Lawyers

CURTIS E. SMOLAR

Partner — San Francisco

EXPERIENCE

Mr. Smolar’s practice includes complex civil litigation, commercial litigation, real estate litigation, employment litigation, and securities litigation. He has handled cases involving contract disputes, securities, real estate, creditor rights, including bankruptcy litigation, business torts, entertainment, licensing, intellectual property, mold and other toxic substances, Business and Professions Code Section 17200, California's Proposition 64, contractual interpretation, unfair competition, unlawful detainer, SLAPP, and arbitrations.

Mr. Smolar also represents clients in the renewable energy industry, including biofuels. He has assisted investors, joint venturers, traders and manufacturers with a variety of issues including business development negotiations, land acquisition, biofuel manufacturing and refining, brokerage deals, marketing agreements, sales, and other transactions. In addition to counseling, Mr. Smolar has represented some of these clients during litigation, including mediation and arbitration proceedings.

Mr. Smolar also has significant transactional experience. He has negotiated large and small corporate and licensing deals for numerous clients, ranging from the small Internet start-ups to well-established multibillion dollar publicly traded companies. He assists companies in all stages of their corporate life from inception and incorporation, securitization, employment issues, to corporate development events including mergers and acquisitions.

Having worked for four years in New York City prior to law school at Miramax Studios and Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’s production companies, Mr. Smolar has a particularly keen eye towards entertainment and licensing issues. He has assisted creative people and businesses with company organization, intellectual property licensing, and intellectual property asset development.

Mr. Smolar is a member of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association, the San Francisco and American Bar Associations and is currently President of the The Lawyers' Club of San Francisco. He is a member of the California State Bar. Additionally, Mr. Smolar is a member of the advisory board for the Webby Awards and offers guidance on a regular basis to several San Francisco based start-up companies.

Mr. Smolar holds a B.S. with Honors from the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University. He grew up in Manhattan and currently lives with his family in San Francisco.