Will Small

Small & Schena LLP is committed to bringing a fresh perspective to our clients and collaborating with them throughout all steps of our representation. We assist our clients with all forms of business litigation, including claims involving contract disputes, trade secrets, fiduciary duty, unfair competition laws, consumer protection laws and franchise laws. We also handle cases involving intellectual property, professional liability, employment, defamation, products liability and personal injury cases.

I was Senior Counsel in the Commercial Litigation, Professional Liability and Intellectual Property practice groups at Gordon & Rees LLP, which has San Diego's second largest law office and ranks among America's 100 largest law firms according to the National Law Journal.

At Gordon & Rees, I litigated a broad variety of civil matters, including cases involving the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, California's Unfair Competition Law, California and federal franchise laws, trademark, copyright, contract disputes, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, products liability, the Automobile Sales Finance Act, and other forms of commercial litigation.

I also litigated many contentious matters involving claims for defamation, including trade libel disputes between businesses.

As a member of the Professional Liability group, I handled matters involving fraud and other civil actions against officers and directors of corporations in securities and corporate litigation. I also litigated cases involving claims against lawyers, real estate agents and brokers, homeowners association board members, financial advisors, insurance brokers, and other professionals.

Some of my specific successes included:
• Obtaining a dismissal of franchise law and fraud litigation against officers and directors of a national corporation.
• Securing a complete dismissal of a breach of fiduciary duty and contract action against a prominent San Diego financial institution.
• Winning summary judgment on behalf of a corporation's officers and directors in a defamation action seeking excess of $1 million in damages and on behalf of a corporation in a multi-million dollar product-liability and wrongful-death suit.

Primarily handled defense litigation, including cases involving product liability, insurance bad faith, construction defects and other matters. Also handled insurance coverage, including writing numerous insurance coverage opinions for national insurance companies.