Ms. Alter successfully has litigated complex business disputes and provided legal advice to foreign and domestic corporations and their boards of directors, large art collections, non-profit arts organizations, and start-up companies engaged in a broad range of business or arts activities.
A litigation partner with a major international law firm before founding Bridge Law, Ms. Alter’s corporate clients have included Microsoft Corporation, Siebel Systems, Inc., Lucent Technologies, Dow Chemical Company, Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation, Roche Molecular Systems, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Solomon Smith Barney, IP Wireless, Federal Signal Corporation, United Can Company, IronPlanet.com, and Fleet Boston Financial. A short list of representative matters in which Ms. Alter has successfully advised clients includes:
| • | Litigation of Visual Artists’ Rights Act suit brought against commercial real property seller. | ||
| • | Preparation of collection management agreements and rights policies for corporate art collection. | ||
| • | Representation of utility parent corporation throughout energy crisis in federal and state court litigation and before the Public Utilities Commission. | ||
| • | Trial of fraud and employment action brought against software company and its founder. | ||
| • | Early resolution of employment discrimination claims against global telecommunications company. | ||
| • | Draft guest curator and special events contracts and provide governance advise to Southern California art museum. | ||
| • | Litigation of legal ethics issues in patent dispute between large biotechnology companies. | ||
| • | Trade secrets dispute by U.S. chemical company against Taiwanese joint venturer. | ||
| • | Negotion of multimillion dollar commercial real estate transaction through mediation. | ||
| • | Litigation of coastal land development fraud case on behalf of Japanese biotech founder. | ||
| • | Pre-litigation multimillion dollar settlement for engineering company against insurer joint venturer. | ||
| • | Trial of class action federal securities action involving master real estate limited partnership. | ||
| • | Litigation of federal ERISA lawsuit between investment banking company and Hawaiian union. | ||
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Ms. Alter has served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and the Pacific Stock Exchange. Before teaching Civil Trial Practice and Art Law at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Ms. Alter taught Commercial Arbitration at the University of San Francisco School of Law. She regularly serves on visiting faculties for the Intensive Advocacy program at U.S.F.
Ms. Alter is a past member of the Board of Governors for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers in Northern California, and a member of the San Francisco Bar Association. She has provided pro bono services for California Lawyers for the Arts, CEELI (ABA Central and Eastern European Law Initiative), Santa Monica Museum of Art, Magnificat Baroque Orchestra, Mission Childcare Consortium, and AfroSolo. In 2006, Ms. Alter was honored by the Alameda County Fire Prevention Officers for her pro bono services to the Bay Area Arson Task Force.
Admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, the United States district courts for the Central, Northern, and Southern districts of California, and the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Ms. Alter received her Juris Doctorate in 1986 from the University of San Francisco, School of Law where she graduated magna cum laude and was a member of the law review. She has a Masters of Arts degree (unaccredited) in art history, connoisseurship, and the history of the art market. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with studies in England.
