Nahal Kazemi

Of Counsel

T: 949.476.8700
F: 949.476.0900
nkazemi@kelleranderle.com

PRACTICE AREAS
Trials
Commercial Litigation
Insurance Recovery/Bad Faith
White Collar Criminal Defense
Legal Malpractice

EDUCATION
Harvard Law School, J.D.; cum laude; Harvard International Law Journal, Executive Editor

Harvard College, A.B., Government, magna cum laude

Admissions

State Bar of California

State Bar of New York

Court of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York

Professional Activities

Harvard Law School Association – Orange County Chapter President

Harvard Law School Association Women’s Alliance – Orange County Chapter President

Orange County Bar Association, Business Litigation Section

Iranian American Bar Association, Orange County Chapter

Pacific Council on International Policy

Community Involvement

Vice President for Governance, Board of Directors, WisePlace

Speaking Engagements

UCI Law/OC Bar Association: “Creating a Prison to University Pipeline: Prison Education and the New “Clean Slate” Laws,” moderator (February 7, 2023 panel).

Harvard Law School Association of Orange County, “Pitfalls and Perils of Workplace Investigations: Common Investigation Mistakes & How to Avoid Them,” moderator (January 18, 2023 webinar).

Harvard Law School Association of Orange County, “The Future of Affirmative Action in Higher Education,” moderator (May 25, 2022 webinar)

Northern District Practice Panel, “Civil Justice and the ADA,” panel discussion with R. Grewal, R. Williford, and T. Lange (November 9, 2021).

Pacific Council on International Policy, “The Future of US-Israeli Relations,” moderator (June 12, 2020 webinar)

Orange County City Attorneys’ Association, “Reasonable Regulations of Sober Living Homes: The Costa Mesa Case Study,” panel with Michael Schachter (April 18, 2019, Costa Mesa, CA)

National Association of Women Lawyers, 15th General Counsel Institute, “Eliminating Bias and Leveraging Diversity: Lessons for Lawyers from War and Diplomacy,” panel with Jennifer Keller (November 7, 2019, New York, NY)

Publications

“Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: It’s Not About NATO” (Pacific Council Magazine, March 2022)

“The Non-Controversy Over Birthright Citizenship: Defending the Original Understanding of Jus Soli Citizenship” (Chapman Law Review, November 2020) (with M. Stock)

“Leveraging Diversity: Lessons from War and Diplomacy,” (Orange County Business Journal, October 14, 2019)

“Illiberal Democracy’s Challenge to European Security Policy” (The Foreign Area Officer Association Journal of International Affairs, Volume XIX, Number 2, p. 54, Fall 2016)

“Justifications for Universal Jurisdiction: Shocking the Conscience Is not Enough” (49 Tulsa L. Rev. 1, 2013)
“Lowering the Bar: The Unanticipated Consequences of the Trademark Dilution Revision Act for Search Engine Advertising” (J. of Internet L., Nov. 2005) (with R. Skibell)

“Ill at Ease: The Precarious State of the Biological Weapons Convention’s Proposed Enforcement Regime” (17 Florida J. of Int’l L. 137, 2005)

“Prospects for Justice and Reconciliation in Sierra Leone” (44 Harvard Int’l L. J. 287, 2003) (with L. Hall)

Foreign and International Source Citations, The Bluebook: Uniform System of Citation (18th Ed) (with E. Sherwin)

Media

November 2022 – Inland Empire Magazine Top Lawyers Issue, “Hot Topics”

February 22, 2020 – Costa Mesa Officials Address Growing Concerns Over Possible Transfer Of Up To 50 Coronavirus Patients To City

March 27, 2019 – “Daily Journal” CLAY Award profile – “Writing the legal blueprint for cities as it relates to sober-living homes”

Languages

Farsi, Arabic and Hungarian (fluent); Spanish and French (conversational)

“Nahal immediately grasped the key issues, mastered the details, and treated my case like it was as important to her as it was to me. She helped me achieve an outstanding resolution to my case.”

– Hugh Pham, CEO, Western Insurance Marketing Corporation

Nahal Kazemi combines a strong background in broad, high-stakes litigation with extensive experience as a diplomat.

While at Keller Anderle Scolnick, Nahal has achieved outstanding results for her clients in major litigation matters, including successfully defending the City of Costa Mesa in federal litigation brought against it by sober living businesses. Nahal and the Keller Anderle Scolnick team representing the City were honored with a “2019 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” award for their victory in that case, which was also named one of the top defense verdicts of 2018 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal. Nahal worked closely with appellate counsel to defend this victory on appeal. In September 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury’s verdict. Nahal was selected by Super Lawyers® as a Rising Star for Business Litigation in 2020 and as a Super Lawyer for Business Litigation in 2022.

On behalf of a plaintiff insurance agency, Nahal and the Keller Anderle Scolnick team obtained a highly-favorable settlement in a breach of good faith action. The case was resolved after mediation following aggressive litigation in Orange County Superior Court.

In a breach of contract and bad faith case brought by a major fitness equipment company in Superior Court in Los Angeles County, Nahal and the Keller Anderle Scolnick team achieved a full victory on summary judgment.

Nahal drafted and successfully litigated the emergency temporary restraining order application on behalf of the City of Costa Mesa that led the state and federal governments to abandon their plan to use a dilapidated and unsuitable former assisted living facility as a coronavirus isolation site. The case drew national media attention to the inadequate planning and lack of state and federal coordination with county and local authorities in addressing the coronavirus threat.

For five years, Nahal was an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, where she litigated against the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of her client, a major engineering firm, on allegations it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; successfully defended a “Big Four” accounting firm in an investigation into derivatives and hedge accounting issues, among others; and successfully represented a major European bank in litigation involving its acquisition of a U.S. Bank in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

In her pro bono work, Nahal has obtained political asylum for numerous applicants fleeing persecution and political oppression, assisted holocaust survivors in claiming reparations, represented victims of domestic violence in obtaining orders of protection, successfully defended indigent tenants in unlawful detainer actions, and taught the Columbia University Immigration Law Clinic. She sits on the Board of Directors of WisePlace, Orange County’s only homeless shelter for unaccompanied women.

Nahal also served as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Budapest, Hungary; Baghdad, Iraq; and Casablanca, Morocco. During her years with the State Department she developed a deep expertise in consular, political, and political-military affairs, including crisis management, democratization, human rights, countering violent extremism, multilateral diplomacy, U.S. security cooperation programs, emerging security challenges, and civil-military relations.

Nahal received her J.D. in 2004 from Harvard Law School, cum laude, where she was Executive Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. She earned her A.B. in Government from Harvard College magna cum laude in 2001. As an undergraduate she won a John Harvard Scholarship for Academic Excellence and the Harvard College Scholarship for Academic Excellence. Nahal also was a member of the Women’s Varsity Water Polo team.

Nahal now teaches torts and national security courses as an assistant professor at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law but will continue her work with KA as well.

Nahal speaks fluent Farsi, Arabic and Hungarian, and conversational Spanish and French.

Honors & Awards
Representative Matters

Honors & Awards

Los Angeles Magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers® for Business Litigation (2022-2024)

Los Angeles Magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers® Rising Star for Business Litigation (2020)

California Lawyer Magazine CLAY Award (California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year), Municipal Law (2019)

The Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals, “Top Defense Verdicts” (2018)

Fellow, National Defense University’s Program for Emerging Leaders

Naval War College 2016 Foreign Service Officers Association Prize for Outstanding Writing (2016), First Prize

Naval War College 2016 Admiral Richard G. Colbert Prize for Outstanding Writing

State Department Meritorious Honor Award, 2017, 2014

State Department Group Meritorious Honor Award, 2014

State Department Superior Honor Award, 2013, 2012

Representative Matters

Represented three insurers from the AIG family of insurance companies, one of the world’s largest and most respected insurance groups, in defending against claims for bad faith and breach of contract brought by Victaulic Company of America in California Superior Court. The case was tried once before by different counsel, resulting in a $70 million verdict and three contempt actions against AIG. The California Court of Appeal vacated that decision in its entirety and remanded the matter for retrial. AIG retained us for the retrial. After five years and extensive discovery, we were able find evidence that Victualic’s valves were defective and the cause of the damage. We also discovered that Victualic knew about the defective valves before it applied for policies with AIG and before it made the claims at issue. As a result, the case settled for nuisance value.

Representing Jazz, a wafer foundry that is a wholly owned United States subsidiary of Israel-based Tower Semiconductor (Intel) as defendant and cross-complainant in a lawsuit against its real estate developer, landlord. Wanting to build luxury condos, the developer sued to evict Jazz nine years before its lease was to end. Jazz filed a cross-complaint for fraud and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Damages are approximately $500 million. The case is set for trial in December 2023.

Represented I-Hsin Chen, a shipping container warehouse magnate, who was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.

Obtained favorable settlement for plaintiff client suing Fortune 100 insurance company for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Successfully represented former head of USA Swimming and Coach of US Olympic Swim Team on civil lawsuit alleging negligent supervision of an assistant. Lawsuit was dismissed by plaintiff after intense litigation.

Achieved full defense verdict on all claims for the City of Costa Mesa in federal fair housing and disabilities law case brought by sober living businesses challenging the City’s right to set minimum health and safety standards for rehabilitation residences.

Achieved full defense victory on summary judgment for major insurance company in bad faith litigation brought in California state court.

Obtained emergency restraining order in federal court, preventing the state and federal governments from using a rundown building the state had declared unfit for human habitation as a coronavirus treatment facility.

Defended a major international engineering firm in connection with Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations into allegations of corruption and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Defended a “Big Four” accounting firm in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regarding derivatives and hedge accounting, revenue recognition, and project accounting issues.

Successfully represented a major European bank in litigation arising from the acquisition of a regional U.S. bank immediately following the 2008 financial crisis.