Craig M. Fields

Craig M. Fields has 30 years of experience handling business and commercial litigation cases in California state and federal court through trial and appeal.  Prior to founding the predecessor of Glickfeld, Fields & Jacobson, LLP in 1988, Craig was a litigator at one national and one large regional firm.

Since 1989, Craig has been AV-Preeminent Rated by Martindale-Hubbell, its highest ranking for professionalism and ethics.  Craig has also been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Los Angeles Magazine.

Craig received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and his Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1982.  Craig was a member of the UCLA Law Review.

Craig’s litigation practice focuses on complex business and commercial litigation, including contracts, business torts, real estate, entertainment, corporate governance, fiduciary and management liability, shareholder derivative actions, unfair competition, construction, and Anti-SLAPP.

Craig’s litigation clients have included Fortune 500 companies, closely held businesses of all corporate forms, and individuals, including manufacturers, distributors, real estate developers, film studios, business investors, inventors, homeowner associations, homeowners, landlords, and tenants.

Craig has won trials in business and commercial litigation matters in California state and federal court, and arbitrations in private arbitration venues such as the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, ARC, ADR Services, and the National Basketball Player Association (NBPA).  Craig has also won civil appeals in the California Court of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

In addition, Craig has more than 25 years of experience representing clients in family law (divorce) matters.  He is often hired by business litigation attorneys to represent their divorce clients in related divorce litigation, and has been hired by divorce attorneys to represent their divorce clients in related business litigation.  For the past ten years, Craig has expanded this niche practice to represent divorce clients in matters that primarily involve issues of child and spousal support (alimony), business and property ownership and valuation, hidden assets, and tracing and accounting issues.

Craig’s reported business and commercial litigation opinions are:

GHK Associates v. Mayer Group, Inc. (1990) 274 Cal.App.3d 856

Streetscenes v. ITC Entertainment Group, Inc. (2002) 103 Cal.App.4th 233

Cotton v. Expo Power Systems, Inc. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1371

Oviedo v. Windsor Twelve Properties, LLC (2012) 212 Cal.App.4th 97

Aronson v. Resolution Trust Corporation (9th Cir. 1994) 38 F.3d 1110

Craig’s significant business and commercial litigation engagements include:

• Won at the trial and appellate level a breach of contract and fraud lawsuit against a well-known real estate developer.
• Supervised litigation for a patent holder against his licensors for patent infringement that resulted in a several hundred million dollar verdict for the patent holder.
• Represented several Fortune 500 clients in the earliest product placement agreement lawsuits involving the films “Back to the Future” and “Pacific Heights.”
• Obtained a complete defense verdict for a medical laboratory that was sued by a national laboratory for breach of contract and unfair competition.
• Successfully settled a libel lawsuit against a major film studio that resulted in the payment of attorney’s fees and the editing of the libelous scenes from the video release from the film.
• Successfully settled a fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against a bank, savings and loan, and national law firm for illegally flipping a real estate investment.
• Successfully settled a breach of contract derivative lawsuit brought by the original investors of a well-known restaurant chain against management of the chain.
• Successfully recovered ownership of a newspaper and nightclub from their purported owners.
• Obtained a complete defense verdict in a lawsuit against the owner of a local theatre chain for claimed breach of a contract to make a will.
• Won an NBPA arbitration for an NBPA agent against another agent for “poaching” a client.
• Successfully settled a breach of contract and fiduciary duty lawsuit against a real estate management company for mismanaging a retail shopping center.
• Successfully settled a breach of non-compete covenant lawsuit against a large shopping center and national restaurant chain.
• Successfully settled a claim against a family partnership for breach of the partnership agreement that ousted the complaining partner.
• Obtained the release of an international design company from its lease with the Pacific Design Center.