Contact

Katharine Tremblay Beck 

Tremblay Beck Law, APC

5330 Carroll Canyon Road, Suite 230

San Diego, CA 92121

(858) 792-7492

tremblaybecklaw.com

One of the things I’ve always loved is figuring out puzzles, and litigation is a big puzzle. It’s making all the pieces fit to come to a resolution. We’re certainly always fully prepared to go to trial, but in the long run our focus on resolution is in most cases the best for all parties concerned,” Says Katharine Tremblay Beck, Esq., at Tremblay Beck Law, APC.

Tremblay Beck Law has found, and have shown in their successful track record, that 98 percent of the time negotiation rather than trial is in the client’s best interest both financially and in terms of successful outcomes.

As an example of the firm’s focus, she cites their work in Gwynn v. US Smokeless Tobacco. The firm brought in Dave Casey, Jr., and the Casey Gerry law firm to assist in the representation of Tony Gwynn’s heirs—Alicia Gwynn and her children. Beck says, “This is the only case US Smokeless Tobacco has settled.”

“Since 1998, my Late husband Tony Gwynn and I have had the privilege and honor to obtain Don Tremblay as our family attorney. No matter how complex the matter is he has always laid it out for our family to give the choice rather to pursue the case or not. He has represented us always in a professional way. Don’s intentions are driven to win every case. I must say he has represented our family on a lot of matters and has prevailed in all of them.

Then comes his daughter Katharine who joined the firm after taking the bar. Like father, like daughter, of course with a softer edge. Donald Tremblay can be the bulldog representing you when he needs to, and he really cares about his clients. We have watched our children grow up. Having Katharine represent me on many matters; she has been very savvy in knowing the laws as well as very professional. Knowing that my children can call him up on different matters lets me know that is all for the Gwynn family and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” says Alicia Gwynn.

Dave Casey adds, “It was an honor to work with Don on the Tony Gwynn case against the tobacco industry. It was the only case ever brought in California against the tobacco dip industry. Don had the vision, creativity, and crisp legal skills to discern an effective and unique legal strategy in a one-of-a-kind case. He is wonderful to work with and has terrific analytical skills. He is a lawyer I would be thrilled to work with on any complicated and challenging case. He is very ethical and always puts his client’s interest first. Lawyers who face him know they are in for a fight but recognize that Don, while fully prepared to engage in trial, will work hard to resolve cases for the benefit of his clients.”

The Torch Is Passed

The firm was founded by Beck’s father, Don Tremblay, who has practiced law for more than 40 years, approximately 39 of those years on his own. He has more than 50 jury trials and ten appeals as lead counsel. Tremblay Beck Law was started three years ago. Tremblay no longer practices trial work and focuses his energies on the firm’s life sciences, licensing, intellectual property, and appellate practice areas. He is still involved with the firm as the owner—a strategist, experienced negotiator, and appellate attorney. For example, in recent years he has argued before the Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court as well as led a team that negotiated two major licenses with a publicly held company, Glaukos, on behalf of Intratus, a biotech company of which he is part of the Executive Management Team and an owner. That team included Tremblay Beck Law attorneys John Dunn and Maurile J. Tremblay.

Don Tremblay began his career as a DA in Los Angeles and moved to San Diego when he started a family. He founded his own firm in the early 80s as the Law Offices of Donald P. Tremblay. He has worked on cases and as co-counsel in Germany, London, Canada and across the US. He and his daughter have worked with co-counsel in Mississippi, Cayman Islands, and currently in New York.

While many people may say that their parents were a large influence on their life, not many get to have a parent as a professional mentor. Beck has the unique opportunity of seeing her father in a professional setting. “He knows how to motivate each of us in the way that we need to be motivated. In that sense he has allowed me the room to grow and learn while providing guidance when necessary. As a young attorney I was able to appear in Court to argue motions before many of my colleagues/classmates were able to do the same,” Beck says.

Beck has considerable experience in federal and state courts dealing with matters involving mediation, law and motion, contract claims, complex bankruptcy law, and probate proceedings. She served as lead intern at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office during the Anna Nicole Smith preliminary hearing and in the investigation of the death of Michael Jackson, where she assisted in preparing evidence for the Special Trials Unit.

When she graduated, the DA’s office was on a hiring freeze, so she joined her father’s firm, first as a Law Clerk and then as a lawyer after earning her J.D. at University of San Diego School of Law. Beck has a definite legal legacy: her father, her cousin, Maurile J., and her uncle, Maurile C. Tremblay, a successful retired lawyer in San Diego.

Her record shows that she is living up to that legacy. In 2018, she led the trial team in a 17-day Jury Trial that resulted in a stalemate—while the complaint did not result in a monetary win, she successfully defended against the defendants’ cross-complaint. The case settled while on appeal to the satisfaction of all the parties.

In 2019, she assisted the Texas law firm of Janik Vinnakota, LLP with a local arbitration, taking the lead on the cross-examination of the opposing party’s CEO during the arbitration as well as the closing argument. The client, who had been sued for more than $212,000, was awarded more than $275,000.00 by the arbiter. Beck successfully argued that the claimants consistently breached the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing throughout the business relationship with her client resulting in a favorable result for a respondent-client.

She has successfully negotiated several competitive severance agreements with C level employees. Beck assists employers with navigating “sticky” employment situations: hiring, termination, wage and hour claims, updating Employment Handbooks, and successfully settling claims of wrongful termination at typically a tenth or less than the initial demand. 

Assembling a Powerhouse Team

Beck is first to state that she doesn’t do it alone. She has assembled a remarkable team of experienced and talented attorneys: Donald P. Tremblay, Principal Managing Attorney; Katharine Tremblay Beck, Principal; Dave Carothers, Of Counsel; Peter Schluederberg, Of Counsel; Robert Robinson, Of Counsel; Maurile Tremblay, Of Counsel; John Dunn, Of Counsel; Eric Beck, Paralegal. The attorneys have more than 100 years of experience and each member of the trial team has jury trial experience. Robert “Bob” Robinson, Of Counsel to Tremblay Beck Law, also has a prosecutorial background. Carothers, in addition to his nearly 100 jury trials, is a former Commissioner to the Fair Employment and Housing Commission where he mediated a variety of employment cases and is also an experienced arbitrator. He will support the firm in the establishment of its Alternative Dispute Resolution practice. He was recently placed on the executive committee of San Diego’s American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for several years.

Donald P. Tremblay heads the biotech, licensing, and intellectual property divisions. Assisting him on this team are John Dunn and Maurile Tremblay. Katharine Tremblay Beck, Carothers, and Schluederberg make up the court room trial team with assistance from Bob Robinson and Maurile Tremblay (discovery and motions). The team has experience in Business Law (Breach of Contract, Fraud, Civil Conspiracy, Derivative Suits, and Breach of Fiduciary Duty), Legal Malpractice (both prosecuting and defending), Employment Law (Dave Carothers is an experienced attorney in this area), Insurance coverage and bad faith, as well as Contract Law.

The firm has some unique areas of talent amongst the attorneys that allows them to serve clients in a variety of challenges: Peter Schluederberg and Donald Tremblay have extensive knowledge in Insurance Coverage and the firm consistently looks for insurance coverage for their clients. For example, they help clients determine if there is a policy they have that may provide them help in defending the claims against them. The firm is not an insurance appointed defense counsel and thus, they truly have their clients’ best interests at the core of their work. 

Tremblay Beck Law draws on its internal expertise and external relationships in whatever combination is best suited to handle a given matter, even if it doesn’t fit neatly into a single box. The firm is experienced not only in business, insurance and employment matters including litigation in all forms of all types (mediation, arbitration, state and federal trial courts, and the appellate courts) but also the biotech/life sciences area (licensing and intellectual property).

Beck says, “We’d like to send a message to the legal community and potential clients that we are tough negotiators and tough trial and appellate attorney for our clients. We will strike strong but fair blows against our client’s adversaries in furtherance of their best interests.”

Tremblay Beck does not provide referral fees, but they welcome the opportunity to work with co-counsel. Beck is currently working with Elliott Jung of Hepburn, Hernandez and Jung on a case involving employment law and whistleblower claims. They have worked with Casey Gerry (David Casey, Jr., Robert Francavilla, and Adam Levine, among others at that firm). They are currently working with Dennis Vacco, former New York State Attorney General with his firm Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman on several cases in New York. For a case in Mississippi the Tremblay Beck Law attorneys worked with Attorney Michael Held at Phelps Dunbar, LLP.

Held says, “I had the pleasure of working as co-counsel along with the Tremblay Beck Law Firm for over three years to obtain a successful resolution of a matter for our mutual client. People sometimes describe successful attorneys as zealous advocates for their clients. Using this descriptor to explain the work of the Tremblay Beck Law Firm would be an injustice as it does not even begin to explain how fiercely the Tremblay Beck Law Firm litigates cases. These attributes coupled with integrity, honesty and cordiality make the Tremblay Beck Law Firm one of the best if not the best firms I have ever had the opportunity to work with during my career. Finally, not only are they great litigators, they truly are great individuals with the highest ethical and moral standards displayed in their work and in their interactions with all.”

Approximately 30-40 percent of the firm’s cases involve other attorneys or legal firms.

Beck says, “Our corporate motto is Ex Umbris in Veritatum—Out of Darkness into Truth. We take that motto and that approach to every case we take on. And that’s how you find your way to the best resolution.”