Our Staff
Whitney M. Skala, Esq.
Whitney Skala has practiced law since 1983. Mr. Skala is admitted to the California and federal (Southern District of California) bars. Based on a survey of the San Diego legal community, Martindale-Hubbell (a nationwide attorney directory) has awarded Mr. Skala its highest rating for legal expertise and ethical conduct, “AV.”
Mr. Skala received his B.A. degree in Political Science and Economics (1980) from the University of California at Berkeley and his J.D. degree (1983) from Georgetown University Law Center. His commitment is to build the leading San Diego small-firm practice in the area of real estate and business sales, acquisitions, financings, leasings, entity formations, and related matters.
In the corporate field, Mr. Skala is the author of an article entitled, “Ten (or more) Pitfalls in Incorporating a Business,” published in the Winter 1995 issue of the California Business Law Practitioner, an article entitled, “Closing Letter to Client After Formation of a Closely Held Corporation,” published in the Spring 2001 issue of the Practitioner, and a chapter entitled, “C and S Corporations,” contained in the Continuing Education of the Bar (“CEB”) book, Selecting and Forming Business Entities. He is the author of the series of real estate articles entitled, “Strategies For A Changing Economy,” published in the San Diego Daily Transcript’s quarterly law journal and reprinted on its web site; his topics include, “Assignments and Subleases of Commercial and Office Space,” “Real Property Purchases in a Sloppy Market,” “Representing the Out of State Real Estate Client,” and, “Single-Member LLC’s.” His current writing project is to author a series of articles to be entitled, “The World From The Ground Up,” focusing on international real estate issues. His first article will appear in August 2007 and will discuss the planned renovation of the Hong Kong waterfront.
From 2002 to the present, Mr. Skala has served as one of two speakers at five all-day professional education seminars sponsored by the National Business Institute (“NBI”). In that same time, Lorman Educational Services retained Mr. Skala to speak at five professional seminars, on corporate, partnership, and limited liability company matters. A third company, Sterling Education Services, twice engaged Mr. Skala to speak, on a variety of investment entity issues. Most recently, Mr. Skala spoke for Lorman in a real estate-related seminar, entitled “Negotiating Complex Real Estate Transactions,” and for NBI on limited liability company formation issues. In June, 2006, the accounting firm of Moss Adams, LLP, invited Mr. Skala to speak at its firm-wide construction department retreat, held in San Diego, on new developments in real estate law.
In the community, Mr. Skala served a two-year term as Co-Chair of the San Diego County Bar Association’s Real Property Section. He is a past President of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Repertory Theatre, past President of the San Diego Chapter of the University of California, Berkeley Alumni Club, has sat on the Session of the Pt. Loma Community Presbyterian Church, and serves as a Board member to the Peninsula YMCA (for which he chairs the “Major Gifts Committee” of the current $5.2 million capital campaign). He also has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the San Diego Crew Classic and as a member of the Executive Council of the Desert Pacific Council (comprising San Diego, Imperial, and Yuma Counties) of the Boy Scouts of America. He has been a member of the Austin Guild board of St. Augustine High School and of the Foundation board of Point Loma High School. He is a 1992 graduate of the LEAD-San Diego program. In 1990, Mr. Skala was awarded the University of California, Berkeley, Alumni Association’s highest young alumnus honor, the Bradford S. King Award, as “Young Alumnus of the Year.” He is 50 years old, married, has three children, and lives in Point Loma

