Our firm was founded in 1962 by seven lawyers who believed that a law practice of the highest quality could be established in a creative and stimulating environment.  The firm's lasting commitment to excellence has enabled us to maintain a level of practice equal to the largest and most renowned firms.

Creative and Cost-Effective
Two basic principles have guided the firm throughout its forty-six year history.  First and foremost, we are committed to providing our clients with legal services of the highest quality with the utmost integrity.  To this end, we have consistently sought to associate only the best and most creative lawyers we can find.  Second, to attract and retain our clients, we are committed to providing services on a cost-effective basis.  Our commitment to both of these principles led us to reject the fast-growing, high-leverage law firm model long before it became fashionable to do so, and to create a firm distinguished by its national reputation, a thriving and interesting practice, and the diverse backgrounds and achievements of its lawyers.

The firm has always sought the most challenging work.  In a survey conducted by The American Lawyer, the firm's clients said that they called upon the firm both in "precedent-setting cases that require a creative mind" and in those cases that required an "army of trial lawyers capable of waging war." The firm ranked first in the nation in The American Lawyer’s 2008 “A-List” based on four core professional values: success of overall practice/revenue per lawyer, pro bono practice, associate satisfaction and workplace diversity; and was recognized by The American Lawyer as a Finalist in its 2006 'Litigation Department of the Year' biannual survey.

The firm's work is national in scope.  Our principal areas of practice include securities, antitrust, commercial and media litigation, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, general business transactions and advice, intellectual property, real estate, taxation and employment law.  Our growing bankruptcy and reorganization practice is nationally recognized; one of our lawyers was named in 2002 as one of the top ten Outstanding Young Bankruptcy Lawyers in the United States.  We also practice in the areas of executive compensation, estate planning and administrative law.  Unlike many firms of our size, we also have a substantial and growing practice in the area of criminal investigations and criminal defense.

Our rapidly expanding San Francisco office handles a wide range of litigation matters, including general litigation, intellectual property and environmental litigation, and white-collar criminal defense.  The office also maintains an established expertise in the area of environmental compliance counseling.  Both the San Francisco and the Los Angeles offices have a very active pro bono practice, focusing both on the legal problems of individuals and on impact litigation in such areas as disability rights and election reform.

As of November 2008, we have 192 lawyers, of whom 89 are partners, 4 are of counsel and 99 are associates.  Those 192 lawyers are extraordinarily talented and unusually diverse.  Over half served as law clerks to federal judges; almost two dozen were law clerks to Justices of the United States Supreme Court.  One of our corporate partners is a former Chairman and Chief Executive of one of the nation's largest investment banks, another was once the Chief Executive Officer of a well-known regional construction and real estate development firm.  Many of our litigators have experience in government, including service in the United States Department of Justice, United States Attorneys' Offices and the Environmental Protection Agency.  Other MTO lawyers have graduate degrees in such fields as physics, literature, economics, history and medicine.  We believe that this diversity of background and skill enhances the quality of the work we provide to our clients.

Commitment to Community
Most of our lawyers came to MTO with a strong commitment to serving the community and the profession, and we actively encourage participation in community and professional activities.  For example, one of our associates was elected to local political office in 2001.  MTO lawyers have also served as the General Counsel of the Rampart Independent Review Panel (set up in 2000 to review allegations of police corruption in Los Angeles), as the Director of the National Campaign Against Youth Violence, as the Chair of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and as members of the Board of Governors of the State Bar.  Another has been Chair of the State Bar Taxation Section, and even President of the State Bar.  Many of our lawyers have been active in the Los Angeles County Bar Association as section chairs, and one served as President of the San Francisco Bar Association. Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed our lawyers to positions on the California State University Board of Trustees and the Council of Economic Advisors.

The firm prides itself on forcefully and ethically representing our clients' interests, while striving to be creative and efficient.  We were a pioneer in alternative dispute resolution and in the extensive use of paralegals, other non-lawyers and cutting-edge technology to provide client services more efficiently and effectively.  We are proud of the reputation we have achieved for providing high quality legal services on a cost-efficient basis.  We are also proud that we have achieved that reputation while at the same time nourishing a democratic and egalitarian firm culture.  It is that culture, and the loyalty and pride that it breeds, that have allowed the firm to avoid the revolving door of lawyers that so ill serves a law firm's clients.  MTO's attorney retention rate is, we believe, without parallel among our peers: almost 50% of the lawyers who joined MTO in the past twenty years are still at the firm.

In a nutshell, we think that it is MTO's dedication to the recruitment, development and retention of top lawyers, and the commitment of those lawyers to client and community, that led to the firm's being singled out by The American Lawyer as "the only California firm to rank consistently at or near the top of the list for the breadth, depth, and quality of its practice."

Mark B. Helm
Sandra A. Seville-Jones
Co-Managing Partners