OUR ATTORNEYS

STEVEN B. TAXMAN

Criminal Defense (Felonies, Misdemeanors, DUI, Administrative Hearings, Department of Motor Vehicles), Personal Injury, Landlord-Tenant Law, San Francisco Rent Board Hearings, Professional Licensing Matters, Civil Rights, Police Brutality, General Litigation and Appeals

Attorney Admissions:
Supreme Court, State of Minnesota, admitted October 3, 1986
United States District Court, Minnesota
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
State Bar of California, admitted July 29, 1996
United States District Court-Northern District, admitted June 19, 1995
United Stated District Court Eastern District, admitted December 22, 1999
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, admitted June 3, 2008

Law Schools:
Drake University Law School (1982-1983)
William Mitchell College of Law, J.D. (1983-1985)

Undergraduate:
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champagne) (1978-1982)
Bachelor of Arts, with distinction in Political Science; Minor in Speech Communications

Professional Memberships:
San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
California DUI Lawyers Association
California Public Defenders Association

Professional and Pro Bono Activities:
Judge Pro Tempore, San Francisco Superior Court (2004-2006)
Appointment by San Francisco Board of Supervisors to Graffiti Advisory Board (2006)
AIDS Legal Referral Panel (2005 to present); Superhero Award presented on April 18, 2007

Born:
February 23, 1960, Chicago, Illinois

Biography
Steven B. Taxman attended the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champagne) and was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in political science and minor in speech communication in 1982. That same year, he began his legal studies at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. While attending law school, Mr. Taxman clerked for the Cook County District Attorney’s Office where he developed his interest in criminal law. Mr. Taxman transferred to the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota where he earned his Juris Doctorate in 1986, the same year he was admitted to the Minnesota Bar.

From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Taxman practiced law in Minneapolis-St. Paul, limiting his practice to criminal defense representation. Mr. Taxman gained invaluable experience representing well over 500 criminal defense clients and conducting numerous felony and misdemeanor trials, suppression and driver’s license suspension hearings, and appeals. Many of Mr. Taxman’s criminal cases in the Twin Cities were high-profile and reported in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch. Mr. Taxman was instrumental in launching Criminal Defense Services, Inc., a non-profit program that provides high quality criminal defense services to clients who do not qualify for the services of the public defender.

From 1995 to 2007, Mr. Taxman managed hundreds of litigation cases, including unlawful detainer, personal injury, employment and professional licensing cases in the Bay Area and Southern California. During this time, he was involved in numerous jury and bench trials, law and motion matters, criminal defense cases, and administrative hearings before the San Francisco Rent Board and California Medical Board. Mr. Taxman represented some of San Francisco’s largest and most influential landlords including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Academy of Art University, Golden Gateway Center, West Coast Property Management Company, Kapoor Realty, and American Marketing Systems, Inc.

Mr. Taxman also routinely represented San Francisco Landlords criminally charged with a violation of the Rent Ordinance. Mr. Taxman was involved in a high-profile case reported on the evening news involving a Foster City firefighter criminally charged with a violation of the rent ordinance. The criminal complaint alleged that the client evicted a catastrophically ill tenant in order to illegally raise the rent of a rent controlled unit by more than 300%. Mr. Taxman successfully persuaded the judge to dismiss the charges against the landlord over the objection of the district attorney because the client reimbursed the rent overage to his new tenant for full satisfaction of her damages.

Mr. Taxman’s best referral sources are his former clients. Mr. Taxman’s successes for his clients have been far reaching. Most notably, Mr. Taxman first chaired a FEHA disability case in Orange County, Rowe v. Mclean Motor Company, where the jury returned a verdict awarding his client almost a half million dollars and punitive damages because he was discriminated against by a Cadillac dealership in Tustin, CA because he had multiple sclerosis. The case was reported in the business and finance section of the Orange County Register and was affirmed on appeal by the California Supreme Court.

Mr. Taxman also represented a Daly City school teacher who was terminated from his teaching position after the San Mateo County DA filed a criminal complaint charging him with Indecent exposure, lewd conduct and assault with a deadly weapon. Mr. Taxman won an acquittal of all charges for his client in San Mateo Superior Court before Judge Dale A. Hahn. Incidentally, Mr. Taxman made sure that his client was fully reinstated to his former teaching position by the school district with back pay.

Mr. Taxman also obtained a unanimous jury verdict in San Francisco Superior Court for a property owner who sought to move into an apartment she recently purchased. This was a very contentious eviction trial where the tenant attorney used every procedural trick of the trade to delay this case by filing many frivolous motions, each met with defeat.

Mr. Taxman also defeated the California Medical Board and helped make new state law relating to the medical board’s own physician diversion program. The Medical Board’s appeal of the successful Superior Court decision issued by Judge James Roberston granting Mr. Taxman’s client’s writ of administrative mandamus is reported at Medical Board of California v. Superior Court (1st Dist. 2003) 111 Cal.App.4th 163; publication request denied by California Supreme Court at 2004 Cal. LEXIS 3105.

Today, Mr. Taxman is a principal of Taxman Wakeford, a small boutique law firm located in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California. Mr. Taxman’s law practice emphasizes criminal defense, felonies and misdemeanors, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, related department of motor vehicle license suspension cases, writs of administrative mandamus and personal injury cases. Mr. Taxman also handles all aspects of landlord-tenant law, civil rights and police brutality and employment discrimination cases.

WESLEY WAKEFORD

Areas of Practice:
Personal Injury, Criminal Defense, DUI, Landlord-Tenant, Civil Rights, Business and General Litigation

Attorney Admissions:
State Bar of California (State Bar Number 224801); United Stated District Court-Northern District of California; United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Law School:
University of Minnesota Law School, J.D. (2002)

Undergraduate:
University of Oklahoma (1998), B.A.
Université Blaise Pacal, Claremont-Ferrand France (1996), D.E.L.F.
Tulane University

Professional Memberships:
American Association for Justice
San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
Consumer Attorneys of California

Pro Bono Activities:
The Aids Legal Referral Panel-2008 Hero Award
San Francisco Bar Association, Volunteer Legal Services Program, Legal Advice and Referral Clinic

Born:
August 10, 1974, Fredrick, Maryland

Biography:
Wesley Wakeford is a committed and passionate advocate and counselor. His practice concentrates on helping individuals and small to medium-sized businesses with cases in the courts at all stages of the litigation process. His litigation experience has ranged from trying small soft tissue automobile injury cases to verdict in state court to handling complex legal issues on appeal in the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit, The California Court of Appeal for the First District, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Mr. Wakeford has represented hundreds of clients with cases against individuals, governmental agencies, insurance companies and other businesses. He has gone up against and beaten some of the largest law firms in California with litigation budgets many times larger than Mr. Wakeford’s clients.

Mr. Wakeford’s experience is far-ranging, but his specialty is representing injury victims who need help navigating the pitfalls of dealing with insurance companies and the court system. His greatest satisfaction comes from obtaining recoveries for the people who need help the most, people whose lives have been disrupted or sometimes even ripped apart because of catastrophic injuries.

Mr. Wakeford was born in Frederick, Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. As a child he also lived in Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma because of his father’s career as a university researcher in the field of neurophysiology and psychology. Mr. Wakeford obtained a dual-major Bachelor’s in the French Language and Letters (History, English and Philosophy) from the University of Oklahoma in 1998. While an undergraduate, Mr. Wakeford spent his junior year abroad in Clermont-Ferrand France studying the French Language and Culture, obtaining a prestigious foreign-speakers degree in the French Language (D.E.L.F.).

After graduation from college, Mr. Wakeford received a scholarship to attend the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a perennial first-tier law school according to the U.S. News and World Report. While in law school, he worked as an extern for Judge Michael J. Davis in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. He was also a staff member of the Minnesota Journal of Law and Inequality and an Intern for the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office in its Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoner’s Program. There, as a third-year law student, Mr. Wakeford authored the prevailing appellate brief in the case of Illinois Farmers Insurance Company vs. William C. Rodgers (STATE OF MINNESOTA COURT OF APPEALS, C7-02-425 and C9-02-426). Mr. Wakeford prevailed by crafting a novel public-policy argument which resulted in a family being able to obtain insurance coverage following the tragic accidental death of their child.

After graduation from law school, Mr. Wakeford settled in San Francisco and began working with several distinguished solo attorneys and in an AV-rated litigation firm. This is where Mr. Wakeford met Steven B. Taxman, an experienced litigation attorney with more than 20 years of experience. Mr. Wakeford and Mr. Taxman left their prior firm in order to work together and form Taxman Wakeford which represents their vision for providing aggressive and professional representation to individuals at an exceptional value.