Craig C. Hunter

Craig C. Hunter is Of Counsel in the Los Angeles office.  He has divided his 30-plus years of practice between transactional services and civil litigation. 

Craig’s experience on the transactional side includes work in the areas of corporate formation and transactions, real estate, land use, intellectual property, securities, renewable energy development, and gaming.   In the corporate arena, Craig has counseled new business startups and existing firms, large and small, including real estate developers, insurance brokers, restaurants, hotels, energy developers and investment advisors. 

His corporate work has ranged from forming corporations and LLC’s and drafting governing documents, to preparing buy-sell agreements, stock purchase agreements, ERISA plans, employment agreements, to preparing documentation for the purchase of businesses, and establishment of credit facilities.  Recently, Craig has been advising renewable energy development firms on corporate matters involving commercial-scale wind and solar projects.

On the real estate and land use side, he has been extensively involved in advising clients on the development, financing, use and sale of residential and commercial property.  Early in his career he served as a principal and general counsel in a mid-sized real estate development firm where he spearheaded a variety of projects ranging from a luxury Malibu townhome project, requiring multiple agency approvals, including the California Coastal Commission, to a successful 500-unit inner city condominium project involving local, state and federal mortgage bond programs and complex and contentious land use issues.  He continues to advise clients on real estate and land use matters, including drafting commercial leases, and assisting clients in real estate development projects. 

In the intellectual property area, Craig has advised a variety of clients concerning trade secret, copyright and trademark issues.  He has drafted a variety of agreements to protect trade secrets and confidential corporate information.

Craig’s practice as a litigator has included numerous jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations.  His litigation experience has ranged broadly across many practice areas, including corporate matters, real estate and land use, intellectual property, securities, professional liability, insurance coverage, employment, mass tort, aviation, construction defect, managed care and products liability.  Craig has secured favorable verdicts and settlements in most of his cases, including a favorable verdict for a one of several institutional investors following a four month federal court trial in $500 million securities fraud case, a defense verdict for an insurer client in a $300 million environmental coverage case, negotiation of almost $100 million in settlements for victims in a mass tort pharmaceutical case, and assisting as defense liaison counsel in settling a $200 million land subsidence case.

Craig has lectured on real estate at Pepperdine University School of Law and to securities brokers on how to avoid arbitration claims.  He has made presentations on wind energy and solar energy development to Indian tribes in Washington and Nevada and on development of off-reservation gaming to an Idaho tribe.