Managing Partner
Location: Saratoga, California
Phone: 408-257-0900
Fax: 408-257-7925
Miriam Brody attended the University of California at Berkeley, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History in 1980. She earned her Juris Doctor in 1983 from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco. While there Miriam competed in Hastings’ prestigious David E. Snodgrass Moot Court competition, in which she was a “Best Brief” award winner. The oral argument in that competition led to Miriam being selected to extern for the Honorable William A. Newsom, Judge, the following year at the California Court of Appeal for the First District in San Francisco. Following her graduation from law school and after being admitted to the California Bar in 1983, she served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Earl Johnson, Jr., at the California Court of Appeal for the Second District in Los Angeles. Her meticulous attention to detail and to creating the necessary evidentiary record in the trial court results from this extensive familiarity with appellate practice early in her career.
Miriam began her private practice career at the law firm of Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph & Levanas in Los Angeles as a litigation associate. In 1985, anxious to gain trial experience, she joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office where her criminal caseload experience ranged from over 500 felony preliminary hearings and juvenile court trials to jury trials including battery, weapons, theft and drug and drunken driving cases.
Miriam left the Public Defender’s Office in 1988 to return to the Bay Area to work once again as a litigation associate where she gained extensive experience in the state and federal courts, first for the small San Jose law firm of Ubhaus & Collins and then for the San Jose law firm of Berliner Cohen.
In 1994 she took on her first partnership, becoming a shareholder at Rosenblum, Parish & Isaacs and the Managing Director of the firm’s San Jose litigation practice group. There she specialized in business litigation including estate, probate, real estate, construction, unfair competition, director and officer liability, products liability, insurance coverage, employment related litigation and white-collar criminal defense.
Once again as a partner, Miriam joined the San Jose law firm of Carter, Dougherty and Behman, in 1997, a six-attorney boutique practice specializing in estate planning, tax and civil litigation, where Miriam increasingly focused on all aspects of trust and estate litigation.
After 18 years in the litigation trenches, Miriam switched gears in 2002 as in-house counsel for Brody Executive Search, Inc., where she collaborated on all aspects of this boutique executive search practice for Silicon Valley venture capital-backed high tech startups.
The current chapter of Miriam’s professional career finds her bringing her talent, dedication and years of diverse experience into play under her own shingle. The Law Offices of Miriam Behman Brody is a comprehensive estate, trust and probate litigation practice. Her areas of focus and expertise include representing private professional fiduciaries, professional and lay trustees, estate planning attorneys, beneficiaries, heirs, administrators, executors, guardians, conservators, will and trust contestants and respondents and elder abuse claimants and respondents in trust, probate, civil litigation matters, and contested trust administration matters. Miriam will help you identify your objectives and develop the legal strategy to get you there.
Miriam lives in Los Gatos in a 160-year old Victorian farmhouse. Her adult son, a business school graduate from Cal State University Chico, works in high technology sales in Silicon Valley, while also devoting his time to his love of basketball and music (guitar). Miriam’s many interests include art, theatre, hiking, and traveling. She is an avid reader and music enthusiast — especially jazz.
Areas of Practice
80% Trust and Estate Litigation
20% Contested Trust Administration
Litigation Percentage
80% of Practice Devoted to Litigation
Bar Admissions
Supreme Court of California, 1983
U.S. District Court Central District of California, 1985
U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1988
U.S. District Court Eastern District of California, 1991
U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, pro hac vice
U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, pro hac vice
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, pro hac vice
U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 1990
U.S. Supreme Court, 1994
Education
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California
J.D. – 1983
University of California, Berkeley
B.A., Bachelor of Arts – 1980
Major: Art History
Honors and Awards
Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent
Silicon Valley Bar Association Judicial Liaison for 2017 and 2018
Selected To Super Lawyers from 2017 to 2022
Speaking Engagements
“Fiduciary Strategies In Heavily Contested Court Situations,”
Silicon Valley Chapter Professional Fiduciary Association of California, 2023
Professional Associations and Memberships
California Bar Association
Silicon Valley Bar Association
Santa Clara County Bar Association
San Mateo County Bar Association
Monterey County Bar Association
Litigation Section of the State Bar
Trusts & Estates Section of the State Bar
Santa Clara County Estate Planning Council
Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent
Past Employment Positions
California Court of Appeal, Second District in Los Angeles, Honorable Earl Johnson, Jr., Law Clerk, 1983 – 1984
Overland, Berke, Wesley, Gits, Randolph & Levanas in Los Angeles, Litigation Associate, 1984 – 1985
Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, Los Angeles, Deputy Public Defender’s Office, 1985 – 1988
Ubhaus & Collins, San Jose, California, Litigation Associate, 1988 – 1991
Berliner Cohen, San Jose, California, Litigation Associate, 1991 – 1994
Rosenblum, Parish & Isaacs, San Jose, California, Shareholder, Director, 1994 – 1997
Carter, Dougherty and Behman, San Jose, California, Partner, 1997 – 2001
Brody Executive Search, Inc., Saratoga, California, In House Counsel/CFO, 2001 – 2008
Law Offices of Miriam Behman Brody, Saratoga, California, Owner, 2009 – present