About the firm
A small firm built for people who hate surprises.
Two attorneys, a paralegal, a coordinator and one rule: you know the price and the plan before we start.
The story
Dana Whitfield opened the firm in 2012 with one desk, one paralegal and a flat fee sheet taped to the wall. The sheet is still here.
Before that she spent eight years at a trusts and estates group in Palo Alto, where a living trust was billed by the hour and the client found out the total at the end. She watched good people put off signing because they could not budget for it. So the first thing this firm did was post prices.
Marcus Oyelaran joined in 2017 after six years as in-house counsel for a general contractor in Campbell. He brought the business side: formations, contracts, leases and the property disputes that come with owning a building. Priya Natarajan runs trust administration and probate. Jonah Reyes answers the phone.
That is the whole firm. We have turned down the chance to grow past it three times, because the thing clients tell us they value most is that the person who quoted the matter is the person who finishes it.
How fees work
A number you can plan around.
Most of what we do is priced as a flat fee, quoted in writing after the free consult and before any work starts. The quote is the invoice.
- Flat fee, paid in two halves
Half when you sign the engagement letter, half at signing or filing. No retainers to top up, no monthly statements to decode.
- Hourly only where the law makes it so
Probate attorney fees are set by California statute. Disputes and litigation are hourly at $425 for an attorney and $175 for Priya, with a written estimate first.
- Two rounds of edits included
Every flat fee document comes with a full draft, a review call and two rounds of changes. We have never had to charge for a third.
- Payment plans on request
Three or four monthly payments on anything over $3,000. Ask Jonah, not the attorney. He has the authority to say yes.
The office
Upstairs at 36 East Main, above the bakery.
Suite 200 is one flight up, with an elevator at the back of the lobby. There is a conference room with a long oak table where every signing happens, a small library most clients want to sit in, and two offices with the doors usually open.
Street parking on Main is two hours. The Main Street garage behind the building is free for the first ninety minutes and we validate the rest. Video consults work fine too, and about a third of our clients never come in until signing day.
Mon to Fri, 8:30am to 5:30pm
Evening signings by arrangement
How we work
Three habits, kept for fourteen years.
We write documents the client can read. A trust that only a lawyer understands is a trust your successor trustee will misread at the worst possible moment. Every plan ships with a cover memo in plain English, and if a clause cannot be explained in a sentence, we rewrite the clause.
We say no early. If the consult shows you do not need a trust yet, or that your dispute is cheaper to settle than to win, we say so in the first call. A client who hears no from us at minute twenty tends to come back when the answer is yes.
We finish what we start, personally. The attorney who quoted your matter drafts it, reviews it with you and sits at the table when you sign. Priya and Jonah keep the calendar honest. Nothing gets handed to someone you have not met.