The Santa Rosa law firm Anderson, Zeigler, Disharoon, Gallagher & Gray prides itself on serving all of its clients’ legal needs. The full-service firm handles most types of law except for family law, criminal law and worker’s compensation. That, combined with legal expertise, may be why Anderson, Zeigler is considered by NorthBay biz readers to be the best law firm for 2008.
Anderson, Zeigler focuses on full service. It can do everything from help a client establish a business, deal with employment matters, develop exit strategies, plan personal estates and organize a will. In short, the law firm manages most of the legal issues clients might encounter in their lifetimes.
“We take matters very personally,” says Rob Rutherfurd, a managing partner who works in the areas of business organization, real estate mergers and general business law. “We care deeply for our clients and about serving those clients.”
In 2007, Anderson, Zeigler, Disharoon, Gallagher & Gray celebrated its 25th anniversary, although some of its Sonoma County history can be traced back more than 120 years. It currently employs 17 attorneys and has offices in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Petaluma and Oakmont.
At heart, a law firm is only as good as its attorneys, so each of Anderson, Zeigler’s attorneys has years of experience in addition to impressive educational backgrounds from schools like Stanford University, University of California Davis, University of California Berkeley and Hastings College of Law.
“We have very, very qualified people working here,” says Barbara Gallagher, a principle at the firm who specializes in real estate, intellectual property and estate planning. “People with strong backgrounds. So there’s a lot of knowledge and experience here, as well as good client services.”
As such, Anderson, Zeigler clients have found the firm can offer them everything most San Francisco law firms can offer with the added advantage of being in their own backyard.
“Clients who’ve measured us against the larger market—comparing us to San Francisco or Oakland law firms—have been pleasantly surprised by our level of service,” says Gallagher. “And we’re more convenient, obviously.”
While it can compete with the best, Anderson, Zeigler also maintains a level of personal contact that’s important in the North Bay. In fact, some clients end up having relationships with several attorneys at the firm, which gives the added benefit of several legal experts conferring about their case.
Touches like that are what makes Anderson, Zeigler stand out, believes Gallagher.
“Some clients do have relationships with several attorneys,” she says. “In those cases, we can offer some back-up for the client, because we can have that other attorney come in and help. “Not every firm has that kind of depth.”
