Andrew B. Mason

An Orange County native, Andrew’s practice centers around advising Southern California-based businesses, family-owned enterprises, and individuals on an array of litigation-related matters.  Andrew’s reputation is that of a “problem-solver” and he strives first and foremost to find the right solution for the client as efficiently as possible.  This means finding creative negotiation and resolution strategies when possible and litigating cases through trial when necessary. 

Andrew’s practice reflects the myriad of day-to-day challenges his clients face.  His experience includes negotiating commercial contracts and litigating commercial disputes, advising companies and organizations of their litigation risk, managing internal and regulatory investigations, enforcing judgments, and handling trust and estate disputes.  Consequently, he has experience in California state courts, probate courts, federal district courts, and numerous arbitral forums. 

Andrew’s experience prior to his legal career gives him unique insight when advising his clients.  Prior to law school, he worked as an international business journalist, where he reported on various legal, regulatory, and financial challenges facing multi-national stakeholders and investors in foreign jurisdictions.  His experience interviewing hundreds of executives and industry leaders early in his career exposed him to the vastly different ways businesses are managed and how they achieve their goals.  He draws on this experience when providing legal advice, as his first goal is to ensure the recommended legal strategy addresses the client’s big picture objectives. 

Andrew is a graduate of UCLA School of Law and Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. At UCLA, Andrew was named to the Moot Court Honors team and was a finalist in the national Williams Institute Moot Court Competition where he presented oral argument to a panel of sitting federal and California appellate judicial officers. In his final semester of law school, Andrew served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Andrew J. Guilford of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.  He also completed an internship with the Public Law Center in Santa Ana, CA where he assisted low-income veterans with housing-related legal issues.  While at Georgetown, Andrew was co-captain of the national championship winning varsity sailing team his senior year.  

Andrew is an active member of the Orange County community.  He is a member of the Newport Beach Foundation’s Distinguished Citizen’s Program and a local alumni interviewer for Georgetown University’s undergraduate admission program. He also serves on the junior member’s committee at Big Canyon Country Club and is an avid sailboat racer as a member of Newport Harbor Yacht Club. 

Experience

Our team successfully represented a family member in her petition to be appointed successor trustee of a family trust, as well as her opposition to a counter petition by an institutional trust company for control of the family trusteeship. Following the death of the first trustee, the decedent’s representatives failed to provide notice to our client and erroneously contacted the institutional trust company to fill the vacancy. The institutional trust company accepted the trusteeship over our client’s objections, immediately filed a petition to force a sale of the family home and, thereafter, refused to cede control of the trust to our client. Following our discovery and submission of briefs and evidence, the institutional trust company voluntarily resigned as successor trustee before the hearing on our petition, and our client has been appointed the successor trustee.
Our team secured a favorable settlement at mediation for a defunct fashion and apparel company and its principals in a dispute with a vendor. Following a forced sale of the company’s assets, the vendor sought to impute personal liability on the principals by alleging fraud and alter ego liability. At each of the two mediations the vendor’s theories of the case were meticulously rebutted, which presented allowed the case to settle for less than the cost of continued defense. 
Secured a voluntary dismissal for a resort developer client in a long-running lawsuit related to a theme park and resort facility in Spain. After the project’s promoters did not come through with promised funding for the highly speculative project, one of the consultants hired by the client sued alleging that the company had failed to honor the payments terms of the parties’ contract and that the client’s principal had made multiple false promises about forthcoming payments to the plaintiff. During deposition, however, the plaintiff provided several helpful admissions on the contract’s interpretation and representations directly made to him by the project’s promoters that undermined his claims. Using these admissions, our team  brought a motion for summary judgment. Rather than oppose summary judgment, the plaintiff stopped litigating the case altogether and filed a voluntary dismissal.  
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Credentials

Education
  • University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D., 2017
  • Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, B.S., 2012
  • California

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