Lydia Lee Lockett

Lydia Lockett advises beneficiaries, fiduciaries and families in high-stakes trusts and estates disputes, contested conservatorships and elder abuse and vulnerable adult abuse matters. She helps clients navigate complex inheritance, governance and fiduciary challenges involving significant family wealth, closely held businesses and multifaceted estate administrations. Her practice combines litigation experience with a deep understanding of the legal and business issues that often shape family disputes, guiding clients through every stage of litigation, from pre-suit strategy and trial through appeals that have resulted in published appellate opinions.

Her representations encompass will and trust contests, breach of fiduciary duty claims, conservatorship proceedings and elder and vulnerable adult financial abuse matters, as well as disputes involving the ownership and governance of closely held corporations, family partnerships and limited liability companies, and disputes involving fractional real estate interests and fiduciary obligations between spouses.

Her experience includes representing co-administrators in the complex administration of an $800 million intestate estate, including a high-profile will contest and multijurisdictional litigation arising from dozens of multimillion-dollar transactions involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, vulnerable adult abuse and undue influence. Lydia also served as co-trial counsel for trust beneficiaries who obtained a multimillion-dollar judgment, prejudgment interest, double damages and attorneys' fees following a six-day bench trial involving elder financial abuse and undue influence claims.

She has represented an administrator ad litem overseeing a $30 million New York corporation in multistate litigation involving probate, corporate ownership and employment-related disputes. Her work also includes representing a beneficiary and former co-trustee in litigation involving a real estate portfolio valued at more than $25 million, defending an heir against claims exceeding $100 million arising from an alleged disinheritance and pursuing the recovery of trust assets in matters involving alleged elder financial abuse and damages exceeding $20 million.

Her litigation experience also includes significant appellate matters that resulted in published opinions.

Lydia previously served a concurrent two-year term on the Trusts and Estates Section Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association and serves on the board of the California Young Lawyers Association. She also previously served as co-coordinator of Holland & Knight's national Women's Engagement Network in the Los Angeles office.

Before joining the Firm, Lydia served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Suzanne H. Segal and the Honorable Robert Gary Klausner of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Lydia was also a note and comment editor of the Loyola Law School of Los Angeles Law Review and a member of the nationally ranked Byrne Trial Advocacy Team.