Mr. Everakes has extensive experience, at all phases of civil litigation, including trial experience wherein he received a defense jury trial verdict in a premises liability action.  Mr. Everakes has experience litigating in both state and federal court on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants involving vehicle accidents, construction defect, real estate, landlord & tenant matters, and toxic torts.

Mr. Everakes graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.  He attended the Southwestern Law School, where he was a member of Journal of Law and Trade of the Americas.   In law school, he received the CALI for academic excellence in patent law. Mr. Everakes was also a recipient of the American Board of Trial Advocacy (ABOTA) fellowship.

Before joining Grotefeld Hoffmann, she represented manufacturer and contractor defendants in products liability litigation matters in state and federal courts that gives her with a unique, insider advantage in representing plaintiffs in the same lawsuits that she previously defended.

Ms. Herzog earned her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her J.D. from The University of San Francisco.

Mr. Kestenbaum has extensive experience in civil litigation beginning with his work at a medium-sized firm from 2008 to 2012 and then with a large firm from 2012 to 2016.  He was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Northern California in 2016 for Products Liability and has litigated cases throughout California, in state and federal courts. His prior work focused on complex civil defense litigation involving environmental/toxic torts.  He has prepared dozens of cases for trial and has tried a number of cases in various counties in the Northern California Bay Area.

Mr. Kestenbaum earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California at Santa Barbara in 2003 graduating with high honors and his Juris Doctor degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law in 2007.

While in law school, Mr. Kestenbaum competed in moot court and, as a second year student, his team placed as a semi-finalist in the John Marshall Law School – Privacy Competition and were awarded best Petitioner’s brief.  As a third year student, he served a Co-Chairman for the Moot Court Honors Society and his competition team won the Tulane Law School – Sports Law Competition as well as winning for Best Brief. He has served as an alumni consultant and coach to the moot court program at Hastings.

Ms. Sell has obtained positive results on behalf of her clients in cases involving fires, floods and other forms of property damage.  She has represented insurers, owners, manufacturers, suppliers, developers, general contractors, grading and excavation suppliers and contractors, heating and air conditioning contractors, electrical contractors, tile manufacturers and contractors, roofing contractors, window manufacturers and many others involved in both residential and commercial construction.

Ms. Sell has successfully represented landlords in disputes filed in multiple jurisdictions following strict rent ordinance laws, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, California.  She has also represented manufacturers, suppliers and contractors in the automotive, refrigeration, refinery, air conditioning and construction industries.  She is regularly able to obtain minimal settlements in the Lemon Law matters she handles for her automotive client, and obtained voluntary dismissals or minimal settlements in the asbestos cases she previously handled for the manufacturers and suppliers of automotive parts, refrigeration units, compressors, boilers, air conditioning units, gears, couplings and stress relief products.

While in law school, Ms. Sell served as an intern in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.  She also served as an intern for Justice Timothy A. Reardon of the California Court of Appeals.

Ms. Sell began her practice with the San Francisco firm, Lynch, Gilardi & Grummer, where she was successful in the defense of many clients in construction and products liability, personal injury and employment litigation. She then switched to the other side of the table and worked with the firm of Grotefeld Denenberg, where she successfully represented insurance companies in the pursuit of subrogation recovery arising out of fire, water and other property damage losses. Ms. Sell then returned to the defense world when she joined the San Francisco office of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis.  In 2016, Ms. Sell became a partner at, and later an owner of, the San Rafael firm of Parton & Sell.  Most recently, in 2021, Ms. Sell returned to subrogation when she joined Grotefeld Hoffmann, where she has resumed her successful representation of various insurance companies in their pursuit of subrogation recovery arising out of fire, water and other property damage losses.

Ms. Shkolnikov earned her B.S. in Psychology, Honors Program from the University of Toronto. She earned her J.D. from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver during which time she attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law for her final year of study as part of a competitive international exchange program hosted by Hastings College. Ms. Shkolnikov is licensed to practice law in California and New York.

Ms. Shkolnikov resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children and enjoys tennis, swimming and hiking in her spare time.

Ms. Sullivan graduated from the San Diego State University in San Diego, California in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California Hastings School of the Law in 2022. While in law school, Ms. Sullivan served as the Executive Development Editor for the Hastings Environmental Law Journal. As a first-year student, she was awarded Best Oral Argument in Legal Research and Writing. She is a member of Hastings’ Pro Bono Society.

Ms. Sullivan is admitted to practice in California.