Fredric W. Trester is a Named Partner in the Los Angeles office of Manning Kass. He is the leader of the Professional Liability and Real Estate teams, and a member of the Legal Malpractice team.
Mr. Trester has represented professionals—including lawyers, real estate brokers, escrow agents, insurance agents, architects and engineers—in litigation, for more than three decades, and has also handled entertainment law and trust and estates matters. Mr. Trester is well known in the real estate brokerage community as a go-to attorney for high end real estate related litigation. He has also been called upon to provide expert witness services in cases brought against real estate professionals and attorneys.
He is a member of the California Association of Realtors’ Strategic Defense Counsel Panel, and former adjunct professor at Southwestern University School of Law, where he taught the Real Estate Transactions course. Mr. Trester is a frequent speaker on behalf of the California Education of the Bar, presenting courses on annual real estate updates and real estate broker practice. He authored the chapter entitled “Litigation: Suing & Defending Real Estate Brokers” in the California Education of the Bar treatise entitled “California Real Estate Brokers Law in Litigation.” He has been a certified instructor for the California Department of Real Estate, for which he taught courses on risk management.
Mr. Trester serves as general and litigation counsel for numerous real estate companies, including Sotheby’s International Realty, Coldwell Banker, RE/MAX, Keller Williams, Prudential, and First Team Real Estate. He manages a number of real estate “hotlines” for clients advising on day to day issues that arise in real estate broker practice. Mr. Trester has also supervised and/or been involved in numerous commercial and multi-unit residential real estate syndications.
Mr. Trester was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is admitted to the California Bar. He attended college at the University of Arizona (Bachelor of Arts in History) and graduated cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law. Mr. Trester is also a graduate of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Trial Attorney Project (where he tried jury trials as a Los Angeles deputy city attorney), and the prominent Hastings College of Trial Advocacy.
Mr. Trester has been a California licensed real estate broker since 1984, and acts as a volunteer mediator and arbitrator for the Los Angeles courts. He was formerly a commissioner on the Advisory Commission to the California Senate Committee on Business Insurance (1988–1990) and has worked with the California Association of Realtors in numerous capacities throughout the last 20 years, assisting in the development of forms used in day to day transactions and legislation impacting licensees. He also has served as the co-chair of the State Bar Committee on Real Estate Brokerage and Sales Transactions, and was nominated in 2012 for State Bar Real Property Person of the Year.
Mr. Trester is a member of the Los Angeles County and American Bar Associations, Litigation and Real Estate Sections. He has been an active member in several industry and professional organizations, such as PLUS and DRI, where he has served on speaker’s committees and as a speaker at conferences on professional liability issues.
Mr. Trester is a frequent lecturer and author on issues involving risk management and recent developments in the law impacting real estate brokers, design professionals, attorneys, businesses, and property owners.
Mr. Trester was lead trial counsel in the following representative cases wherein he secured defense verdicts/judgments including:
- a seven-figure claim against real estate broker in Santa Barbara alleging misrepresentation and concealment.
- a seven-figure claim against real estate brokerage brought by developers alleging failure of agent to perform due diligence causing substantial increase in development costs.
- a legal malpractice claim arising out of underlying employment discrimination and wrongful termination trial.
- a real estate broker fraud case involving claims of construction defects and mold.
- a summary judgment in favor of architect for alleged negligent design of movie theater resulting in personal injury claim.
Mr. Trester has been named a 2006 and 2008–2024 Super Lawyer, a distinction awarded to no more than five percent of attorneys in a state who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.