Straight Forward, Results Oriented, Pragmatic Legal Advice

Consistent, Personal Attention

We are a two-person firm that provides consistent personal attention to your needs.  We will personally answer your calls and do your work unless a particular task does not require the attention of a lawyer, then to reduce cost and increase efficiency that task will be handled by a qualified clerical worker whose work will be reviewed by one of us personally.  You will not pay multiple lawyers to learn about you and your work.

Focused Practice

We practice in only three interrelated areas: business and commercial; franchising, licensing, and distribution; and real property law.  Doing a limited number of things creates concentrated experience in those areas.

Solid Experience; Quality Reputation

Phyllis Truby has more than 40 years of experience representing clients in business, real estate, and franchising and distribution matters.  She has negotiated and worked with lawyers from some of the most prominent firms in Los Angeles, California and the nation as well as with a firm of over 100 lawyers that includes some of Los Angeles’ most experienced trial lawyers.  She has worked with many in-house lawyers and lawyers in half a dozen foreign countries.  The quality of the firm’s work has brought kudos from regulators at governmental agencies, opposing counsel in disputes, and counsel for others in numerous transactions.  Lawyers and clients with whom she has worked have praised her good judgment, advocacy on behalf of her client, innovative and creative approaches to problem solving.  The firm has a reputation for understanding the perspective of others and exceptional attention to detail while not losing sight of the big picture and the long-range goal.

Pragmatic, Results Oriented Advice

Our starting point is determining what you want to accomplish.  Our next step is to advise you how your goal can be reached: what is the safest, easiest, simplest way to achieve the result you want?  The focus of pragmatic legal advice is to accomplish your goals while minimizing risk, without introducing unnecessary complication that may become a roadblock.  Good judgment, tenacious but respectful and courteous advocacy, and savvy negotiating skills are the foundation of successful representation of your interests.  Identifying what is important, knowing what it makes good sense to do, and avoiding unnecessary expense or long paths to nowhere are the keys to getting you where you want to go.

Some of Phyllis Truby’s professional accomplishments include:

• Named a Best Lawyer in the Franchise Law category by The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2006
• Served on the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization’s Franchise and Distribution Law Advisory Commission from 2012 through 2015
• Certified Specialist, Franchise and Distribution Law California Board of Legal Specialization
• Member of the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising 2003-2007
• Presenter of more than 12 programs on franchise practice issues at the American Bar Association’s Forum on Franchising
• Author of the California Franchise Investment Law chapter of the first edition of The Franchise Deskbook
• Chair of California State Bar Franchise Law Committee for two terms
• Member and then Vice Chair of California State Bar Business Law Section Executive Committee

Professional Background

Phyllis received her initial law practice training at a Los Angeles firm under the tutelage of four former partners from one of Los Angeles’ largest firms.  She received big firm training in a small firm setting and brought that quality of practice and habits of excellence to the solo practice she has operated for more than 40 years.

Michelle attended the UCLA School of Law where she co-Editor-in-Chief of the Women’s Law Journal, President of the American Constitution Society, and interned for Judge Pregerson.  After graduating, Michelle ran her own retail consumer goods business selling eco-friendly products produced locally or by indigenous women throughout the world and then came to work with Phyllis as a paralegal, learning to form entities, register franchises, and do real estate and business deals from the ground up.  

Clients

Our practice has a diverse clientele ranging from start up entrepreneurs to seasoned executives; individually owned small businesses and multi-owner small to medium sized businesses, as well as multi-national conglomerates.

Personal Background

Phyllis is a Los Angeles native, educated at UCLA, where she received both Bachelor’s of Arts and Masters of Journalism degrees, and Loyola Marymount University School of Law.

A longstanding supporter of local and national charities particularly those supporting care of children, the environment, and educational advancement ranging from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to FINCA, Doctors without Borders to the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, and Tree People to the Cindy Lopez Loyola Law School Scholarship.

Michelle is a Los Angeles native who triple-majored in Psychology, the Study of Religion, and Law and Society: Civil Rights and Fundamental Freedoms at UC San Diego before spending a year in Israel volunteering for social justice causes, including working with Holocaust survivors, interning at a legal clinic assisting women seeking divorces, lobbying against the privatization of prisons, and a stint in the Israeli army.  She is a Los Angeles native with Argentinean parents and fluent in Spanish.