Jeffrey T. Makoff

Jeff Makoff has represented California businesses, families and entrepreneurs on major legal matters for nearly 40 years.  From the San Francisco Bay Area tech hub, to the L.A. media capital, to Napa-Sonoma and the Central Valley, Jeff handles complex disputes concerning the ownership, management and control of all types of businesses, fiduciary obligations and commercial litigation.  Jeff handles federal and state trials and appeals, jury and bench trials, arbitrations, mediations and administrative proceedings.  Jeff is the original and current Executive Editor of "Litigating and Judging California Business Entity Governance Disputes" (LexisNexis/Matthew Bender 2019-2023) and the co-author of the chapter on "Fiduciary Duties in Family Businesses and Transactions" in CEB's Practice Guide on "Understanding Fiduciary Duties in Business Entities". The range of clients and disputes handled by Jeff reflects California's unique economy and diverse population: tech and biotech companies and executives, venture capital and private equity investors, financial services companies and professionals, business founders of all types, entertainers, authors and athletes, digital and traditional media leaders.       

Jeff is admitted to practice in all California federal and state courts and in Washington, D.C. Jeff handles plaintiff and defense cases, and mediator, receiver and trustee assignments.  Jeff is experienced in jury trials, court trials, arbitrations and federal and state appeals and writs. His broad motion experience includes dismissals, summary judgments, anti-SLAPP (First Amendment), trial motions and a variety of provisional remedies motions.  In business control disputes, he handles management, control, governance and employment matters in high technology, finance, media and other industries, and negotiates buyouts and management agreements for corporations/LLCs, partnerships, proprietorships, estates and their stakeholders.  He handles contested corporate and LLC disputes and dissolutions (called "founder friction" or "business divorce"), as well as consent solicitations, proxy contests and involuntary buyouts. He handles owner-funded, business-funded and lender financed buyouts (including SBA funded transactions).    

In an advisory capacity, Jeff handles family dispute resolution, fiduciary issues, Marvin ("palimony") cases, crisis management, business stabilization, complex asset management, division and disposition, compensation (including stock options/units and carried interests), asset-secured settlements, shareholder agreements, strategic legal and succession planning, internal and external communications and risk management.  Jeff frequently assists family law professionals with business fraud investigations, fiduciary duty issues, business valuations, characterization of business interests, community/separate property apportionment, contractual disputes pertaining to premarital and postmarital agreements, tort and injury claims that arise from intimate relationships, and with the discovery and analysis of electronically stored business information (ESI). He negotiates complex property agreements between married and unmarried intimate partners/cohabitants with respect to property rights, business management and control, termination, estate-related claims, resolution of disputes and other matters. 

Jeff served as Co-Chair of the Committee on Business Litigation of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar and is a former Trustee of the UC Hastings Law School Foundation. Jeff was trained at the leading international law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom under trial lawyers Frank Rothman, Bill Masterson, Mike Diamond and Jim Lyons. He co-tried a case with legendary Houston cross-examiner Richard Caldwell. Jeff worked on many of the major West Coast corporate control battles of the 1980s era.  

Valle Makoff LLP provides business litigation and related transactional advice to corporate, fiduciary and individual clients in federal and state courts, arbitrations and in S.E.C. proceedings.  The firm's clients include technology companies and investors, domestic and international private equity firms, media companies, venture capitalists, live event promoters, high technology engineers and managers, artists, athletes and entertainers, real estate developers, business executives, law firms and other professional firms, and stakeholders in private trusts, estates, partnerships and other commercial enterprises. Please contact us for more information.