Carly O’Halloran Alameda represents clients in high-stakes disputes in mediation, arbitration, and the courtroom, with an emphasis on complex contractual claims, real estate and construction disputes, and California appeals. 

Carly is an accomplished litigator with experience at all stages of litigation, including trials and appeals.  In addition to fiercely advocating for her clients in legal proceedings, Carly frequently helps clients avoid or minimize litigation by providing strategic advice through crisis management, analysis of liability and damages exposure, assistance with forensic investigations, and by leading and supporting pre-litigation negotiations.  Carly's practical approach to dispute resolution is influenced by her experience serving in business roles, as outside general counsel to one privately held company and as a corporate board member for another.  She understands how problems or disputes fit with a client’s business needs so that she can effectively achieve the most favorable result.

Carly’s experience includes:

• Lead trial counsel on behalf of a prominent developer in a complex real estate and easement dispute with a neighboring property in downtown San Francisco that was resolved favorably after a bench trial.
• Lead trial counsel on behalf of a technology company through an arbitration award and judgment in which the client successfully rescinded a large commercial lease and recovered extensive damages.
• Lead counsel on behalf of owners and developers of commercial properties to strategically navigate unexpected incidents and crises and resolve the resulting disputes and litigation, including with architects, contractors, and other third parties.
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar settlement on behalf of a solar company in a contract dispute days before the arbitration hearing began.
• Achieved an arbitration award on behalf of a manufacturer in an arbitration related to the alleged failure of components in a nuclear power plant, in which our client successfully enforced the contractual limitation of liability provisions against the opposing party’s $7 billion damages claims and recovered fees and costs as the prevailing party.

Carly’s practice also includes extensive appellate work. Carly served as a clerk to the Hon. Mark B. Simons of the California Court of Appeal (First District), where she now regularly briefs and argues cases.

Carly is a founding member of WISE (www.wiselawyers.org), a collaboration between in-house counsel and law firm partners to promote the advancement of women in the legal profession.  She co-authored a series of articles on corporate board service, published as an e-book (www.fbm.com/boardservice).  She recently completed a two-year term as president of the Berkeley Law Alumni Association Board and remains a member of that board and the board of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers.  She has also been a member of the McFetridge American Inn of Court.

Carly earned her J.D. in 2006 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she taught Property Law to first-year law students as a teaching assistant and was associate editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly. She earned her B.S. in 2003 from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she was an NCAA Division I volleyball player.