Representative Experience

• Mr. Streisand is well known for his victories in courtroom battles over celebrity estates, including the estates of Ray Charles, Marlon Brando, Rodney Dangerfield and Barry White. Mr. Streisand represents Mrs. Katherine Jackson in the Estate of Michael Jackson. He represents Larry Birkhead in the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith. He represented Britney Spears in her conservatorship proceedings. Mr. Streisand also authored Senate Bill 771 on behalf of the Marilyn Monroe estate, establishing the descendibility of a celebrity's name, image and likeness to the celebrity's heirs. Mr. Streisand is equally well known for his success in some of the most complex cases in the probate courts. He won an eight-figure trial victory, including double damages, on behalf of the trustee, in a complex case over the ownership of 70 real properties and 25 bank and brokerage accounts, unwinding 40 years of fraudulent creditor and tax avoidance schemes (follow the link to the Court of Appeal opinion affirming in full the trial court judgment). In three successive trials against a former trustee, Mr. Streisand won judgments in each case for a total of more than $10 million, double damages, and attorneys' fees and costs. Mr. Streisand won a trial invalidating a trust amendment as the product of undue influence and a violation of the original trust terms, and a trial to remove the trustee involved in the procurement of the instrument. Winning in trial is the best leverage for obtaining favorable settlements. For example, Mr. Streisand obtained a $113 million settlement in an action by family members owning a minority interest in the Farmer Bros. Coffee Company against Roy Farmer who was controlling the company as trustee of family trusts owning a majority block of the stock.
  
• On the defense side, Mr. Streisand has achieved equally outstanding results. After a four-week trial, when plaintiff rejected $60 million to compensate her for her community property rights in a major vitamin and supplement company, Mr. Streisand limited plaintiff to a recovery of only $3.2 million. He was victorious after a six-week trial in defense of a $25 million surcharge case, arising out of allegations of self-dealing by the trustee in redemptions of the trust's stock and options in a private REIT, among other claims. Mr. Streisand successfully defended corporate trustees in a $57 million surcharge and removal case, alleging self-dealing and irreconcilable conflicts of interest. Mr. Streisand won summary judgment for the trustees of the Mark Hughes Trust in an action to surcharge and remove them based on allegations that as trustees and as officers and directors of Herbalife, the company founded by Mark Hughes, they enacted poison pills, golden parachutes and other anti-takeover devices to entrench and enrich themselves at the expense of the beneficiary. Mr. Streisand won four motions in a row, until the case was dismissed in its entirety, for the primary beneficiary and fiduciaries of the nine-figure estate of a prominent British Lord. Plaintiffs claimed that the estate's representatives transferred assets through a worldwide web of trusts to deprive plaintiffs of their inheritance. Mr. Streisand successfully defended the National Parkinson Foundation in a trial of a will contest by disgruntled beneficiaries claiming that the decedent improperly revoked his participation in mutual wills. The case was affirmed on appeal by the Second District Court of Appeal at 2003 WL198712. Mr. Streisand won a trial of a will contest alleging fraud, undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity concerning the $60 million estate of a prominent Canadian businessman. Mr. Streisand successfully defended the estate of an octogenarian against a claim by an exotic dancer in her twenties that the decedent promised to leave half of his estate to her.
  
• Some of Mr. Streisand’s other victories in celebrity and entertainment cases include his victory in obtaining the dismissal of palimony claims by Coco Johnson against comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher. Mr. Streisand won summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Beastie Boys and Capitol Records in a landmark copyright case involving digital sampling and affirmance on appeal in the 9th Circuit. Newton v. Diamond, et al., 349 F.3d 591 (9th Cir. 2003), 204 F.Supp.2d 1244 (C.D. Cal. 2002) (follow the link to see the 9th Circuit opinion). Mr. Streisand won a multi-million dollar judgment in an arbitration by proving that Franchise Pictures breached a distribution agreement for the motion picture "Plan B" starring Diane Keaton. On behalf of famed ocean explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau, Mr. Streisand obtained a permanent injunction in an action against his son Jean-Michel Cousteau to protect against the commercialization of the Cousteau name by its use in connection with a Fiji resort.
  

Publications/Speeches

• Speaker, Copy This: Intelligent Planning for Intellectual Property Rights, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) (April 2010)
• Speaker, Will Contest or Contest of Wills, Life After 21320, Orange County Bar Association (February 2010)
• Co-author, Mental Disorders That Erode Capacity, ABA Trust & Investments (November/December 2009)
• Speaker, Litigation and Settlements--Estate and Income Tax Issues, Advanced Estate Planning Institute, CalCPA Education Foundation (January 2010)
• Speaker, Malpractice Melee: Fending Off the Disgruntled and Disappointed, an Estate Planner's Field Guide, Los Angeles, California (November 20, 2009)
• Panelist, Dealing with the Difficult or Impaired Client, American Bankers Association's Teleconference (November 5, 2009)
• Speaker, Ethical Issues Affecting Estate Planners, ALI-ABA and American College for Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) Webinar (October 7, 2009)
• Speaker, Lawsuits Against Lawyers for the Plan You Do and the Plan You Don't, ACTEC Annual Meeting, Rancho Mirage, California (March 2009)
more

Media Mentions

• Christie's to Auction off Michael Chrichton's Art Collection By David Ng, Los Angeles Times
• Life After Michael People
• Judge: Joe Jackson Can't Challenge Will Executors USA Today
• Jackson's Mom Hires Adam Streisand Lawdragon
• Katherine Jackson Replaces Lawyers in Estate Battle Alan Duke, CNN
• Katherine Jackson Hires New Lawyer for Battle Over Estate Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone
• Charitable Efforts Left Wanting? By Alexa Hyland, Los Angeles Business Journal
• Britney Returns By Jenny Eliscu, Rolling Stone Magazine

Affiliations

• Member, Executive Committee, Section on Trusts and Estates, State Bar of California
• Former Executive Editor, California Trusts & Estates Quarterly
• Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
• Member, Long-Range Planning Committee, Fiduciary Litigation Committee and Professional Responsibility Committee of ACTEC
• Member, Planning Committee of UCLA/CEB Estate Planning Institute
• Member, CEB Estate Planning Advisory Committee
• Member, Planning Committee of the USC Probate and Trust Conference
• Faculty Member, National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA)
• Former Chair, Trusts and Estates Section, Century City Bar Association
• Former Board Member, Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF)
• Former Member, Development Committee, Project Angel Food
• Former Member, Development Committee, Alzheimer’s Association
• Volunteer Attorney, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, offering pro bono publico legal services to the poor and elderly

Distinctions

• Received highest ranking in "Chambers USA 2010, America's Leading Lawyers for Business," in California Tax: Estate Planning
• Named one of "L.A.'s Top 100 Lawyers" in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Who’s Who in LA Law” (2009)
• Named one of "The 100 Top Attorneys" in Trusts and Estates, Worth magazine (2008 edition)
• Named "Best Lawyer" in Trusts and Estates Law, The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward/White, Inc. (2008-2011)
• Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
• Attorney Member, National College of Probate Judges 
• Recipient, Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services, Board of Governors of the State Bar of California
• Named in Southern California Super Lawyers magazine in Trust & Estate Litigation by Law & Politics (2004-2010)
• Named a "Leading Lawyer" in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2010)
• Named a "Leading Litigator" in the Lawdragon 500 America's Leading Trial Lawyers (2006)
• Named one of the "Leading Lawyers in America," Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers Guide (2006)
• Highest "AV Preeminent (5 out of 5)" Professional Rating, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory