Matthew R. Pahl is a partner in the firm’s Orange County office.  His practice is focused on insurance defense, insurance coverage, and general business litigation. 

Mr. Pahl has extensive experience in handling complex, multi-party litigation including (1) representing owners and managers in mobile home park litigation, (2) representing developers and general contractors in construction defect cases, and (3) defense of class actions.  He has handled a wide variety of business cases, including commercial and business defense, insurance coverage, land use, corporate liability assessment, trade secret misappropriation, trademark violation, and Hurricane Katrina reconstruction.   He has also represented clients before various state administrative agencies and boards, including the California Labor Board, California Department of Social Services, and California State Bar.  In 2008, Mr. Pahl successfully argued Shumake v. Schwam before the California Court of Appeal.

Mr. Pahl graduated cum laude from Chapman University in Orange, California in 1997, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film/Television Production.  In 2003, Mr. Pahl earned his Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, graduating magna cum laude.  During law school, Mr. Pahl served as an editor of the Whittier Law Review, represented the school twice in national Moot Court competitions, and received CALI awards in both White Collar Crime and a First Amendment Seminar.  He was admitted to the California Bar in 2003.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Pahl interned with both the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the State Bar of California Office of the Chief Trial Counsel/Enforcement Division.

Prior to law school, Mr. Pahl was an artist and production designer, and he has written and directed two short films.  Now he enjoys the company of his beautiful wife and three children.