San Diego County Business and Real Estate Counsel
Your deal deserves a lawyer who has sat on the other side
Donald J. Schiffer spent almost twenty years as in house counsel and a senior executive at a major financial institution before opening his San Diego practice in 1994. When he reviews your formation, contract, acquisition, or property transaction, he is reading it the way the bank, the buyer, and the opposing counsel will read it.
Why Clients Choose This Office
Big firm judgment. One phone number.
Most San Diego business owners have the same two bad options. Hire a large firm and have the work pushed down to whoever is available, or hire someone inexpensive who has never actually closed a transaction like yours.
This office exists as the third option. Donald Schiffer was licensed in 1976, spent nearly twenty years inside a major financial institution as legal counsel and director of strategic planning, served as president of a real estate development company, and has run this San Diego practice since 1994. When you call, he answers. When your purchase agreement is redlined, he did it.
The work is transactional and preventive. Choose the right entity. Write the agreement so it holds. Read the loan file before the wire goes out. Catch the title exception while the contingency is still open. The clients who use this office well are the ones who call before the problem exists, not after.
Legal Services
Where this office does its best work
Five focused areas covering the full arc of a business, from the entity you form on day one to the building you buy in year ten and the company you eventually sell.
Business Formation
Choose the right entity the first time. LLC, S corporation, partnership, or nonprofit, structured to protect what you own and keep your tax bill sane.
Explore This Service
Business Transactions
Buying, selling, or merging a San Diego company. Diligence, deal structure, and closing documents handled by the attorney you actually hired.
Explore This Service
Contracts
Agreements drafted to be enforced, not just signed. Vendor, employment, licensing, and distribution contracts that hold up when money is on the line.
Explore This Service
Loan Purchase Transactions
Distressed debt and note acquisitions reviewed by a former bank counsel who worked the Resolution Trust era from the inside.
Explore This Service
Real Estate Transactions
Commercial purchases, sales, leases, and development deals across San Diego County, reviewed line by line before you are locked in.
Explore This ServiceThe Difference
What thirty years on both sides of the table buys you
Legal training tells you whether a clause is enforceable. Business experience tells you whether it is worth fighting over. This practice was built on having both.
Licensed since 1976
Five decades of legal practice, and three decades of it advising San Diego County business owners on the transactions that decide whether a company grows or stalls.
Inside the institution
Nearly twenty years at a major financial institution as in house counsel and director of strategic planning. I know how lenders underwrite, document, and enforce, because I helped them do it.
A principal, not just counsel
Former president of a real estate development company where I liquidated substantial property assets. I have signed on the line as an owner, not only advised the person signing.
Direct attorney access
No intake screener, no rotating associate, no partner who appears only at the closing. One attorney knows your file from the first call through the last signature.
Preventive by design
The cheapest legal work is the kind that keeps you out of a dispute. Most of what I do is written so it never has to be argued about in the first place.
Fees you can plan around
Scope and cost discussed up front, with flat fees on defined work such as formations and routine agreements. You should never be surprised by an invoice.
Attorney Donald J. Schiffer
The lawyer who read the loan documents from the other side
Before private practice, I sat inside a major financial institution as legal counsel and as director of strategic planning. I worked Resolution Trust Corporation transactions in the early 1990s. I later served as president of a real estate development company and liquidated substantial real property assets.
That path is why my advice sounds different. I am not guessing what a lender will accept or how a buyer's counsel will attack a representation. I have been that lender's counsel. I have been that buyer. When I tell you a term is worth fighting for, it is because I have watched what happens to the people who did not fight for it.
How It Works
Four steps, no mystery
Legal engagements go badly when the client cannot see what is happening or what it will cost. Here is exactly how a matter moves through this office.
You call or send the form
The first consultation is free and it is with me. Describe the situation in plain terms. If you do not need a lawyer yet, I will say so rather than open a file.
We agree on scope and cost
Before any work begins you get a clear description of what I will do and what it will cost. Defined work such as a formation or a standard agreement is commonly handled on a flat fee.
I do the work
Documents drafted, reviewed, redlined, negotiated, and filed. You get plain language explanations of what each provision does, not a memo written for another lawyer.
The relationship continues
Clients come back for the next lease, the next hire, the next acquisition. Knowing your business history is what makes the second matter faster and cheaper than the first.
San Diego County
Local counsel, on the ground where you do business
My office sits at 2366 Front Street in downtown San Diego, minutes from the county recorder, the courts, and most of the lenders and title companies my clients use. That proximity is not a marketing line. It means documents get signed, recorded, and closed without a week of shipping delays.
Communities Served
Each community has its own page covering the local commercial corridors and the issues that come up there most often.
Do you charge for the first consultation?
What kinds of clients does this office serve?
Do you handle lawsuits?
How are your fees structured?
Where is your office and do you meet remotely?
How quickly will I hear back?
Free Consultation
Get a real assessment, at no cost
You do not have to commit to anything to find out where you stand. Bring the contract, the deal, or the question, and leave the conversation knowing what your options actually are.
- Free consultation directly with the attorney
- Same business day response on most inquiries
- Clear scope and cost before any work begins
- Serving San Diego County since 1994
2366 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92101-1414
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Tell me about your business or your deal
One form, straight to the attorney. Most inquiries get a response the same business day.
Your details go straight to Donald Schiffer. Most inquiries receive a reply the same business day. Prefer to talk now? Call (619) 699-4860.