California Business Litigation Attorneys
Protecting companies, owners, and executives throughout Silicon Valley & the Bay Area.
Business Disputes We Resolve.
Business disputes threaten your company, your relationships, and your financial future. We represent California business owners, LLC members, shareholders, and executives throughout Silicon Valley, from contract breaches and fraud to partnership dissolutions and fiduciary claims.
Whether your dispute involves a San Jose startup, a Saratoga family business, or a Bay Area corporation, we develop a strategy tailored to your goals and fight to protect what you have built.
When Business Partners Disagree
Disagreements between shareholders or LLC members can paralyze a company overnight. Our shareholder dispute attorneys in Silicon Valley help business owners and LLC members resolve ownership conflicts efficiently, protecting your financial interests and keeping your company on stable ground. We serve clients in Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos, and throughout Santa Clara County.
When the Other Party Doesn't Deliver
A broken contract can cost you clients, revenue, and time. Our breach of contract lawyers in Santa Clara County pursue claims aggressively and defend against them strategically, helping California businesses recover damages or limit exposure as quickly as possible. Whether you are a startup in San Jose or an established company in Saratoga, we build a case around your goals.
When Someone Betrays the Business
Partners, corporate officers and directors, and certain LLC members or managers may owe fiduciary duties of loyalty and care depending on their role and the entity's structure. When someone self-deals, diverts business opportunities, or misuses company funds, our fiduciary duty attorneys in the Bay Area hold them accountable. Business fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims require moving fast, contact McLellan Law Group in Saratoga before evidence disappears.
Notable Results
Commercial Lease Trial Victory
Tried a multi-day commercial lease bench trial for a small business tenant, establishing the tenant's rights to disputed leased space, defeating the landlord's breach, sublease, and fraud theories, and securing a judgment awarding the tenant its attorneys' fees and costs as the prevailing party.
Shareholder Arbitration Defense
Defended two shareholders and directors of a family-owned restaurant corporation in a binding arbitration brought by a co-owner, defeating claims for financial elder abuse and unfair business practices and nearly all fiduciary duty claims, with the arbitrator applying the business judgment rule and limiting the claimant to a small fraction of the damages he sought.
COVID-19 & Landlord-Tenant Litigation
Represented clients in COVID-19-related lease disputes, along with other real estate, business, and landlord-tenant litigation in state court.
These results are provided for informational purposes only. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and every matter turns on its own facts and law. Representative matters include some results obtained in prior practice.
What Our Clients Say
Results depend on the specific facts and law of each matter. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other case.
We Treat This as a Business Decision, Not a Grudge.
Most business disputes are ultimately a question of what an outcome is worth and what it costs to get there, and the answer is not always to sue. In the first conversation we work through what you are actually owed, what it would realistically cost to pursue, what the other side is probably being told by their own lawyer, and whether the relationship is worth preserving. Sometimes the answer is that a firm letter and a phone call will get you most of what litigation would, for a fraction of the cost. We would rather tell you that in week one than in year two.
Business Litigation FAQs
Yes. McLellan Law Group is based in Saratoga, CA and represents businesses and executives throughout Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, and the Bay Area.
Potentially yes. Owners and executives can face personal liability if they personally guaranteed a contract, breached a fiduciary duty, committed fraud, or if a court pierces the corporate veil due to improper business practices. We assess your exposure early and build a strategy to protect you.
Recoverable damages depend on your claims but can include compensatory damages for financial losses, lost profits, attorney's fees where authorized by contract, statute, or another applicable legal basis, punitive damages for malicious conduct, and injunctive relief to stop ongoing harm.
Partners, corporate officers and directors, and certain LLC members and managers can owe each other duties of loyalty and care, though whether a particular person owes them depends on the entity, the governing documents, and that person's actual role in the business. Where the duty exists, a breach occurs when someone in a position of trust puts their own interests ahead of the business, through self-dealing, diverting opportunities, misusing company funds, or making unauthorized decisions. Whether a duty was owed in your situation is usually the first question we answer, because it determines everything that follows.
Many commercial disputes resolve in 6 to 18 months through negotiation or mediation. Fully litigated cases can take 2 to 4 years. McLellan Law Group pursues early resolution strategies where possible to reduce cost and disruption to your business.
Costs vary widely with complexity and how far the case goes before it resolves. Filing fees, discovery, and expert costs add up quickly in commercial litigation, which is why we discuss likely cost against likely recovery before you commit to filing, and revisit that math as the case develops.
Only where authorized by contract, statute, or another applicable legal basis. California follows the rule that each side generally bears its own fees unless a specific exception applies, so we check your contract and claims early for a fee-shifting provision rather than assuming one exists.
Often settle first, or at least try. Litigation is usually the more expensive and slower path, so we typically start with a demand or negotiation where it has a realistic chance of working, and prepare to litigate in parallel so you are not negotiating from a position of delay.
A judgment against a company with no assets is difficult to collect, so we evaluate collectability early, including whether an individual owner could be personally liable. That assessment can change whether litigation is worth pursuing at all, and it is better to know before you file than after you win.
| Type of claim | Deadline | When the clock generally starts |
|---|---|---|
| Breach of a written contract | 4 years | At breach, not at signing |
| Breach of an oral contract | 2 years | At breach |
| Fraud | 3 years | When the fraud was discovered, or reasonably should have been |
| Breach of fiduciary duty | Often 4 years | Varies with the nature of the misconduct |
| Claims sounding in fraud or concealment | 3 years | On discovery |
These are general periods. Which one applies to a particular claim depends on how the claim is pleaded and on facts specific to your situation, and more than one period can apply to the same set of events. If you are close to a deadline, that is a reason to call now rather than a reason not to.