Stone & Sallus, LLP

Focus and practice areas

Three fields of law define the work at Stone & Sallus: business law, real estate, and wills, trusts, and estate planning. The firm handles all three from its office in El Segundo. On the business side, the work covers formation, contracts, partnership disputes, and business dissolution, along with commercial litigation when a deal falls apart.

Real estate is the second pillar. The firm handles property transactions, landlord and tenant matters, and HOA disputes. It also takes on commercial lease disputes, partition actions, quiet title claims, easement disputes, and construction law. That spread lets the firm handle a property matter at closing and again in court if a dispute arises later.

The estate practice covers wills and trusts, living trusts, and estate planning. When a family disagrees over an inheritance, the firm handles probate litigation, trust litigation, conservatorship, and inheritance disputes. Several attorneys carry this work alongside their business and real estate files, so the three areas overlap in daily practice.

How the team is built

Two partners run the firm. Daniel R. Sallus works across business litigation, business and real estate transactions, estate planning, entity formations, and real estate litigation. Jason M. Stone is a lifelong resident of the South Bay. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona and a Juris Doctor from Southwestern Law School.

The attorneys behind the partners

Ten more attorneys work under the two partners, and the site ties each to a field or two. Adam G. Carpinelli is an associate whose work covers business, real estate, and civil litigation. A. James Artiano handles business and transactional law, and his practice reaches estate planning for business clients. Barton E. DeBolt works on real property, business, and commercial matters through all phases of litigation and compliance.

Brendan A. Smith focuses on business and real estate disputes and general civil litigation. Brook John Changala has more than 18 years of experience and concentrates on real estate, business, and trust litigation. Crystal Hayes Hill has over a decade of experience in probate and family law, and her work includes trust and estates litigation.

Elliott Montgomery handles all phases of litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants. Emanuel K. Caros works in business litigation and has counseled individuals, small companies, corporations, and governmental entities. Evan F. Anderson covers business and real estate litigation, real estate transactions, estate planning, trust administration, and trust and probate litigation. Linda A. Artiano handles employment matters and brings more than 30 years as an attorney, with more than 25 years in employment law.

Where the firm works and who it represents

The client base spans businesses, charities, nonprofits, developers, lenders, brokers, individuals, trustees, and families. That range tracks the three practice areas, since a developer needs real estate counsel while a family needs estate help. The firm works with each group from the same El Segundo base.

The firm serves Southern California, with a concentration in Los Angeles and the South Bay. Its stated service area includes Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, Torrance, Marina del Rey, and Santa Monica. Jason Stone's roots in the South Bay line up with that footprint.

What the range of work points to

In my opinion, the useful thing about a firm this size is the overlap between its fields. A business dispute can raise a real estate question, and an estate can hold both a company and a piece of property. Stone & Sallus keeps attorneys in each field under one roof, so a client with a mixed problem can stay with one team.

The mix also shapes how the firm staffs a matter. A trust dispute that touches a family business can pull in an attorney who knows trust litigation and one who knows entity work. The roster has names on both sides of that line: Evan F. Anderson on trust and probate litigation, and Daniel Sallus on entity formations.

As a reviewer, I read the roster as the firm's clearest signal. The site names two partners and ten more attorneys, and it ties most of them to specific fields such as trust litigation, employment law, or real estate transactions. The site does not state a founding year. The litigation side has notable depth, with several attorneys who list years of court experience.

How these matters proceed

Trust and probate litigation runs through the probate court. Such cases often begin with a petition, move through discovery, and can reach mediation or trial. Partition actions ask a court to divide or sell property that co-owners hold together, and quiet title claims ask a court to settle who owns a parcel. These are the matters that several of the firm's attorneys name in their profiles.

Real estate fights have their own shape. Quiet title and easement disputes turn on records and surveys, so early work often means gathering deeds and old agreements before anyone files. Construction law claims can bring in contractors, owners, and insurers at once, and the firm lists all phases of litigation for this work.

Estate work beyond the courtroom

On the planning side, wills, living trusts, and estate plans set out who receives property and who administers it. Conservatorship works the other way, since it asks a court to appoint someone to manage the affairs of a person who can no longer do so, and a judge reviews that arrangement over time. The firm handles both the planning and the disputes that can follow.

Business disputes follow another track. Partnership disagreements and business dissolutions can turn on the founding documents, so the firm's contract and entity-formation work feeds directly into any later fight. Elliott Montgomery's profile puts a number on this side of the work: he has resolved hundreds of cases through settlement talks and mediation.