Keker & Van Nest LLP

Keker & Van Nest is a sixty-five lawyer litigation firm located in San Francisco. For more than twenty-five years, we have devoted our practice exclusively to complex civil and criminal litigation. We take pride in our record of success at trial, motions practice, appeals and in arbitrations, mediations, and other ADR procedures. Our practice is national in scope. We litigate and try cases in state and federal courts throughout California and throughout the nation. We typically are retained for complex, high-stakes civil or criminal litigation.

In its January 2005 edition, The American Lawyer named Keker & Van Nest as the "Litigation Boutique of the Year," singling out the firm for litigation success in high stakes matters. "Keker & Van Nest lawyers handle cases of national importance… Not only do they win consistently, they do so while working in an environment that is a model for the legal industry in the areas of diversity and pro bono."

Our attorneys’ expertise encompasses a wide range of substantive areas, including intellectual property (representing plaintiffs and defendants in patent, copyright, trademark and trade secrets matters), professional liability (representing major law firms and accounting firms), class actions (including RICO, antitrust, consumer, false advertising, unfair business practices and securities cases), general contract and commercial litigation, employment and white collar crime. Click on the Practice Areas button to read descriptions of some recent examples of significant representations we have undertaken.

We believe that we regularly out-perform larger groups of adverse attorneys because we carefully manage pre-trial activity, in close consultation with our clients, and because our litigation strategy is always driven by the ultimate goal: to win through strategic motions or at trial, or to maximize the opportunities for a favorable settlement.

We set high standards in hiring lawyers. Our associates are graduates of the top law schools in the country. Most come to the firm after clerking for prominent federal district or circuit court judges. A number of our lawyers have worked as public prosecutors or public defenders. We hire lawyers who have demonstrated the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, intellectually challenging environment, who can assume responsibility quickly and perform on their feet.