History of Gianelli | Friedman | Jeffries

In 1973 Louis “Bud” Gianelli decided to pursue a career in law, a dream that had been pushed aside in the early 1950s after Bud started a family with his wife Jackie and received a job offer he couldn’t refuse from Bud Freese to form an independent insurance adjusting firm in 1955.The firm became known as Freese and Gianelli. 

By 1960 Bud Freese had retired and Bud Gianelli had built Freese and Gianelli to be a highly successful and respected company with Ray Simon and Bob Stevens joining Bud as partners. In 1972 Bud sold his interest in Freese and Gianelli to Ray and Bob and started Law Offices of L.F. Gianelli, Inc., a Professional Law Corporation, with the intent of using Bud’s years in business management to fill a gap in the local civil law community. The 70s and 80s were the renaissance years for local small businesses in Modesto and Bud’s small law practice was incorporating literally hundreds of businesses a year. Bud also became a California Probate Referee for which he served for more than 25 years and became President of the California Probate Referee’s Association. Bud had a vision of helping local business succeed and doing everything they could to grow to help the thriving local community grow and prosper. 

In 1973 Bud’s eldest son Michael was studying at UC Irvine to become a history professor when, after being accepted into the graduate program at Irvine, he decided to accompany a friend to the LSAT and see how he’d fare on the qualifying exam. His scores showed an aptitude for law and he decided to attend University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. After putting in time at another firm, Michael moved to his father’s practice in 1979 and broadened the firm’s specializations to include litigation. By the mid-1980s Michael was fulfilling his initial teaching ambition by teaching an evening Business Law class at the Modesto Junior College, along with a community education course on estate planning, which he continued for 15 years. 

Son Jim also began a career in law, soon opting to branch off on his own in Sonora. 

In 1989 son David crossed over to law as well to join Bud and Mike’s firm after several years in the accounting field. Dave also obtained his master’s degree in taxation at Golden Gate College, bringing with him an even deeper knowledge of estate planning and trust and probate law, further rounding out the firm. 

In the late 1980s, the firm began to grow, adding new attorneys and a crew of paralegals and legal assistants, several of whom are still with the firm today. 

In 2012 the law firm sought to put a solid core of local grown business and estate attorneys in place in order to compete with the growing trend of outside firms merging into Modesto. Lou Friedman, former CFO for Gallo Winery, brought along his tax expertise in estate and business planning to the firm and brought the firm to a new level of planning for large complex estates. Judy Jensen also joined the firm in 2012, bringing with her a successful 25-year estate planning and estate administration practice, working closely with families and businesses alike. Both Lou and Judy have been huge assets to our firm, providing us with more depth and diversity of knowledge and experience in the areas of practice that were at the core of Bud Gianelli’s initial vision. 

We are busy building for our future. We had Amy Abid Jeffries join our Modesto office in early 2021 as an estate and business planning attorney and we look forward to launching the careers of other new attorneys in the near future.  

With brother Jim Gianelli’s retirement in 2019, the firm took over his practice, giving us a satellite office in Sonora where estate planning and litigation attorney Carrie McKernan joined in 2021. Carrie practices full-time in Sonora. 

Mark Kanai, with over 50 years of legal experience in the Modesto community, joined us with his solid business and estate planning practice in 2021 to effectuate his transition into retirement at the end of 2022 while we continue to grow to serve our clients.  

In June 2023, our firm underwent and a rebranding and name change and are now known as Gianelli | Friedman | Jeffries. Our team now has more than 200 years of combined experience in estate and business planning.

October 2023 saw seasoned attorney Steven “Steve” G. Pallios join our team in Modesto. Steve is an estate planning attorney and business attorney. 

Gianelli feels a strong obligation to support the local community. We have participated in countless community organizations, including Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Stanislaus Community Foundation, Community Hospice, Modesto Junior College Foundation, Great Valley Museum, Boys and Girls Club, Great Valley Academy, and the Modesto Children’s Museum, just to name a few. 

At Gianelli, we believe that lawyers and law firms have a significant impact on the culture of the community in which they practice law. We strive to provide creative, collaborative and innovative legal services that will have the greatest positive impact on our clients, their families, their businesses and their community. We look forward to serving you.