Robert L. Kehr:
Partner
310-651-6500
Robert L. Kehr’s practice includes business and real estate transactions and estate planning, providing legal ethics advice to lawyers, law firms and businesses that work with lawyers, and serving as a consultant and expert witness concerning lawyer conduct and fiduciary issues.
Mr. Kehr was a member of the Committee for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct and is the former Chair of the State Bar Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct and of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee. He is an Adjunct Professor at Loyal Law School, a member of the American Law Institute, a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and for many years has been a been a volunteer fee arbitrator through California’s mandatory fee arbitration program. Mr. Kehr is an author and a frequent speaker regarding the professional responsibilities of lawyers and is a graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia University School of Law.
Member
State Bar of California:
- Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct (2005-2017);
- Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (Member, 1996-2001, Chair, 1999-2000 and Special Advisor, 2000-01).
Los Angeles County Bar Association:
- Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee (Member, 1981-Present; Chair, 1986-87);
- Evaluation of Professional Standards Committee (Member, 1988- merged into PREC);
- Arbitrator, Fee Arbitration Committee (1980-Present).
Adjunct Professor, Loyola Law School – 2017 – Present
American Law Institute – 2011 – Present
Author :
- “The Lawyer as Director,” Los Angeles County Bar Updates (April 2018);
- “The Lawyer as Escrow Holder,” Los Angeles County Bar Updates (March 2018);
- “Lawyer Ethics in Real Estate Transactions,” ABA Probate & Property, Vol. 26, No. 2 (March/Apr 2012) with Prof. Roger Bernhardt;
- “The Lawyer as Scrivener,” Vol. 34, No. 6, p. 20, Los Angeles Lawyer (2011);
- “Midcourse Corrections: Being Professionally Responsible in Property Transactions,” 34 CEB Real Property Law Reporter 123 (July 2011) with Prof. Roger Bernhardt);
- “When a Lawyer-Mediator Prepares the Settlement Agreement,” Vol. 27, No. 12, ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct (2011);
- “Principles or Rules: What is the Best Approach to Regulation?” Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 12 and August 13, 2010;
- “Lawyer Error: Malpractice, Fiduciary Breach, or Disciplinable Offense?” 29 W. St. U. L. Rev. 235 (2002);
- “Update on Conflicts of Interest,” Vol. 23, No. 4 p. 33, Los Angles Lawyer (2000);
- “Ruling on the Rules,” Vol. 21 No. 4 p. 37 Los Angeles Lawyer (1998).
Rachelle Cohen
Partner
rcohen@kscclegal.com
310-651-6995
Rachelle Cohen’s practice includes corporate transactions, estate planning, and legal ethics counseling. She serves as an outside “in-house” counsel to many of her clients and provides day-to-day guidance on legal challenges that arise in her clients’ businesses. She focuses on learning about her clients’ needs and concerns so that she can provide the best legal representation possible.
Rachelle speaks and writes frequently about business entities and transactions and legal ethics. In addition, she has taught a course at the USC Gould School of Law on contract drafting and strategy.
Rachelle has served during 2020-21 as the Co-Chair of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) Corporations Committee and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Ethics Committees. She also is a member of the CLA Civics Engagement and Ethics Committees and the Century City Bar Association Board.
She also has been involved in updating the CEB book Advising California Partnerships.
Previously, Rachelle worked in the state and local tax and investment management groups at Dechert LLP.
Education
Cornell University (B.S., 1997, major in Business Management and Marketing)
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (J.D., 2001)
Member
- State Bar of California:
Business Law Section; Chair of Partnerships and LLC Committee, 2014 – 2015 - California Lawyers Association: Business Law Section: Co-Chair of Corporations Committee, 2020-2021.
- California Lawyers Association, Ethics Committee, Member, 2019-present
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee, Vice Chair 2020-21.
- Century City Bar Association, Board Member, 2018-present
Author
- Update Author of CEB 3rd Edition of Advising California Partnerships;
- Summer Vacation Planning for Attorneys, California Lawyers Association eNews, May 2, 2022;
- “Informal Consultations with Outside Lawyers: How Much Can Be Shared?”, The Practitioner, California Lawyers Association, March 1, 2021;
- “Rule 7.3 examined: texts and messaging as solicitations”, Los Angeles Daily Journal, February 28, 2020.
- Litigation Financing: A Focus on the Lawyer’s Duty of Confidentiality, Los Angeles Count Bar Association Update, October 1, 2019;
- California Court of Appeals Opinion – Statutory California Partner Buy-Out Rights Do Not Apply to Foreign LLCs and LPs, CLA Partnerships and LLCs Committee E-Bulletin, April 4, 2019;
- Court Holds Reverse Triangular Merger Does Not Change Title To Real Estate, CLA Corporations Committee E-Bulleting, October 11, 2018.
- New Rules of Professional Conduct Changes Requiring Reporting Up of Illegal Conduct in Representing Organizations, CLA Partnerships and LLCs Committee E-Bulletin, October 3, 2018;
- “California’s New LLC Law is Coming: Prepare for its Arrival” State bar Business Law Committee – distributed at various presentations;
- “All Grown Up: The New LLC Law and Fiduciary Duties” State Bar Business Law News, Issue 2, 2013;
- “Law Firm Dissolutions: Who Gets the Results of Unfinished Business?” State bar Business Law Section, E-news, July 9, 2012;
Lecturer
- “Practical Discussion of Ethics Odds and Ends”, Los Angeles County Bar Association Ethics Symposium, June 14, 2022;
- “Legal Ethics Briefing: A Look Back at 2021”, California Lawyers Association and Beverly Hills Bar Association webinar, January 2022;
- “You’re Fired! Thinking Through a Corporate Client’s Firing of a Business Litigator”, co-presenter, CLA Solo and Small Firm Summit, June 2021;
- “Communicating with Clients, Potential Clients, and the Nonclients Under the Rules of Professional Conduct”, co-presenter, Mexican-American Bar Association MCLE Day, January 25, 2020;
- “Professional Responsibility in California: Past, Present & Future”, co-presenter, CLA Annual Meeting, October 2019;
- “Overview of California’s New Rules of Professional Conduct: What Every Lawyer Should Know”, co-presenter, Century City Bar Association, January 2019.
- “Avoiding and Managing Conflicts Under California’s Ethics Rules”, Lawline.com, January 2019;
- “Why Delaware? A Spirited Conversation about LLC Formation”, co-presenter, CLA Partnerships and Limited Liability Program, January 2018;
- State Bar Solo and Small Firm Summit – Employment/Independent Contractor Distinctions, California State Bar Annual Meeting, 2013 and 2014;
- USC Gould School of Law, Course 710, Contract Drafting and Strategy (Summer, 2015)
Principal Practice Areas
- Business, real estate, and other transactions, estate planning, legal ethics advising.
Joel P. Schiff
Of Counsel
Joel P. Schiff is a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, California Board of Legal Specialization. He is admitted to Practice in New York, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and First Circuits; U.S. District Courts of California. He is a graduate of Cornell University (A.B.) (Honors: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Eta Sigma) and Cornell Law School (J.D. with distinction) (Honors: Order of the Coif; Associate Editor, Cornell Law Review).
Paul Crane (1937-2021)
Paul Crane was a founding partner of the firm where he focused on real estate and litigation matters, as well as estate planning and probate administration. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (B.S., 1959, major in Business Administration) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1962). He also was a law clerk for Justice Mathew O. Tobriner, Supreme Court of California (1962-63).