University of California Berkeley School of Law, J.D., 1983; Associate Editor, California Law Review

Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism, M.S., 1980

University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1979, with Great Distinction in General Scholarship; Phi Beta Kappa

Ron has won decisions favorable to his clients in cases with wide-reaching effects, including:

• Winning an arbitration award worth $10 million, including attorneys’ fees as the prevailing party, on behalf of a major freight rail company against a municipal commuter rail authority in a breach of contract case.
• Obtaining dismissal under the Anti-SLAPP statute of a lawsuit brought against his client, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer.
• Obtaining dismissal under the Anti-SLAPP statute of a lawsuit arising from pre-litigation cease and desist letters.
• Part of the Manatt team successfully challenging Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’ attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, resulting in a permanent injunction prohibiting the question. City of San Jose et al. v. Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., et al.
• Persuading the Court of Appeals that a furlough program imposed by then-Governor Schwarzenegger as applied to the State Compensation Insurance Fund was illegal. Cal. Attorneys etc. et al. v. Jerry Brown et al., 195 Cal. App. 4th 119 (2011).
• Obtaining dismissal on demurrer of an action brought by the City of Malibu against Passages Malibu. The dismissal was unanimously affirmed on appeal.
• Successfully defending Raytheon in a writ action seeking to overturn a government contract award to Raytheon for a $14 million project.
• Securing a $23 million recovery for BearingPoint from the State of California and the State Controller.
• Recovering $2.1 million on behalf of Regency Outdoor Advertising from the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles in a case brought against the CRA because of its refusal to approve applications to construct billboards submitted by Regency.
• Successfully defending the constitutionality of a statewide ballot initiative involving gaming from multiple pre-election legal challenges filed by tribes in the California Supreme Court and California Court of Appeal.
• Successfully recovering a seven-figure judgment against the State of California on behalf of prominent recording artists in a tax refund case. The trial court’s decision was affirmed on appeal.
• Successfully defending an entity charged with campaign law violations, where the issue was the amount of the penalty to be imposed for the violations. After a trial before an Administrative Law Judge, he successfully limited the penalty to approximately 8% of the amount sought by the agency.
• Obtaining a writ of mandate compelling a registrar of voters to credit disputed signatures gathered in support of a ballot measure.
• Successfully defending a Municipal Water District in an action alleging the illegal expenditure of public funds.
• Obtaining a defense verdict for Kajima Development in a multiyear arbitration over the development of a hospital in which damages of approximately $10 million were sought.
• Successfully defending a pension trust in litigation arising from one of its real estate investments. The case was dismissed on summary judgment motions, and all attorneys’ fees were recovered as the prevailing party.
• Successfully prosecuting a case on behalf of a motion picture production company for breach of contract against a production company and a producer.
• Heading a statewide team of lawyers retained by the Kamala Harris for Attorney General campaign for postelection ballot review arising out of the race for California Attorney General.