Before joining Lamb & Kawakami LLP, Patrick L. Rendón successfully ran his own firm Smith & Rendón. Like others at L&K, Mr. Rendón has a broad and substantial base of experience. He was formerly an associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue where he specialized in environmental and construction matters. Mr. Rendón also practiced as in-house counsel at Fluor Corporation, a Fortune 500, international construction company. Mr. Rendón is fluent in Spanish and has negotiated construction, infrastructure, and project finance contracts throughout Latin America.
At L&K, Mr. Rendón has focused in litigation and trials. Mr. Rendón has tried cases through to jury verdict and has served as lead appellate counsel before the California Court of Appeal. He has represented clients in a broad range of cases from business and partnership disputes, to real estate and construction disputes, to land use and environmental matters. Mr. Rendón has represented clients at contaminated sites for over twenty-years and has represented multiple clients in many of the largest Superfund sites in the Los Angeles area. His litigation experience extends beyond contaminated sites. He has handled CEQA matters, including representing a city in a CEQA lawsuit where the plans of heavy industrial use were potentially incompatible with the projected residential and mixed-use designation of an area. Mr. Rendón has also represented owners and contractors in claims for delays, acceleration and extra work, and in the litigation arising out of complex construction disputes, including a dispute involving a $340 million airport expansion project and a $200 million construction dispute at a hospital. Mr. Rendón has also represented partners and real estate brokers in litigation arising from real estate development projects.
A substantial part of Mr. Rendón’s practice includes representing clients before regulatory agencies, including the US and California EPA. This experience includes negotiating cleanup levels and plans for contaminated sites and advising clients on the development and transition of such sites from heavy industrial use to mixed and residential uses.
University of Southern California, School of Law, J.D. 1985
Haverford College, B.A. 1982
Construction: Transactional
- Negotiate and draft construction contracts valued up to $1.2 billion in both English and Spanish for both private and public works projects ranging from a cogeneration facility in the Dominican Republic, to a petrochemical plant in Columbia, to a mining facility in Chile, to a manufacturing facility in Los Angeles. Negotiate and draft project finance, joint venture, and related documents associated with the foregoing.
- Counsel and advise clients on broad range of issues that arise during the course of construction projects, from mechanics’ liens, insurance and bonding issues, to the preparation of, and responding to, contract claims, including delay, acceleration, changed conditions, and extra work claims.
Construction: Litigation
- Represent government entities, owners, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and design professionals in litigation.
- Represent government entity in $240 million lawsuit after general contractor was terminated for default.
- Represent subcontractor in $200 million lawsuit alleging defective work, delay claims.
Environmental: Transactional
- Negotiate prospective purchaser agreements and cleanups of “brownfield” properties and the development of industrial properties and manufacturing facilities to residential uses. These projects involve extensive negotiations with agencies, developers and concerned citizens on issues ranging from liability, potential uses, and future monitoring requirements.
- Negotiate settlements in various enforcement actions brought by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control in matters involving soil and groundwater contamination as well as non-compliance with orders, notices of violation, permit requirements, and reporting matters.
- Counseled and advised clients on corporate structuring in connection with acquisitions, sales and in order to address and manage environmental liabilities.
Environmental: Litigation
- Represent owners and operators in federal and state Superfund sites in excess of $250 million in cleanup and response costs.
- Represent owners and operators in private cost recovery litigation involving contaminated properties.
- Represent government entities in CEQA and land use disputes, including trial.
- Represent owners and operators in insurance coverage and bad faith litigation.
- Representation PRPs in administrative appeals; have appeared before and negotiated cleanup actions and levels for contaminated properties before California Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and other agencies.
Financial Abuse of Elders & Dependent Adults
- Represent elders, dependent adults, estates and dis-inherited heirs in both probate and civil court, through to verdict. Served as lead appellate counsel and have obtained favorable opinions in such cases from the Court of Appeal.
General Business Disputes
- Represent joint ventures, partnerships, and limited liability companies in litigation between and among members and partners in connection with dissolution, valuation, real estate and development matters.
- Litigate and negotiate the settlement of trademark infringement suit brought by specialty food, competing companies.
- Represent developers of master planned communities in Riverside and San Diego Counties in multi-million dollar lawsuits involving governance, sale and development of communities.