Victor John Otten

Victor J. Otten has been a licensed attorney for over 21 years and is the firm’s senior partner. Mr. Otten’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation including, environmental and land use law, real estate law, business law, criminal defense of environmental crimes, and related matters.

Mr. Otten the attorneys employed by the firm have achieved significant success in their legal careers. Recently, Mr. Otten and co-counsel, Kurt Franklin, obtained a published appellate opinion in the case Spencer v. Mowat 46 1024 (2020) which was published. The Appellate Court held that tortious acts in which individual members of a surf gang were alleged to have conspired, namely obstructing outsiders’ access to beach trails, were not protected speech or petitioning activity for purposes of member's anti-SLAPP motion. Mr. Otten and co-counsel, Don Kilmer, won the case Silvester v. Harris, 41 F. Supp. 3d 927, 2014. The trial court found that the 10-day waiting period law governing the purchase of a firearm violated the Second Amendment as applied to certain people. 

Prior to forming Otten Law  – Mr. Otten worked for Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich where his practice focused primarily on environmental litigation. Mr. Otten then went on to work for Trutanich-Michel LLP as Special Counsel from 2000 through May 2009, where he handled complex business, environmental, real estate, and landlord/tenant matters in state and federal courts from inception through trial and appeal. During this time, Mr. Otten worked on several high profile cases and clients which gained the firm media attention. He obtained a published appellate opinion in the case Michel v. Moore and Associates Inc., Case No. B183165, addressing disclosures in the real estate context and was selected as an Environmental Super Lawyer, Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine, in 2009.

After Mr. Trutanich was elected Los Angeles City Attorney, Mr. Otten worked for Michel & Associates as Special Counsel from June 2009 until mid-October 2010.

From 1994 through 1996, Mr. Otten worked for Joseph Fedorowsky and Associates where he represented indigent tenants against slum landlords in actions alleging violations of state habitability laws, mold exposure and civil rights violations. Mr. Otten handled cases from inception through jury trial.