DAVID SAFVATI, ASSOCIATE

David Safvati is a Real Estate Litigation Associate at Sklar Kirsh. His practice centers on real estate, business, and other complex commercial litigation. David’s experience includes litigating claims involving breach of contract, real estate disputes, fraud, accounting, unfair competition, partnership disputes, shareholder actions, and other complex business disputes. With his extensive trial experience, David is responsible for trial preparation and strategy and is experienced in alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration.

David has substantial courtroom experience, having served as both a first and second chair on numerous bench and jury trials, where he was chiefly responsible for the preparation of trial strategy. David routinely appears before trial and appellate courts, where he has successfully briefed and argued motions on behalf of his clients.

After graduating from Loyola Law School, David was selected as an American Board of Trial Advocates Fellow, where he completed a law clerk fellowship with the Honorable Samantha P. Jessner, presiding Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. While in law school, David was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert N. Kwan of the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. He was also an active member of the Jewish Law Student Association while in law school and served as its vice president.

Representative Matters include the representation of:

• A real estate investment company in an action for specific performance of a $450,000,000 real estate transaction, which proceeded to a 30-day bench trial, resulting in a victory for his client.
• A real estate investment company in an action for partition of a Downtown Los Angeles office building valued more than $20,000,000, which proceeded to a bench trial, resulting in a victory for his client.
• A real estate developer, defending a multi-million-dollar construction defect lawsuit that settled on the first day of a scheduled 7-day trial for $1, as a result of settlement negotiations initiated by David.
• A lender in an action for the recovery of $7,000,000 based on a promissory note; the matter resulted in a favorable settlement for David’s client after the Court granted a motion for a pre-judgement writ of attachment, that was drafted and argued by David.
• A lender in an action for the recovery of $1,500,000 based on a handwritten agreement, where on its face the statute of limitations had lapsed. David defeated the defendant borrower’s statute of limitations defense in a bench trial.

Recognitions

• Super Lawyers – “Southern California Rising Stars” (2022 –2024)