2025 OC 500 – Orange County Business Journal
Rutan is excited to announce that Managing Partner Vijay Pai and Litigation Partner Lisa Neal have been recognized in the ninth edition of the Orange County Business Journal’s OC 500 annual Directory of Influence list.
This publication features the names, biographies, recent news, and insider details about the area’s executives, educators, and community leaders who have made headlines in the Business Journal over the past year.
Vijay Pai is the Managing Partner of the firm. Vijay has substantial experience representing developers, lenders, owners and investors in the structuring, negotiation and documentation of complex real estate and finance transactions with a special emphasis on multi-family housing properties and industrial projects. Vijay represents developers and owners in all aspects of sophisticated real estate transactions, including development, acquisition, sales, equity/joint ventures, preferred equity, mezzanine financings and mortgage loans. Vijay also represents institutional lenders, second lien lenders and borrowers in a broad range of finance transactions including real estate secured loans (construction, permanent, mezzanine and affordable housing loans) and non- real estate secured asset-based and second lien financing transactions. Vijay currently serves on the Executive Committee of the firm and is the former head of the firm’s Real Estate department.
Lisa Neal has over 20 years of experience as a litigator and is the Chair of Rutan & Tucker’s Litigation and Trial department. She focuses her litigation practice on real estate litigation, first-party insurance litigation, commercial coverage litigation, fraud, extracontractual and insurance litigation, probate and trust litigation and business litigation. Lisa has vast courtroom experience and has acted as lead counsel in numerous matters involving business contract, insurance, class action defense, fraud and tort. Lisa also assists her clients in managing litigation matters and overseeing the handling of trademark, intellectual property, employment/labor, corporate and real estate matters. She is also very involved in firm management as she is Co-Chair of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Group, Chairman of the Personnel Committee and a Member of the Partnership Review Committee.
