Orange County Business Journal
Jessica C. Lee
July 7, 2008

California Assemblyman Van Tran has joined Snell & Wilmer LLP’s Costa Mesa office as part of the law firm’s bid to win more work with Asian-Americans.

Tran joins the Phoenix-based firm as counsel as he continues to serve as a member of the Republican minority in Sacramento.

Tran is set to split his time between the firm’s Costa Mesa office and his Assembly offices in Sacramento and Costa Mesa.

He’s set to act as Snell’s point man for Asian-American leaders and business owners in California and elsewhere.

Asian-Americans are “growing exponentially in terms of wealth and population,” Tran said. “There is a great opportunity to serve this growing community.”

For Snell, Tran is an addition to its list of lawyers with name recognition.

Many taw offices have been adding such lawyers recently. Tom Umberg, a former Assemblyman and onetime Clinton administration official, joined the Costa Mesa office of Los Angeles-based Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP earlier this year after a long stint with Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Snell is looking to build business in the county. In January, the firm ranked No. 7 among law firms doing business here with 69 lawyers, according to the Business Journal’s list.

Iran, who was born in Vietnam, has built a reputation in state politics since being elected to the Assembly in 2004, where he is assistant Republican leader and vice chairman of the judiciary committee.

In 2004, Iran became the first VietnameseAmerican elected to a state legislature. He represents the Assembly’s 68th district, which includes Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley and parts of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Newport Beach, Stanton and Westminster.

Tran was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006.

He saw some setbacks in California’s second primary in early June as several candidates endorsed by Tran were defeated. He also split ranks with the local GOP by backing Garden Grove Council woman Dina Nguyen for county supervisor against Janet Nguyen, who easily won re-election.

Tran’s legal background spans some 10 years. In 1995, Tran started Westminsterbased Van Thai Tran & Associates, where he practiced complex civil litigation, corporate transactions, criminal defense, real estate law and other types of law.

Tran worked with Asian-Americans in various industries, he said.

Snell specializes in complex business litigation, corporate work, intellectual property, securities work, white-collar criminal defense, real estate and other areas.

It competes with the local offices of national and regional firms as well as OC-based firms.

The county is home to more than 400,000 Asians with about half of that number consisting of those of Vietnamese decent, according to the 2000 census. OC is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam. Many, including Tran, came here after the 1975 fall of Saigon.

“Well Connected”

Tran is “well connected in the community,” said John Duong, vice president of Bridgecreek Development Inc., a Huntington Beachbased real estate company that developed parts of Little Saigon

His reputation with local Vietnamese and other Asians could be a boon to Snell, said Wayne Gross, partner and a longtime friend of Tran’s.

Gross joined Snell last year as a white-collar criminal defense and corporate crisis lawyer after heading the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Santa Ana.

He helped introduce Tran to the firm.

“He’s a well-regarded figure in politics but people forget that he’s also a tremendous lawyer,” Gross said of Tran.

Asian-American businesses need help with mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, lawsuits, business transactions, contracts, employment law and real estate transactions, Tran said.

They are underserved by large law firms, he said. The work is fragmented with a handful of large companies hiring big law firms. Most small to midsize companies work with individual lawyers, according to Tran.