Steven D. Kopald has been a licensed attorney in California since 1976.  In the more than thirty (30) years since, he has been involved in many facets of the legal profession.  He has for most of his practice specialized in Real Estate, Business, Business Litigation and Family Law.  As a partner at Kopald and Kopald (and a partner in a prior firm, Kopald and Mark, established in May of 1950), he has focused his practice primarily in these areas.

In 1982 Steven completed additional training at the Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy at Hastings College of Law, the oldest Law School in the Western United States.  The focus of the coursework was in litigation and gave him unique skills and further honed his litigation skills developed over his previous six (6) years of practice.

While courtroom action is the place most attorneys seek, and will always remain a passion for him, he has also realized that the law provides many other options, some of which may be significantly better for his clients.  In order to be a more effective advocate for his clients, Steven sought training in these other forms in order to more effectively represent his clients’ best interest in the pursuit of other available resolution arenas.

He is a member of the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association, the International Academy of Collaborative Professional and a founding member of New Peacemakers, a group of professionals that aim to find creative approaches to traditional legal disputes.

To further enhance his abilities in these newly evolving dispute resolution processes, he attended the International Academy of Collaborative Professional’s annual meeting in New Orleans in 2008 and completed the 40 hour Basic Divorce Mediation Training Class conducted in Los Angeles by one of the foremost experts in the field, Woody Mosten, a professor at UCLA, Pepperdine, and USC Law Schools and frequent guest lecturer at other prominent Law Schools around the United States and Europe.

Steven has more than thirty (30) years of experience in litigating disputes but more importantly he brings a passion for finding new and innovative approaches to resolve disputes that fit the needs of his clients.  If litigation is not the best approach, he pursues collarabotive, mediation or another avenue that best suits the needs of the client, not his usual practice.  He has come to believe that there are different needs of each client and it is most important to find the process that serves the client, not the attorney.  There is no “cookie cutter” solution to a problem.  Steven’s vast and varied experience and training affords his clients the most appropriate solution.

Outside the practice of law, he has been active in various philanthropic organizations including the Foundation for the Junior blind and other organizations.  For many years, he sat on the planning board of the Reyes Syndrome of Los Angeles and was specifically involved in the organization and application of operating the fundraising activities including the annual golf tournament which raised the most contributions to the organization annually.  More recently he served as Chairman of the Board of directors for Transplant Recipients International Organization (TRIO” Los Angeles chapter) that raised funds and educated people on the need for an awareness of donating organs and tissue for transplant.  As a member of the Board of Directors he also participated in designating where funding should be made to medical programs that included UCLA and other regional hospitals.

If you don’t find Steve at work, you will probably find him skiing in Mammoth with his wife of thirty-five (35) years, or with his twin boys skiing, camping or river rafting.  Some of his best days off the slopes include playing bad golf with close friends or spending time with his Gordon Setter, Jackson.