News &Analysis

Could this pileof dirt spelltrouble forBurbank’s hoteliers?PAGE 5

UpFront

OpEd

Can smallbusinesses survive a wagehike?PAGE 49

Profile

MichaelCusumano literally made amark in hishometown.PAGE 8

Awards Reception: Tuesday, March 4, 2014 • 6:00pm-8:30pmUniversal Sheraton, 333 Universal Hollywood Dr., Universal City 91608

For moreinformation,see page 11Register today at www.sfvbj.com/bizevents or call 323.549.5225

SAN FERNANDOVALLEY BUSINESS JOURNALVolume 19, Number 4 February 24 - March 9, 2014 • $4.00

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T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F B U S I N E S S TM

By ELLIOT GOLAN Staff Reporter

More than three yearsafter developer RichardWeintraub agreed to pur-chase a high-profileWoodland Hills property fora large apartment complex,the deal has fallen apart.

The Malibu developerhad been planning to build600 apartments in nine buildings at the formerCatalina Yachts site. But a dispute over soilcontamination has scuttled the $21.5 millionsale of the property at 21200 Victory Blvd.

By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter

The shrinking commercial printing industry got abit smaller this month following the acquisition of FoxPrinting in Sun Valley by Harman Press.

The North Hollywood company is taking on Fox’sclients and salespeople, but not its equipment or build-ing, which will be sold separately.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, butit is expected to double Harman’s revenue, which thecompany previously projected at roughly $4 million inits last fiscal year.

Several factors contributed to the deal’s comple-tion: both companies are third-generation family-owned businesses that are union shops. They also havesimilar-sized workforces and serve niche industries.

“There was a joint realization we are the same shopin two different locations,” said Harman President PhilGoldner, who operates the company with his brother,Fred Goldner, and father, Jay Goldner.

Harman closed the sale in early February, about sixmonths after Fox Printing owner Gary Fox agreed tothe terms.

As a union shop, Fox was limited in selling thebusiness to one that was also unionized for legal rea-sons. Workers at Fox and Harman are represented by

Equity Firm Strikes Out

The Fine Print Is Getting Smaller

You’ll neverguess what youcan pick up atthis mall kiosk.PAGE 4

BAR CODE: Attorneys are generallyconsidered technophobes, but theycan’t be in today’s digital world. Readhow Encino attorney ADAM GRANT,above, and his colleagues are copingwith the dramatic changes.

SPORTS: Fenway Partnersunloads Easton’s baseball biz.

M&A: Harman Press in NorthHollywood buys Sun Valley rival.

By ELLIOT GOLAN Staff Reporter

Just a decade after building Easton-BellSports Inc. into a formidable sporting goodsmanufacturer, Fenway Partners LLC has soldoff a big chunk of the Van Nuys company.

The $330 million sale this month of Easton-Bell’s baseball and softball business to Canadianmanufacturer Bauer Performance Sports Ltd.marks a turnabout for the New York private equi-ty firm, which built Easton-Bell with several largeacquisitions prior to the financial crisis.

Easton-Bell also announced plans to sell offits hockey business, and last year, the companygot out of lacrosse.

Catalina YachtsProject Sunk?DEVELOPMENT: Contaminationdispute hits Woodland Hills site.

LOS ANGELES • GLENDALE • SANTA CLARITA • BURBANK • CONEJO VALLEY • SIMI VALLEY • SAN FERNANDO • CALABASAS • AGOURA HILLS • ANTELOPE VALLEY

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By MARK R. MADLER Staff Reporter

The new news set at KNBC-TV Channel 4 isdesigned for a visual world to say the least.

There are 27 on-air monitors throughout –all around the main anchor desk, in the weather cen-ter that doubles as a secondary reporting area, and inthe sports area that includes a new interactive screen.

The five 90-inch monitors behind the anchors?They can change images in a moment’s notice,

moving from the skyline of Los Angeles to themountains in Sochi for a report on the WinterOlympics. The set, too, can change its overall light-ing scheme, with red reserved for breaking news toshow urgency and importance.

Welcome to the news set of the future – today.Since relocating to the Universal Studios lot from

its longtime home in Burbank early this month, theNBC station has presented what it boasts are themost graphics-heavy newscasts in the country – pow-ered by 308 miles of fiber optic cable.

“It enhances everything we are doing and truly getsthe viewer involved in what we are doing,” said SteveCarlston, president and general manager of the station.

The state-of-the-art news operation at the stationowned and operated by NBC is located in what hadonce had been Technicolor film processing labs.The improvements are the second phase of the

STRONG SIGNAL

Please see DEVELOPMENT page 44Please see MEDIA page 42

Please see M&A page 6

Weintraub

KNBC moves from longtime Burbank home

Flashy: Steve Carlston, general manager of KNBC-TV, at the station’s new set at Universal Studios.

SPECIAL REPORT LAW

Please see SPORTS page 44

BEGINNING ON PAGE 17

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San Fernando Valley Business Journal • February 24, 2014 SPECIAL REPORT LAW

or the first time in his career, attorney AdamGrant argued a case in court three years agowithout using a single piece of paper.

Grant, a partner at business litigationfirm Alpert Barr & Grant in Encino,

said the case lasted 14 weeks, involved 300 hundredexhibits, 10,000 document pages and 10 depositions.

All the documents were submitted digitally – withbarcodes for easy identification – and all the depositiontestimonies were taped on digital video.

“If we had not done a paperless trial, it probablywould have doubled the time required. And it engagedthe jurors significantly,” said Grant, also president of theSan Fernando Valley Bar Association. “They liked see-ing documents up on a screen. And when someone saidsomething on the stand and then they saw the personsaying the opposite on tape, it really impacted them. Inthe past, when you read back a transcript, it just didn’thave the same impact.”

The case illustrates just how profoundly digital tech-nology has revolutionized what is considered one of themost hide-bound of professions. And like in any revolu-tion, there are winners and losers.

Electronic court filings have replaced reams of paperand trips to the courthouse. Law firms have been able toreduce space as law libraries have given way to vastonline resources, but have added information technolo-gy teams. Demand has dwindled for legal secretariesbecause now attorneys write their own briefs using spe-cialized software.

And the technology has created new businesses:some of which threaten firms – such as Glendale’sLegalZoom.com Inc., an online legal forms service –and some of which assist them, such as specialists thatscan emails looking for evidence.

John Grimley, a consultant to law firms in down-town Los Angeles, believes the new digital age is onbalance a boon for firms, even as it possesses chal-lenges.

“The digital economy has had a significant impacton music, newspapers and a whole series of industries,”Grimley said. “Now it’s having a serious impact on thelegal services sector. It’s both a challenge, especially forlawyers in a small practice, and an opportunity. Butmost lawyers aren’t taking advantage of it.”

‘Massive litigation’Grant believes litigators are the lawyers who must

deal with the most change, since they often handle com-plex cases. At the Orange County trial where he defend-ed a former executive accused of taking corporatemoney, his firm had a computer consultant on site tomanage the body of evidence.

A good portion of Grant’s practice involves online pri-vacy, Internet marketing and mobile app law. In fact, whenhe’s not racking up billable hours or volunteering at the barassociation, he writes mobile apps for law firms. The appsallow clients to access a firm’s server from their mobile

phone to see documents about pending cases. “The information available on the Internet and

through mobile apps is virtually infinite,” Grant said.“The challenge is managing that information. You canget overwhelmed. Clients will send long emails askingabout a case, opposing counsel and the legal process.You can spend a lot of time answering them.”

R. Rex Parris, chief executive of R. Rex ParrisLaw Firm in Lancaster and the mayor of Lancaster,handles class-action lawsuits and other complex litiga-tion. His court victories include a $31.5 million verdictagainst CalTrans for a catastrophic auto accident and a$29.5 million class-action settlement with Lowe’s Cos.

Inc. over employee work hours. His most famous casewas a $370 million defamation award against GuessInc. co-founder Georges Marciano.

For Parris, technology has proven a boon in helpingto organize large projects that may involve identifyingand communicating with dozens of plaintiffs.

Email databases, questionnaires and analysis softwareare now tools of the trade. Parris even uses facial recogni-tion software so that when some of his many clients walkinto the office, the receptionist can greet them by name.

“You can manage massive litigation now, whereasyou really couldn’t before,” Parris said. “The biggestopportunity is the ability to conduct extensive surveying

F

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The digital revolution is radically changing the pratice of law, as paperwork gives way to online filings,video depositions and social media.

Alsoin thissection

Focus:ChristieParker Hale. PAGE 19

Profiles: Four locallawyers on keepingup with the times.PAGE 20

Please see page 18

BAR CODEBy JOEL RUSSELL Staff Writer

Raising the Bar: Right,Encino attorney AdamGrant in room wherevideo depositions arerecorded. Below, at officewith computer enabled forvideo conferences.

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18 SAN FERNANDO VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL FEBRUARY 24, 2014

and polling of issues that are present in a caseby using the Internet. This is done with bothvideo clips and written surveys.”

Grimley sees a future where everything isvirtual – including law firms and theiremployees. Consumers will choose a lawyerfrom their mobile phone and consult viaphone or email. The lawyer will deal withclients, courts, opposing counsel and his orher firm through emails and phone calls.

“The opportunity is that now a lawyerwho engages on digital platforms can befound by people all over world,” he said. “It’sperfect for L.A. If you’re a lawyer in theValley, why drive to Westwood for a network-ing event when you could interact with 20clients online?”

At the same time, Grimley sees the tech-nology as a threat to traditional law firms. Asmore and more people access lawyers on theircell phone, the need for online marketingsavvy will increase, while the importance offormal offices and support staff will decrease.

And the threat isn’t limited to consumer-oriented lawyers who handle disability andDUI cases.

For a peek at the future, Grimley points toAxiom Law, a New York company that pro-vides attorneys for in-house counsels at largecorporations. While it sounds like a high-endtemp agency, Axiom-like referral servicescould replace traditional corporate law firms,Grimley believes.

“Look how digital changed music – that’ssomething lawyers should be worried about,”he said. “But the future is exciting for lawyerswho are entrepreneurial.”

For now, many attorneys see digitalizationas a time-saver and a money-saver. Parris saidat his firm, technology has reduced costs oneverything from secretary salaries to rent tomessenger services.

Virtual servicesThe drive to digital has created a plethora

of companies that either compete against orservice law firms. Large accounting firms andforensic companies offer electronic discoveryservices, wading through emails to find incrim-inating or exculpatory evidence. Other compa-nies concentrate on online security, data stor-age, typing software or cloud services.

Among the most high-profile challengers isLegalZoom right here in the Valley. Lastmonth the company decided to forego an initialpublic offering and instead took $200 millionfrom European private equity firm Permira.

According to a prospectus filed for the can-celled IPO, the company had 2011 revenue of$156 million and profits of $12 million –money that could have gone to law firms.

In Santa Monica, LAC Group provideslibrary services for law firms’ growing collec-tion of video testimonies, photos and docu-ments. It also performs competitive researchfor large law firms on other firms, and it han-dles contract negotiations for law firms withother digital providers, such as online casedatabase LexisNexis.

LAC recently leased 40,000 square feet inNewbury Park, but most of that space will bebuilt out as a digital film vault for Hollywoodstudios.

Chief Executive Deb Schwarz said thatfor large firms, the bills from digital suppliersreach into the millions of dollars. At the sametime, the technology revolution has broughtpressure on a firm’s ability to charge sophisti-cated clients.

“In the old days, lawyers had exclusiveaccess to LexisNexis and they would chargeto get access for their clients,” Schwarz said.“Now clients have the same access. They say,‘We know what this costs, you’re over charg-ing us. … Billing for time and material does-n’t work anymore because a lot of clients arepushing back.”

To prosper in the digital age, consultantGrimley advises lawyers to develop a dynam-ic website with substantive, regularly updatedcontent – essentially a blog. They’ll also need

outbound email marketing to contact existingand potential customers, with customer rela-tionship management software.

Parris expects his Lancaster firm will soonbe using facial expression software to assessthe impact of different testimony on focusgroups.

But amid all of the changes of a high-techpresent and future, Grant warns that in thelegal profession there is no substitute forhuman contact. He knows older attorneysrealize this; he’s not so sure about ones justentering the profession.

“The challenge is to make sure theyounger attorneys call to have a personal con-nection,” he said. “That’s how you developrelationships with clients and opposing coun-sel. Email and texting lose meaning, so pickup that phone.”

SPECIAL REPORT LAW

Continued from page 17

‘You can managemassive litigation now,whereas you really couldn’tbefore. The biggestopportunity is the ability toconduct extensive surveyingand polling of issues thatare present in a case byusing the Internet. This isdone with both video clipsand written surveys.’REX PARRIS

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