm, served as a Legislative Intern in the United States Senate, and was an intern on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College and a Juris Doctorate from American University Washington College of Law where he also earned a Master of Arts in International Affairs. In his free time, Mr. Squillario enjoys skiing, running, traveling, avidly following the Yankees and the English Premier League, and last but certainly not least, sharing a bottle of fine wine with his wife while their Labrador Retriever, Bridger, looks on.

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