Robert Hertzberg

Firm: Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP
Law School: University of California Hastings College of Law
Clients: Declined to name

As a governmental affairs attorney, Robert Hertzberg guides his clients, typically foreign and domestic companies doing business in the state, through the Byzantine world of California regulatory guidelines and statues.
Hertzberg is well suited for the role, since he played a key part in crafting many of those provisions over the course of his six years in the State Assembly, the last two as Speaker.

When his tenure in Sacramento ended in 2002, Hertzberg returned to the legal profession as a partner in the Los Angeles office of Chicago-based Mayer Brown.

“I returned to law as an exciting and vibrant profession where I can use my intense interest in public policy to solve complex problems in an effective, yet quiet and respectful manner,” he said.

He was first inspired to pursue a career in law by his father, a lawyer whose practice ranged from precedent setting constitutional cases to generic real estate matters. “My father was a lawyer’s lawyer. He loved it and lived for his profession,” Hertzberg said. “His enthusiasm for representing the underdog and under-represented was contagious to me.”

Hertzberg practiced with his father for several years following his graduation from law school. While Hertzberg’s current clients are far from underdogs, his enthusiasm and commitment to the practice of law remains the same.

In addition to counseling clients with California regulatory matters, Hertzberg’s practice also includes assisting businesses facing similar regulatory matters in other states and at the federal level.

He hasn’t totally removed himself from electoral politics. His post-Assembly endeavors include an unsuccessful run for mayor of Los Angeles in 2005. He also served on the transition team of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, following his recall election victory.

When not practicing law, Hertzberg, a resident of Sherman Oaks, spends leisure time pursuing his interests in local history, writing and abstract art.

– Matthew T. Washington

Dario Frommer

Firm: Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP
Clients: Declined to name
Most Challenging Matter: Advising clients on climate change regulation.
Worst Career Moment: Sitting in the living room of a tiny townhouse with 20 other defense attorneys, all waiting to take deposition of a cancer victim lying in bed upstairs. At that point, I decided I didn’t want to litigate anymore.
My Colleagues Don’t Know: I was a disc jockey at an FM radio station in college.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: I’d still be in politics (Frommer served in the Assembly), or singing with a Las Vegas big band.