Donn S. Taketa

Mr. Taketa has over 25 years of experience successfully representing clients in business litigation, with a specialty in labor and employment matters in both federal and state courts.  Mr. Taketa's current clients include Verizon and Delta Dental.

Prior to founding Sullivan Taketa LLP, Mr. Taketa served as corporate litigation counsel in the GTE Legal Department, handling general corporate matters with an emphasis on defending management in employment and class action litigation as well as conducting internal legal compliance investigations and prosecuting theft-recovery actions. At GTE and Verizon, Mr. Taketa attained an impressive record in the successful defense of varied and novel employment disputes, including same sex harassment and other forms of employment discrimination, defamation, wage and hour, invasion of privacy, and retaliation claims. Mr. Taketa has also successfully defended Verizon in a variety of California real estate related litigation, including numerous mechanics’ liens, surety claims, environmental remediation and eminent domain actions.

Prior to serving in-house at GTE and Verizon, Mr. Taketa was in private practice with the New York based law firm, Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, where he handled complex commercial transactions and litigation matters for a variety of clients, including financial institutions, commercial developers and several Fortune 50 companies, as well as serving as General Counsel for U.S. Water Polo, Inc. In the years immediately after his admission to practice law, Mr. Taketa was at the San Francisco based firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he was a transactional attorney handling a variety of complex commercial leasing, construction loans, oil and gas interest transfers, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate law matters. Mr. Taketa is a conscientious and thorough professional who has a demonstrated track record of client satisfaction for providing high quality and cost effective legal services. Mr. Taketa’s current practice also includes assisting employers in complying with state and federal law, preparing effective personnel policies and manuals, and conducting workplace harassment investigations.

Mr. Taketa was selected as one of Southern California’s Super Lawyers in 2004, and has been selected to appear in several Who’s Who for outstanding professional achievements.  In addition, Mr. Taketa was named the 2012 Ventura County Trial Lawyer of the year by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association.