Practice Areas
- Appellate
- Banking and Financial Institutions
- Complex Commercial Litigation
- Insurance Defense
- Labor & Employment
- Litigation
- Real Estate
- Real Estate Litigation
- Retail, Restaurants & Hospitality
Admissions
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Heather E. Stern
Partner
Heather E. Stern is a member of the litigation and real estate practice groups at Messner Reeves LLP and has provided legal advice and expert services to businesses and individuals since 2001.
Ms. Stern attended Columbia College, of Columbia University in the City of New York, as an undergraduate, obtaining a B.A. in 1998. After graduating from UCLA School of Law with the distinction of Order of the Coif in 2001, she worked as an associate for a large real estate law firm where she gained a broad-based real estate expertise handling a wide variety of litigation, land use and transactional matters for real estate clients, and among other things, garnered expertise in construction, environmental, leasing, insurance, and title related matters. Ms. Stern also handled a number of significant business litigation and labor and employment matters for her real estate clients.
After the mortgage meltdown of 2008, Ms. Stern began utilizing her real estate expertise to assist numerous financial services clients and public entity clients in handling REO related real estate matters and mortgage banking related matters arising out of the mortgage crisis. She has since handled hundreds of mortgage banking and title related matters, including appellate matters, earning significant wins for her financial services and public entity clients. She has testified as an expert witness in handling real estate litigation matters and is viewed as a thought leader in this area.
Ms. Stern’s broad base of litigation expertise through market highs and market lows is an asset to all of her business, real estate, and individual clients. Ms. Stern has also served in-house as a real estate counsel handling a wide variety of acquisition and disposition and leasing related matters, including title, due diligence, land use, environmental, and general corporate work. She brings her knowledge of litigation to help her transactional clients “see around corners” and confront deal issues with clear promissory language and clear remedies, so as to avoid future disputes.
- B.A., Columbia College (1998)
- J.D., UCLA School of Law (2001)
- Outstanding Service Award, CEB (2013)
- Recognized as a Top Attorney by Pasadena Magazine (2012, 2013, 2014)
- Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Star (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012)
- Member, State Bar of California, 2001 to present
- Member, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, 2008 to present.
