Gallagher Krich, APC

Focus and practice areas

The firm works with individuals and with small to midsize businesses from a base in San Diego. It concentrates on the legal questions that come up when a company forms, grows, signs deals or falls into a dispute. Business law makes up a large share of the caseload, and it covers formation, litigation, disputes, dissolution and franchise law.

The firm also handles intellectual property with a focus on art and copyright law. In my opinion, that spread points to a firm built around the working needs of a business and the people who own it. Each area involves contracts, obligations and the records that document them.

Employment law and collections round out the list. Employment matters cover the rules that govern how a company hires, manages and parts with staff. Collections work pursues money a client is owed after an invoice or a judgment goes unpaid. Both tie back to the contracts and obligations that run through the firm's other work.

Business and contract work up close

Business formation is where many client relationships start. It involves choosing an entity, drafting the governing documents and setting out how owners share control and profit. The firm handles this groundwork, and it also steps in when a formed business faces a dispute or a dissolution.

Contract work connects closely to the business side. The firm drafts agreements, reviews terms before a client signs, and negotiates the points that carry risk. When a deal breaks down, it handles breach of contract disputes, which can move toward negotiation, mediation or a court filing depending on the facts.

Franchise law adds another layer. A franchise relationship runs on a franchise agreement and a set of disclosure rules that govern what a franchisor must tell a franchisee. The firm names franchise law among its areas, and that work calls for careful reading of the agreement and the disclosure documents.

Real estate and property disputes

Real estate forms a second core area for the firm. It covers real estate mediation, partition actions and specific performance claims. Each of these points to a different kind of property problem.

A partition action asks a court to divide or sell property held by more than one owner when the owners cannot agree on what to do with it. A specific performance claim asks a court to enforce a real estate deal on its original terms, often when a seller tries to back out. Real estate mediation offers a route to settle these questions through an agreed outcome. As a reviewer, I read the pairing of litigation tools and mediation as a practical way to give clients more than one path.

The two partners who founded it

Gallagher Krich, APC opened in 2008. Tom Gallagher and Troy Krich founded it together. The two partners carry more than 30 years of combined experience. A firm this size tells a client who will handle the file: the named partners themselves.

Tom Gallagher focuses on commercial litigation and real estate law. Earlier in his career he worked in medical malpractice and insurance defense, which gives him a background in the courtroom side of civil disputes. He also provides outside general counsel to several privately held companies, a role that means ongoing legal support across a company's day-to-day operations.

Troy B. Krich practices business law, employment law and real estate, with work in litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He is a certified mediator with international mediation experience. He teaches seminars and university classes on mediation and negotiation, which places him on both sides of the process: as a practitioner and as an instructor.

Mediation and dispute resolution

Mediation appears throughout the firm's work. The firm offers mediation and alternative dispute resolution services, and Troy Krich holds a mediator certification and teaches the subject. That mix gives clients a path to settle a dispute outside a courtroom when the matter allows it.

Mediation puts a neutral third party between the sides to help them reach an agreement they both accept. It often costs less than a full trial and can close a matter faster. The firm applies this approach to business and real estate disputes alike, and one of its partners brings a teacher's grasp of how the process works.

Reach and the clients it serves

The firm covers San Diego County, Orange County, Riverside County and coastal Southern California. Its office sits in the Banker's Hill area near Balboa Park. The firm also states that it represents international clients, which suggests comfort with cross-border business questions.

The client base spans individuals and companies at the small and midsize end of the market. These clients often need the same lawyer for a contract one month and a dispute the next. A two-partner firm that names business, real estate and mediation among its areas fits that kind of ongoing relationship, and it gives a client a consistent point of contact. That combination is the record the firm's own site sets out.