Tomasene A. Knight

Tomasene Knight is an associate in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office.

Areas of Practice

Tomasene’s practice focuses on disputes over trusts, estates, conservatorships and other fiduciary matters. She represents individuals, corporate trustees, private professional fiduciaries, and families through all aspects of trust and probate litigation, at both the trial court level and on appeal, including in will and trust contests, breach of fiduciary duty cases, accounting actions, judicial construction and modification of trusts, elder abuse actions, and contested conservatorship proceedings.

Experience

Representative Experience

Successfully defended a client with assets of more than $200 million against petitions to conserve her person and estate, obtaining a denial of the opposing party’s petition for temporary conservatorship and a dismissal of his petition for general conservatorship, all prior to the initiation of discovery or a trial.

Acted as a member of the legal team that prevailed in the First District Court of Appeal Case, Stine v. Dell’Osso (230 Cal.App.4th 834), which resulted in a published opinion clarifying successor conservator standing in a legal malpractice action.

Honors

Northern California Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2019-2023

Articles

• Update editor for Thomson Reuters Practical Law, Private Client Law in the United States (Federal), 2019

Speaking Engagements

• Co-presenter, "Protecting Beneficiary Privacy: Tools for Fiduciaries," American Law Institute CLE Virtual Conference on Representing Estate and Trust Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries 2024, March 2024
• Co-Presenter, "California Taxation of Individuals and Trusts," San Mateo County Bar Association, October 2022
• Co-Presenter, "Your Tab is Still Open: Successfully Prosecuting a Creditor’s Claim When Decedent Fails to Settle Up," Beverly Hills Bar Association (May 2022); San Mateo County Bar Association, May 2022
• Co-presenter, "Family Law and Probate Cross-Over Issues," San Mateo County Bar Association, Family Law Section, 2018
• Co-presenter, "Conservatorships and Incapacity in Family Law Proceedings," Contra Costa County Bar Association, 2018
• Researched and co-authored, as first author, presentations on Prosecuting and Defending Claims Against Trusts and Estates, and Collecting Claims Against Trusts and Estates, which were both presented at the 2018 Tax and Estate Planning Forum, a national conference.