Edward Seidel focuses his practice on general litigation, with an emphasis on contract disputes, commercial and residential real property disputes, construction matters, partnership disputes, employment law, and probate/elder abuse litigation. Ed has successfully represented clients in state and federal courts and binding arbitrations.
Ed earned his B.A. in psychology and political science from Miami University and his J.D. from Tulane Law School, where he graduated cum laude. At Tulane, Ed was the president of the Public Interest Law Foundation.
He is a member of the California Lawyers Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the American Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the Eastern District of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Successfully resolved numerous real estate disputes for a commercial landlord operating a San Francisco shopping center, with attention to issues relating to pandemic conditions. (2020 – 2022)
- Negotiated a favorable settlement and new lease on behalf of a large non-profit organization whose tenancy was disrupted by its landlord’s operational decisions, which put the tenant out of compliance with its license requirements. (2022)
- Successfully resolved an accounting and breach of fiduciary duty petition with elements of financial elder abuse on behalf of Petitioner who sought various remedies against his Trustee brother relating to their father’s estate. (2022)
- Successfully resolved partition actions arising from long-standing feuds between fractional owners of San Francisco multi-unit apartment buildings. (2021)
- Won a binding arbitration award compelling entry into and compliance with a multi-million dollar settlement agreement and distribution of significant assets against the long-time girlfriend of a deceased high net worth individual on behalf of his family member beneficiaries. (2020)
- Co-chaired an extensive arbitration against a publicly traded steel company represented by a large international law firm and obtained a multi-million-dollar judgment in favor of a minority partner for breaches of fiduciary duty by the majority partner. In this case, extensive self-dealing regarding an improperly taken partnership business location opportunity and converted scrap metal profits in the auto recycling business were proven. (2018)
- Co-chaired an arbitration resulting in a seven-figure award favoring a real estate purchaser client scammed in an international money laundering scheme. Both fraud and negligence were found against several perpetrators, including one specifically found to be the alter ego of an insolvent signatory to a contract with an attorneys’ fees clause. (2018)
- Obtained a public retraction and apology from plaintiffs who made civil rights claims against a neighbor to leverage support in their dispute with an HOA regarding their dispute over applications of the HOA’s CC&Rs. (2018)
- Won a seven-figure Superior Court judgment on behalf of a real estate investor client against his Russian partner for Elder Abuse and breaches of fiduciary duty. (2015)
- Obtained a payment of over $36 million to our clients, four heirs of a steel magnate’s fortune, following the prosecution of a probate court action against their stepmother, which sought the return of the father’s separate property assets on the contention that the stepmother had caused the clients’ Alzheimer’s-ridden father to make transfers under conditions of undue influence and elder abuse. (2014)
- Successfully obtained a significant binding arbitration award for client in a breach of contract matter between former business partners arising from the sale of their company and the subsequent disposition of the company’s stock. (2012)
- Won a large binding arbitration award for his client in a subrogation matter between an architect and a mechanical engineer arising out of claims of defective work at a science center. (2012)
- Quashed purported service of process in significant enforcement of guaranty action under the International Hague Service Convention. (2012)
- Obtained a defense judgment in favor of cable television provider in a property rights and civil rights lawsuit filed by a property owner, affirmed on appeal at the 9th Circuit and cert. denied at the United States Supreme Court. (2011)
- Successfully defended a month-long jury trial in which a key issue was whether a buyer of commercial real estate property could sue his real estate broker if he himself were a licensed broker charged with due diligence responsibility. (2010)
- Obtained a defense verdict for client in a two-week jury trial in a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit. (2009)
Thought Leadership
Publications
- Author, CEB Series on Construction Contracts, Defects and Litigation
Presentations
- Presenter, “Local Government Law: What Attorneys Need to Know,” NBI Seminar, 2019
- Faculty, Intersession Litigation Skills Seminar, Tulane Law School, 2013 – 2018
Professional & Civic Engagement
- American Bar Association
- California Lawyers Association
- Bar Association of San Francisco
