The ABL Team
Galia Aharoni Schmidt
Galia is the founding partner of Aharoni Business Law, PC. At ABL, Galia works with clients to analyze the whole health of their businesses, identify areas of potential liability, and strategize together to design a personalized plan to protect their businesses and their personal assets. Galia enjoys working with clients on all business, employment, and intellectual property issues, and she has particular expertise in business formation, independent contractor classification, and minimizing liability.
Throughout her entire childhood, people told Galia that she should be a lawyer, because she always stood up for people she felt were being treated unfairly. She also loved arguing, just for the fun of it! Now, Galia uses that passion to protect small business owners, because small business owners are drivers of change in the world.
Galia also has an insatiable desire for knowledge, and loves business law because she gets to learn about businesses and industries she would not have otherwise known anything about. She loves to use the all of the knowledge she gains to educate others, so those around her learn the easy way instead of the hard way.
Galia’s love of educating others extends to her writing and speaking engagements. Galia is a published author on intellectual property issues, and regularly speaks to organizations throughout the state and country to educate individuals and other lawyers on a variety of topics including business law, employment law, and technology.
Galia graduated from Tulane University School of Law with a certificate in environmental law and a sub-focus on intellectual property, and she currently has licenses to practice law in both California and Louisiana. Prior to founding ABL, Galia was a founding partner of a Bay Area-based multi-lawyer business law firm, practiced law at private law firms in both New Orleans and Oakland, and worked as a business development attorney at a large legal publisher in Northern California. She’s also done stints as a professional proofreader/editor and a dog sitter, but the latter was mostly just an excuse to hang out with other people’s dogs.
When not working, she can be found coffee-shop hopping, reading, taking meandering walks with her husband, Mike, and dog, Bruce, or collecting hobbies. A few of her favorite hobbies so far include belly dancing, glass flameworking, tai chi, dog training, and VR. She’s currently teaching herself how to code, and how to read tarot cards. Next she wants to try recording podcasts, video editing, pilates, and learning a new instrument.
Tony Collins
Tony began his current career helping businesses stay afloat following the economic downturn of 2008. After helping streamline and run the day-to-day for a handful of businesses in the Mid-Atlantic and his hometown of Chicago, he headed west to learn the wine trade. As a serial entrepreneur in the Bay Area, he found himself so fond of the ABL team that he jumped at the opportunity to become an official member of the family.
A true proponent of “work smarter, not harder,” Tony has an uncontrollable compulsion for process improvement. He works behind the scenes to make sure clients have an easy, seamless experience with ABL. Off the clock, Tony is active in his East Oakland neighborhood as an advocate for safety, equity, and economic opportunity. Otherwise, he might be found at a trivia night, an escape room, or at home watching Bob Ross.