Running the financial operations of a busy law firm is no small feat, but for Ashley McCleery, it’s a challenge she embraces with enthusiasm and precision of a self-professed “data nerd.”

“I love tracking trends and building reports. There’s so much we can learn about our business by just analyzing data, and I think that’s really exciting,” says Ashley. “I know it’s a little quirky!”

Ashley joined Scali Rasmussen after stepping away from managing her husband’s law firm in late 2023 to focus more on family and personal projects. Around that time, a casual weekend visit with her longtime friend Rue Walker unexpectedly opened the door to a new professional opportunity. Scali Rasmussen was looking for a new head of billing, and she was seemingly a perfect fit. The rest, as Ashley says, is history.

Since coming on board, Ashley has taken the lead on the firm’s billing and collections operations. Her busiest days fall around the 10th of each month, when she prepares detailed reports, formats billing entries, and ensures accuracy with meticulous attention to detail. Outside of that core invoicing period, she handles accounts payable, insurance billing, and offers support to attorneys and clients across the firm.

At home, Ashley and her husband Greg are parents to four children: Sam (9), Nora (8), Evie (4), and Jack (2). A house that busy rarely makes for dull moments, she says, but in between managing family affairs and work responsibilities, Ashley enjoys unwinding through creative hobbies like watercolor painting and knitting. She also has a love for ceramics, especially when paired with a good audiobook, though finding time for the pottery wheel has become more of a luxury these days.

“As a family, we love to travel,” Ashley said. “I usually have some kind of trip in the works, even if it’s just in the planning stages. It’s always fun to have something new to look forward to.”

With her blend of analytical skill and creative energy, Ashley brings invaluable balance and insight to the Scali Rasmussen team.

Serving of counsel at Scali Rasmussen, Kathryn “Kathy” Otto joined the firm as a contract attorney at the height of the pandemic. Introduced to firm leadership by Jennifer Woo Burns, a former colleague from a San Diego law firm, Kathy seamlessly integrated into the team - despite never setting foot in the office.

“I work remotely in San Diego, but I’ve never once felt like an outsider,” Kathy says.

In addition to trial work, Kathy’s day-to-day work is typically rooted in pre-litigation employment law matters, including providing daily employment advice, conducting employment investigations, drafting motions, and negotiating discovery matters. The work goes hand-in-hand with Kathy’s interests in research and relationship building.

“One of the reasons I love employment law is that you can really help your clients by building a relationship with them and getting to know them, and in the process you’re truly becoming their advocate,” says Kathy.

Kathy has aimed to use her legal expertise to the benefit of not just her clients, but her hometown of San Diego. She serves on the Board of Regents for the high school she herself attended, where her passion for mentorship shines through in her role as a volunteer mock trial coach. Leading teams of high school students through rigorous mock trial competitions in San Diego courtrooms, she helps them develop a deep understanding of the legal profession. One particularly memorable year saw her coaching two teams, totaling 60 students, in a competition against 42 other schools.

Kathy’s always enjoyed traveling, and that interest has only grown stronger with two of her three children studying abroad. That’s provided her with a very convenient itinerary for sightseeing, with her family visits bringing her to locales like London, Normandy, Paris and The Netherlands in recent years.

Whether it’s clients or co-workers, Eric Weiss says it’s the people that fuel his passion for his job.

“It might be cliché to say, but it’s the people. I really enjoy the people at the firm, even though I may not see them every day,” Eric says, noting his litigation work often has him working in court or remotely. “I’m consistently interacting with most of them in one way or another. I’m constantly impressed with my fellow attorneys and the staff is excellent. It’s a good culture and the environment is very diverse.”

A principal at Scali Rasmussen, Eric was encouraged to make a move to the firm by his longtime colleague Colleen O’Brien. While his role as a litigator limits his in-office presence at times, Eric says that hasn’t stopped him from making friends within the firm with whom he hopes to establish lifelong friendships.

The D.C. native moved to Los Angeles after college and enrolled at Whittier Law School, where he met his wife of more than 30 years, a fellow attorney named Heather. The couple has two children – a daughter who recently graduated from the New School University in New York City who is embarking on a career in the fashion and/or entertainment industries, and a son who is a senior at Tulane University in New Orleans.

“It turns out that moving out here was the greatest career decision I’ve ever made,” Eric says.

A diehard fan of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in North London, England, Eric is a member of the LA Spurs, the first and largest supporter’s club in the Los Angeles area, and a regular presence at the club’s home pub, the Greyhound in Highland Park, even for games starting at 4:30 a.m. When he’s not spending time with his family, he likes reading non-fiction and historical fiction books, doing puzzles, and golfing. And of course, rooting for Tottenham. “The rest of my sports fandom has just collapsed,” says Eric. “It’s all about Tottenham.” Although the recent success of the Washington Commanders may change things a little.

Some of Rue Walker’s most cherished childhood memories involve watching her father tinker away at computers in the family’s basement, long before the age of pre-builds and geek squads. She’s always had a passion for digging into systems, taking a closer look at the grids and the wires that allow processes to function, and finding ways to make them communicate better and operate more smoothly.

As Communications & Project Manager for Scali Rasmussen LLP, those skills are being put to good use. Rue says her job allows her to apply her natural affinity for systems and processes with her teaching experience and her background in communications and marketing.

“Teaching goes hand in hand with project management - you need to really understand something to instruct others on it, to be prepared to answer any questions they might have,” Rue says.

Rue says she has a proactive approach to project management, always looking on the horizon for trends, regulations, regimes, and any other manner of issue that might rear its head down the line to cause grief for the law firm.

“We want to make it an inviting place to work that’s intuitive and easy to understand, and we want to make sure people have the resources they need to get their job done as efficiently as possible,” Rue says. “I focus on building meaningful relationships with people, to make myself available and accessible to help with their problems. That way, when we do need to make a change, it’s never an ask from a stranger.”

When she’s not on the clock improving the firm’s form and function, Rue is off on adventures with her two young daughters Ruby and Gigi. Or lounging with them in their backyard - which has seemingly become the most happening spot in the neighborhood as of late.

“We’ve always got something going on in the back, everyone loves hanging out here. We’re filling our summer nights with marshmallow roasts and water balloon fights, it’s the best,” Rue says.

Our law firm friends often feel like family, but in Jim Jankura’s case, the feeling is a bit more literal. He’s the father of Scali Rasmussen's founder, Christian Scali. “Chris asked me to help them with their insurance billing,” says Jim, who at the time, had just retired after selling his retail optical business. “I think he wanted to keep me out of trouble.”

Jim checks, prepares, processes, and submits the firm's insurance billings through various electronic platforms every week and oversees aspects of the company’s billing system. He also analyzes deductions and gathers evidence necessary to back those deductions on appeal should carriers reject deductions initially.

For Jim, the best part of the job has been seeing his hard work pay off to the firm’s benefit. “[It’s rewarding] seeing the percentage/amounts of outstanding insurance billing decrease from when I started working for Scali Rasmussen and increasing the revenue from the reconsideration of deductions taken by the insurance carriers,” Jim says.

During the summer, Jim manages an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the community. You’ll find him in that pool a lot, as he does swimming exercises at least five or six days a week. He also loves spending time with his wife Linda and his children, Chris and Brittney. And he’s always up for a game of Euchre or Sequence.

When it comes to good vibes and memorable experiences, Jaré Cervantes is all in—so much so that she’s turned her passion for gatherings into a full-fledged career. Her knack for event planning, paired with her genuine love of bringing people together, made her the perfect fit for Scali Rasmussen’s Villa Ardore project, the luxurious Tuscan villa owned by Christian Scali, founder of Scali Rasmussen PC and his husband Stephen Lewis.

“There’s been a lot of growth over the past year that I have been here, and it’s great being part of a supportive, hardworking, and helpful team. Through my work with Scali Rasmussen, I’ve been able to work on some really fun and interesting events, and have met incredible people along the way,” says Jaré.

Jaré’s average workday literally spans the globe, as she acts in dual roles as executive assistant and event planner for the LA-based Scali Rasmussen in California and around the U.S. as well as international events involving Scali Rasmussen’s Italy-based Villa Ardore project. When she’s off the clock, Jaré typically spends time with her husband Saul and their two terriers, Bolt and Spots. She loves working out and has recently taken up salsa and hip-hop dance classes. “I also really love baking, especially when it comes to cookies,” says Jaré. “I make a great chocolate chip.”

Just a few months shy of ringing in her first decade with our law firm, Jennifer Woo Burns says her role with the Firm has changed over the years. All the while, the firm itself has been thankfully consistent.

“From day one, the work was so fast paced. And it hasn’t really let up since,” says Jennifer. “But what’s kind of cool is that the whole time the firm has remained constant, and I’ve always had a sense of belonging. It’s the consistency of my colleagues and the clients.”

Jennifer initially joined the firm in a full-time of counsel role in 2015, after working as in-house counsel and HR for car dealerships. She was recommended to Chris Scali by a mutual colleague at a time when the firm was in need of an employment lawyer with experience dealing with dealerships. Through her in-house roles, she gained an understanding of the operational realities of the automotive industry, so for all parties involved it seemed like the perfect match.

“At that time I had worked in-house for car dealerships for about 15 years, and I wanted to get back to the practice of law,” says Jennifer. “So it was such a fit — it was exactly the right industry, in the right area of law. It all just worked.”

Jennifer and her husband love the NFL and the Los Angeles Rams in particular. Following the team around the country for away games tends to dictate the family’s fall travel itinerary.

Having spent much of her youth on the open seas, Jasmin Bhandari was brought by the tides to Los Angeles in pursuit of a law degree.

“I grew up in a pretty unique circumstance, where my dad was a ship captain in the merchant navy, so I would spend my summers sailing around the world,” says Jasmin. “If it’s a place with a port, I’ve probably been there.”

After earning her JD from USC, Jasmin began working for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A few months later, she received a call from firm founder Christian Scali—on a Friday—with an offer of employment starting Monday. Jasmin says she learned a lot from those early days with the firm, which at the time was only a few months removed from its 2013 founding.

“It was a really great experience starting with the firm so close to its inception. Not only was I able to dabble in the fields that I was passionate about, like real estate and consumer law, I really learned how to be a lawyer from mentors like Bob Daniels and Chris Scali.”

Now serving as principal and labor & employment co-chair, Jasmin says she’s happy to repay that favor as a mentor to the firm’s newest attorneys, as she’s had a passion for teaching that’s always shined through.

“I’ve always loved teaching and passing on knowledge. When I was a little girl, my grandmother did not speak English, so I would stand up on the dining room chair and try to teach her the A-B-Cs,” says Jasmin, who immigrated to the U.S. from India when she was nine years old.

Her penchant for teaching extends beyond her time at the office, as she likes to spend her off-time volunteering with various child mentoring groups, work that Jasmin says “really helps you to get out of your own head.” Married to her high school sweetheart and a proud mother of two, Jasmin’s not able to travel as much as she did in her early years on her father’s ship - but she says she’s more than happy to settle for quiet nights at home.

As she closed up shop on her own Calabasas business, Christine Grair thought about her next steps. As she did, she says her mind kept drifting back to how much she’d enjoyed working in the legal industry. But after so many years away from law, she wasn’t sure whether a firm would give her a shot at a second chance.

To our great fortune, our firm gave her just that.

“I am so grateful to Scali Rasmussen for taking a chance on someone with little experience in civil litigation and allowing me to learn all the new aspects of the law that had been unknown to me,” says Christine.

Christine works as a Legal Secretary, and her day starts with a check to ensure that all the previous days’ calendar requests are fulfilled, and deadlines are being met. Over the course of the day, she’s monitoring schedules, emails, calendars, and just about everything else on behalf of the litigation team.

“My role is that of support and when I know my attorneys and paralegals feel properly supported, I know I am doing my job well, which brings me great joy. I love to organize and make things as easy as possible for others to excel in their jobs; seeing that executed with precision is truly rewarding.”

When she’s not working, Christine likes spending as much time as possible with family, friends, and her dog. She’s always looking for new adventures and wants to set aside a bit more time for travel – though a side effect of having a large extended family is that much of your off-time is spoken for.

“It feels like there is always an event, an outing, or a girl’s night that’s being planned so time seems to fly. Between work and life I feel like I have the best balance I have had in a long time,” Christine says.

The typical workday for a lawyer in complex litigation ranges from busy at best to chaotic at worst. But whatever the challenge, Scali Rasmussen Shareholder Jeffrey Erdman is always happy to meet it.

“It can get pretty intense at times,” Jeffrey said. “Typically, my cases are high stakes litigation involving very sophisticated clients with complicated legal issues to resolve.”With support from paralegals and staff, Jeffrey and his litigation team handle their cases from start to finish, often up to or even through trial.

“The work can sometimes lead to long hours over extended periods, but we enjoy working together for a common goal and we all like each other very much. So, it usually doesn’t feel like it’s too much to handle,” Jeffrey said.

Jeffrey managed his own small firm for about 15 years, and when the time came for his then-partner to move into retirement, he struck up conversations with Chris Scali, who he knew from bar association and fundraising events.

“It all came together 6 years ago this month when I closed the doors to my former firm and became a partner at Scali Rasmussen. It was the perfect place to take my skill set – and even some of the staff from my prior firm – to finish out my career,” said Jeffrey. "I am blessed to work with some old colleagues and also to have built strong friendships with folks I’ve met here; I feel like we are a family. We also have great clients I like working for, which is always a blessing for a litigation attorney.”

Outside of work hours, Jeffrey and his fiancé love attending theater and are subscribers to the LA Phil, the LA Opera, and the Ahmanson Theater. They’re also very much looking forward to their upcoming wedding in October, which will be held at Villa Ardore, a private luxury villa just outside of Florence, owned and operated by Chris Scali and husband Stephen Lewis.

“It is the perfect location for what is sure to be a magical celebration of love,” Jeffrey said. “I can’t wait!”