Who Am I?

     After graduating first in his class from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1996, Randy Merritt practiced law in Los Angeles with the highly respected firms of Latham & Watkins and O’Donnell & Shaeffer. In 2004, Randy left O'Donnell & Shaeffer to start his own practice for five years before merging into another respected large firm, Lathrop & Gage. In 2014, Randy moved his legal practice to Elk Grove for the oldest of reasons - love. Married to Monica, a Sacramento kindergarten teacher in July, Randy opened his Elk Grove office January 1, 2015.

During the past 19 years, he has handled numerous litigation matters, in both state and federal court and before arbitration panels, for a variety of clients covering a broad range of practice areas, including employment terminations, corporate governance and mismanagement, environmental claims, copyright and trademark disputes, contract disputes, and claims for fraud.   Randy’s clients, including both individuals and businesses - ranging from small local businesses to Fortune 500 companies - have also engaged him for legal advice addressing many legal issues, including proper procedures for corporate governance, protection of copyright and trademark rights and trade secrets, employer-employee relations, and contractual negotiations.

    In addition to his legal practice, Randy has been actively involved in numerous volunteer and community activities.  For more than a decade, Mr. Merritt has served as a director and treasurer for the non-profit organization Early Manuscript Electronic Library (http://emel-library.org).  EMEL uses digital technologies to make manuscripts and other historical source materials accessible for study and appreciation by scholars and the public.  Such technologies can recover writing on ancient manuscripts that the human eye cannot see due to damage, deterioration or erasure and can preserve these writings for future generations.   Randy has also volunteered his services to teach classes on baseball history (another of his passions) wherever and whenever he can.