Daniel J. Kessler

As a partner at Burkhalter Kessler Clement & George LLP, Daniel J. Kessler is dedicated to providing legal representation to clients in Irvine, Westlake Village, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Southern California and statewide. He focuses his practice on business, commercial, real estate, labor and employment law, generally handling cases that involve employment litigation defense, employment pre-litigation investigations and advice, employee terminations, trade secrets, business fraud, commercial real estate and development, and land use and zoning matters.In 1991, Mr. Kessler earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He then went on to receive a Juris Doctor from Whittier Law School in 1994, graduating magna cum laude.For more than 20 years, Mr. Kessler has aggressively advocated on behalf of his clients. While he fights to ensure that their rights are upheld when necessary, he encourages his clients to participate in alternative dispute resolution when possible.Over the course of his career, Mr. Kessler has achieved high rates of success, regularly securing multimillion-dollar verdicts for his clients. His successes include: A $70 million judgment against Universal Studios on behalf of the creators of the television series “Columbo,” Foxcroft Productions, Inc., and Fairmount Productions, Inc.; a $2.9 million fraud verdict with punitive damages; and a successful defense of his client from a $30.4 million claim in a commercial real estate case. Mr. Kessler's commitment to maintaining high standards of legal ethics while providing quality representation has helped him to receive the highest possible rating of AV Preeminent* from Martindale-Hubbell.Beyond his work in the courtroom, Mr. Kessler is an active member of the legal community and regularly shares his legal knowledge with others through presentations and lectures. In addition to regular employment training seminars, he has served as an adjunct professor at Whittier Law School, teaching courses on trade secrets, and he has been a guest lecturer at Pepperdine University School of Law's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.