John F. Whittemore and J. Theo Gianulis, II Named Partners
We are pleased to announce the election of John F. Whittemore and J. Theo Gianulis, II as partners of Blanchard, Krasner & French. John started with BKF as a Law Clerk in 2014. After completing an internship, Theo officially joined BKF in June of 2016. Both John and Theo have made significant contributions to the firm and our clients, and we look forward to their continued growth and contribution to the BKF team.
John handles all aspects of civil litigation, including appeals, with an emphasis on business, real estate, and trust and estate litigation. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in matters involving claims for quiet title, fraud, unfair competition, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent transfer, premises liability, and negligence. This past year, John defeated a writ petition challenging a trial court’s denial of an application for a trial continuance based on the COVID-19 pandemic. (Wells Fargo Bank v. Superior Court (Feb. 26, 2021, D078087) [nonpub. opn.].) John’s prior appellate work in the same litigation resulted in a published opinion in his client’s favor. (Sunrise Financial, LLC v. Superior Court (2019) 32 Cal.App.5th 114.) In late 2020, John was part of a legal team that obtained a $108 million judgment against multiple defendants arising out of a real estate/fraud scheme. John’s legal and community accomplishments previously made him a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40.”
Theo is a member of our transactional practice group where he focuses on representing clients in a variety of real estate matters. Theo has extensive experience and expertise in representing clients in the acquisition, sale, leasing, construction and financing of commercial real estate. Among his many clients is one of the world’s largest real estate investment trusts with assets in excess of $36 billion. In his capacity as outside counsel to this real estate investment trust, Theo has advised on the acquisition of billions of dollars of real property and overseen outside legal auditing of tens of billions of dollars of assets. In 2021 alone, Theo handled over a billion dollars in real property dispositions for his clients including over $1 billion in commercial real estate acquisitions and approximately $100 million dollars of commercial financing.
We are excited for this new chapter and look forward to their continued commitment to providing our clients with quality legal representation.
