Scott Malzahn, the firm’s Managing Partner, is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer. Scott has a complex civil litigation practice, frequently representing plaintiffs and defendants in intellectual property, fintech, and general commercial disputes. He is frequently consulted on anti-SLAPP law and was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Los Angeles for 2025 by to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Scott has tried multiple cases to verdict in federal and state courts, and in arbitration. Last year, he and the Waymaker team won a jury trial in federal court in an intellectual property dispute between competitors. Siding with the firm’s client, the jury found all 11 defendants liable for trade secret theft, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and counterfeiting. The jury invalidated two of defendants’ patents and the firm’s client won a damages award of more than $18 million.
Scott also has an extensive appellate practice. He has authored appellate briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, multiple federal circuits, and several state appellate courts. He has received multiple professional awards and recognitions. He is a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.
Scott has obtained successful results for many cases for clients—both on the plaintiff and defense side—through motion practice. In one high-profile copyright dispute, the Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times described a summary judgment ruling in favor of the firm’s client as a “legal earthquake” that “could usher in a new generation of pay TV services online[.]” In a trade libel dispute between two commercial businesses that went up to the California Supreme Court, Scott crafted the legal arguments adopted unanimously by the California Supreme Court in a 2019 decision that is now the leading decision for anti-SLAPP cases under the catchall provision. The published decision is now the leading California decision for anti-SLAPP motions brought under the catch-all provision and has been cited more than 1,000 times. See FilmOn.com Inc. v. DoubleVerify Inc., 7 Cal. 5th 133 (2019).
Scott previously served as the President of Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. For a number of years, Scott taught a course in Constitutional Law to law students at USC Gould School of Law. Before joining Waymaker, Scott practiced at major law firms (Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Howrey & Simon) and at a boutique plaintiff contingency shop. He graduated from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) in the top 1% of his class.