1995
The firm
Nine lawyers. One floor. No handoffs.
Halvern & Roe was built by two litigators who left a hundred-attorney firm because their clients kept getting passed down the roster. We stayed small on purpose.
The lawyer you meet in the first hour is the lawyer who argues the motion. That is not a slogan — it is why we cap our caseload and turn work away when the calendar is full. It also means we can tell you in the first meeting whether your matter is worth pursuing, and say so plainly if it is not.
We work across four rooms on the fourth floor of the Whitfield Building, five minutes from the county courthouse, and we have been there since the firm opened.
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Matters resolved without a second firm involved
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Median time to first substantive reply
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Attorneys, four of them partners
Ellis Halvern & Nadia Roe
Founding partners
How we work
Four things we put in writing
You hear back the same business day
Every call and message gets a substantive reply before we close, not an acknowledgement from an assistant.
The fee is agreed before work starts
Hourly, flat or contingency — written out, with a monthly ceiling you approve. No line item arrives as a surprise.
We tell you when not to sue
Roughly one in five people who call us are advised to settle, wait, or do nothing. That advice is free.
Your file stays with your lawyer
No rotating associates, no handoff at trial. The name on the engagement letter is the name at counsel table.
From first call to close
The route your matter takes
Four stages, each with a decision point where you can stop. You are never carried into litigation by momentum.
STAGE 01
Intake call
Thirty minutes with a partner. You describe what happened; we tell you whether there is a claim and what it would cost to pursue.
Same week · No charge
STAGE 02
File review
We read every document, pull the record, and return a written assessment: strengths, exposure, realistic range, recommended path.
7–10 days · Fixed fee
STAGE 03
Demand or filing
Most matters open with a demand letter that carries a credible trial threat behind it. If it fails, we file within the week.
Weeks 2–6
STAGE 04
Resolution
Negotiated settlement, mediation, or trial. You approve every number before it is offered or accepted.
Median 7 months
Track record
What the last five years produced
Figures below are gross recovery or savings before fees and costs, reported with client permission.
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Recovered or saved for clients since 2021
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Matters tried to verdict or arbitration award
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Resolved before the second court appearance
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Appeals argued before the Ninth Circuit
$14.2M
Jury verdict for a family after a highway barrier failure
Verdict
$6.8M
Settlement in a minority shareholder freeze-out
Settled
$3.4M
Recovery for eleven employees denied overtime for six years
Class
$2.1M
Construction defect claim resolved at mandatory settlement conference
Settled
Dismissed
Federal wire fraud indictment dropped after a suppression motion
Defense
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every matter turns on its own facts, jurisdiction and evidence. Nothing on this page is legal advice or a promise of any particular result.
Recognition
Peer and bench ratings
AV Preeminent
Highest peer rating for legal ability and ethics, held continuously since 2004.
Best Lawyers listing
Six attorneys named across civil litigation, employment and family law.
Trial Lawyer of the Year
Springfield County Bar Association, awarded to Ellis Halvern in 2022.
Pro bono honour roll
Over 900 hours contributed annually to the county legal aid clinic.
The people
Who will actually be on your file
Four partners, five associates. Every matter is assigned to a partner on the day it opens and stays there.
In their words
Clients on what it was like
Names shortened at the client’s request; matters described with permission.
Two firms told me the case was too old. Halvern read the file over a weekend, found the tolling argument, and we recovered every dollar eleven months later.
Denise M.
Employment claim, Springfield
They talked me out of suing my former partner and negotiated a buyout instead. It cost me a fifth of what litigation would have, and I still have the business.
Andre K.
Shareholder dispute, Caldera Group
Custody work is miserable and they never once made it worse. Priya answered on a Sunday when the exchange went wrong, and had an order modified inside a fortnight.
Marisol T.
Family matter, Springfield
I got a written estimate on day one and the final invoice was under it. After twenty years of dealing with law firms, that alone was remarkable.
Warren H.
General counsel, Halstead Union
They filed inside a week of the first call, and the other side settled before the first hearing. I never once had to chase anybody for an update.
Gregor P.
Contract dispute, Marin Ridge
The written file review was worth the fee on its own. It told me plainly what the case was worth and what it would cost to find out.
Lucia R.
Estate matter, Vancouver Basin
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Start here
Tell us what happened
Send the outline and a partner will call you back the same business day. If it is urgent — you have been served, or a deadline is inside a week — use the phone number instead.
Direct line
Email
Office
9785 Southwest Vancouver
Springfield, CA
Springfield, CA
Hours
Mon–Fri 8:30–18:00
Weekend calls returned
Weekend calls returned
Request a case review
Everything you send is confidential. Submitting this form does not create an attorney–client relationship.
Typical reply: same business day before 18:00 Pacific.