Best Best & Krieger News Feed

BB&K Earns “Metropolitan Tier 1” Best Law Firm Rankings

01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Nov. 1, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Best Best & Krieger LLP achieved several “Metropolitan Tier 1” designations from U.S. News-Best Lawyers in America® in its 2017 Best Law Firms rankings. “Tier 1” indicates that these practices were recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers.

The BB&K Metropolitan Tier 1 rankings are:

Los Angeles: Water Law
Oakland (Walnut Creek): Litigation – Environmental
Orange County (Irvine): Municipal Law
Sacramento: Appellate Practice, Land Use & Zoning Law, Litigation – Municipal, Municipal Law
San Diego: Land Use & Zoning Law

One of the hallmarks of BB&K’s services is the ability to offer our municipal and public agency clients a full range of legal services, which includes litigation support. We are well-known for our long-standing environmental law practice, which includes the leading authorities in water law. We advise clients on a wide variety of zoning, planning and land use matters. These practices work closely with each other, and others in the firm, to provide a one-stop-shop law firm for our public agency clients.

The Best Law Firms rankings are based on a combination of client feedback, information provided on surveys and Best Lawyers peer review. The 2017 rankings are based on the highest number of participating firms and highest number of client ballots on record, according to U.S. News-Best Lawyers. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in The Best Lawyers in America, which recognizes the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the U.S. More than 10,000 attorneys provided more than 800,000 law firm assessments, and more than10,000 clients provided more than 90,000 evaluations. Ranked firms, presented in tiers, are listed on a national and/or metropolitan scale. Receiving a tier designation reflects the high level of respect a firm has earned among other leading lawyers and clients in the same communities and the same practice areas for its abilities, its professionalism and its integrity. Learn more by clicking here.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

Eric Garner an L.A. Business Journal Leaders in Law Finalist

17 Oct 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Oct. 17, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

LOS ANGELES - We are excited to announce that Best Best & Krieger LLP Managing Partner Eric L. Garner is a finalist for the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders in Law award. Nominated in the Firm Attorney Leadership category, Garner’s nomination is based on both his practice as a leading water rights attorney and the leadership role he has at BB&K.

Garner has practiced water law for nearly 30 years, handling both litigation and transactional matters. This includes the Mojave Groundwater Adjudication, starting in 1990. Garner represented the lead parties in the Santa Maria and Antelope Valley groundwater adjudications in the last decade. He dedicated more than a third of his life to the Antelope Valley Groundwater Adjudication matter, the largest most complex groundwater dispute in California history, recently helping to usher in a trial court judgment resolving the 17-year-long groundwater pumping rights case. This judgment is a means of ensuring the basin will now be sustainably managed.

With California facing a historic drought in 2014, Garner was tapped to lend his knowledge during the drafting of the State’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. He also co-authored two books on water law, “California Water” and “California Water II,” and serves as an adjunct law professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. His work has taken him to South Africa, Trinidad and Pakistan, to draft water laws for nations struggling to allocate limited water supplies. He was the first American to chair the International Bar Association’s Water Law Committee.

At the same time, Garner has, since 2005, been the managing partner of BB&K, one of California’s top water law and public agency firms, with nine offices and nearly 200 attorneys. Garner’s and his leadership team’s commitment to diversity has earned BB&K a spot on Law 360’s 100 Firms for Minority Attorneys list two years running, as well as its Top 50 Firms for Minority Equity Partners list and its Best U.S. Law Firms for Female Attorneys list. BB&K currently holds the number five position on National Law Journal’s Women in Law Scorecard as well.

This is the first time that the L.A. Business Journal has opened its annual Leaders in Law Awards to attorneys in law firms. The Award recognizes accomplishments of leading attorneys and firms within the Los Angeles business community. The winner will be selected for his “exceptional legal skill and achievement across the full spectrum of responsibility, exemplary leadership as evidenced by the highest professional and ethical standards, and for contributions to the Los Angeles community at large,” according to the publication. The winner will be announced at the annual Leaders in Law Awards lunch on Oct. 18 at the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live.

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Two BB&K Partners Named Among 100 Influential Leaders in San Diego

05 Oct 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Oct. 5, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Best Best & Krieger LLP partners Warren Diven and Shawn D. Hagerty were named to The San Diego Daily Transcript’s annual 100 Influential Leaders in San Diego list. The list recognizes the region’s best in the areas of real estate, construction, finance, law, nonprofit and public sector work.

Diven was recognized for his work as the lead attorney behind the development of the Home Energy Renovation Opportunity program. Thousands of San Diego-area residents, and many more in California, have used the financing program to make renewable energy, energy efficient or water conservation improvements to their homes. He is helping cities, counties and unincorporated areas throughout California battle the ongoing energy crisis with the HERO program.

The HERO program began its partnerships in San Diego less than two years ago, and it quickly became an extremely popular and effective way for property owners to make energy efficient improvements to their homes. Warren helped craft the program to ensure its public finance legal framework and compliance, and he continues to oversee of all the program’s bond financings. “This program will continue to grow for the next decade, because there’s so much demand,” Diven told the Daily Transcript. “I’ve heard of people who just want to fix their old air conditioner who end up finding out that they can get a brand new, energy-efficient air conditioner through low fixed-rate loans they can pay off in 15 to 20 years.”

Hagerty’s work as both a municipal and water quality law attorney earned him accolades. Hagerty represents cities, counties and special districts in San Diego County in both advisory and litigation roles. In addition to being the city attorney of the City of Santee for the past 13 years, Hagerty is the corporate counsel for Civic San Diego and is a national leader in the area of water quality regulation.

Hagerty is leading the way both in San Diego and throughout California in ensuring that water quality standards are crafted and implemented in a fair, yet effective manner, by way of his work with multiple agencies. He discussed with the Daily Transcript tough new guidelines for local water and storm water agencies under the federal Clean Water Act. Hagerty knows that local agencies are committed to improving water quality, and, to help achieve this goal, federal, state and local entities must work together with local communities to change longstanding behaviors. Everyone must recognize that we are all part of the problem and can be part of the solution, Hagerty advises.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

Partner Shannon Brubaker Named to SD Metro’s 40 Under 40 List

30 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Sept. 30, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213.787.2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Best Best & Krieger LLP Partner Shannon Brubaker is the recipient of a San Diego Metro 40 Under 40 Award. Recognizing the “best and brightest minds of San Diego County,” the list includes business professionals in a range of industries.

Brubaker’s work as a litigator, as well as her pro bono advocacy on behalf of asylum seekers, earned her the recognition. The article, along with the full list of winners, can be found on SD Metro’s website.

Brubaker represents a wide array of clients, including corporations, government and religious organizations, banks and individuals in all aspects of litigation from case intake to resolve. In addition to her caseload, Brubaker dedicates her time to represent clients pro bono through Casa Cornelia Law Center — a public interest, San Diego-based law firm that provides free legal aid to victims of human and civil rights violations, including asylum seekers, survivors of domestic violence, survivors of human trafficking and unaccompanied children fleeing violence, abuse, abandonment and neglect.

Earlier this year, Brubaker was named to the San Diego Daily Transcript’s annual list of Top 40 Under 40 Attorneys.

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BB&K Partner Jeffrey V. Dunn Named One of the Top 100 Lawyers in California

21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Sept. 21, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

IRVINE, Calif. – Best Best & Krieger LLP Partner Jeffrey V. Dunn was named by the Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 Leading Lawyers for 2016. Dunn’s role in resolving two major, long-standing groundwater rights disputes recently on behalf of public agency clients were spotlighted by the legal publication.

Dunn was co-lead litigation counsel for the County of Los Angeles Waterworks District No. 40 in California’s largest groundwater rights case ever, and perhaps in United States history. After 16 years of litigation involving more than 70,000 landowners, a landmark judgment was obtained after six successful phases of trial. Judgment was entered in December 2015. It provides a secure groundwater supply for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses in Los Angeles and Kern counties and the Edwards Air Force Base. The case became the leading example for future groundwater disputes and its lessons learned were applied in recent historic groundwater legislation, including new civil procedure for more streamlined court adjudications of water rights.

“The case became the leading example for future groundwater disputes and its lessons learned were applied in last year’s historic groundwater legislation, including new civil procedures for more streamlined adjudications of water rights,” Dunn told the Daily Journal. “Gov. Brown devised legislation to manage these groundwater basins. The Legislature actually used Antelope Valley as a case study in designing the new statutes,” Dunn told the Daily Journal.

Dunn was also co-lead counsel in another long-running groundwater rights dispute. In a published opinion issued on June 24, 2016, the Appellate Court held, for the first time, that landowner groundwater rights do not have to be quantified until such time as the groundwater basin is in an overdraft condition. The lower court retains jurisdiction to monitor the groundwater basin and, should there be future groundwater shortages, a trial court can quantify the property owner’s share of the limited groundwater resource. The 2016 opinion follows a 2012 published opinion in the same case that upheld the trial court judgment obtained by Dunn awarding groundwater rights to Santa Maria and other groundwater users. Together, the two published opinions provide the leading California authority for resolving groundwater cases.

“The outcome was a big deal in the water world,” Dunn told the newspaper. “It will help agencies use court processes to manage water rights without delays spent first adjudicating everybody’s property rights.”

This is Dunn’s second time appearing on the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Attorneys list, having been listed in 2013. He was also one of the Daily Journal’s Top 20 Municipal Attorneys in 2013 and a Top 25 Municipal Attorney in 2011.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

BB&K Selected Best Law Firm in the Inland Empire

12 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Sept. 12, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Best Best & Krieger LLP is honored to be selected the Best Law Firm in the Inland Empire in the latest Press-Enterprise Reader’s Choice poll. The 21st annual list reflects the top-voted picks by readers of the best places to do business in the Inland Empire.

With offices in Riverside, Ontario and Indian Wells, BB&K has served the Inland Empire for 125 years. The newspaper noted the firm’s variety of practice areas, from business to health care and from environmental to municipal law, as well as the “great reputation” BB&K attorneys have for their “client-focused efforts.”

“It’s exciting to receive an honor like this because it shows the impact we are making in our community,” said Partner Cynthia Germano, the managing partner of the firm’s Riverside office. Henry Welles is managing partner of the firm’s Indian Wells office and Brian Reider heads BB&K’s Ontario office.

Click here to see the full article, published in a special section of the Sept. 11, 2016, Press-Enterprise.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

BB&K Attorney Joseph E. Coomes, Jr., Pioneer of Redevelopment, Contributes to ULI’s Public-Private Partnerships Report

09 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Sept. 9, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Best Best & Krieger LLP attorney Joseph E. Coomes, Jr., who pioneered the successful market-based use of redevelopment in California and other states, is a contributing author and editor of the newly released Urban Land Institute’s “Successful Public-Private Partnerships: From Principles to Practice.”

The report, which was overseen by ULI’s Public-Private Partnership Council and funded by the ULI Foundation, discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with creating successful P3s in today’s economic environment. It builds on ULI research originally published more than a decade ago that identified the core principles essential for effective joint development projects.

Coomes, a frequent and long-time contributor to ULI publications on P3s, redevelopment and development, is credited with creating the development and financing model, among other innovations, that enables major retailers to return to downtowns they once abandoned for the suburbs. He has negotiated some of the largest and most difficult urban mixed-use redevelopment projects in California, including San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and downtown San Jose’s Silicon Valley Financial Center. He was one of the first to negotiate closures and reuses of military bases, allowing for private developers to work with public agencies to create residential, mixed-use and urban redevelopment projects.

“Joe’s contributions to this important and practical report will be tremendously useful to both public agencies and private investors,” said BB&K Partner Seth Merewitz, chair of the firm’s Public-Private Partnership group.

The report identifies the top challenges to creating successful P3s and the three most common types of P3s. It also provides a toolkit of best practices, which includes several examples of successful projects.

To see the full report, click here.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

BB&K Partner Kara Ueda Among 2016 Sacramento Business Journal’s Best of the Bar

31 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: Aug. 31, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213-787-2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Best Best & Krieger LLP congratulates Partner Kara Ueda for being named to the Sacramento Business Journal’s 2016 Best of the Bar list. This is the third year in a row that Ueda has appeared on this list.

According to the editor, the attorneys on the list are nominated and vetted by their peers, and are selected based on their credibility and reliability.

Each attorney selected for the list was asked to share the best professional advice they’ve received. Ueda said: “To be respectful and courteous to everyone in the profession.”

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

Hundreds of Elementary School Students in Santa Ana Receive Supply-Filled Backpacks

26 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: August 26, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213.787.2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

SANTA ANA, Calif. - No child should start the school year without the tools he or she needs to succeed. Having the best start in education leads to great outcomes in life. This is why Best Best & Krieger LLP and the Santa Ana Kiwanis Club delivered backpacks filled with school supplies to every student at Walker Elementary School in Santa Ana during the first week of school — Friday, Aug. 26.

This is the seventh year that BB&K has teamed up with community organizations to provide backpacks filled with supplies to students in need. This year, BB&K and the Kiwanis Club will distribute 582 backpacks to students at Walker. The school is part of the Santa Ana Unified School District, which is the largest in Orange County and the seventh largest in California, with 56,000 students, 91 percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.

“I am honored to be a part of this wonderful Operation Backpack event and thank Gerardo Mouet with the City of Santa Ana for his assistance in bringing this partnership together with the Kiwanis,” said BB&K Partner Sonia Carvalho, who serves as city attorney to Santa Ana. “It feels great to support the youngest members — and the future leaders — of this community who I personally and professionally have become connected to these past four years. My partners and I are proud to help make a difference in their academic life, as we all know that the key to success is a good education.”

Walker Principal Mariana Garate said she is “thrilled” to have her school chosen for this event. “Walker students are exceptional and bright, and they deserve to start the year prepared. We are so grateful for the backpacks.”

“The Kiwanis Club is proud to participate in such a worthwhile giveaway, which is on target with our mission to ‘change the world, one child at a time,’” said Kiwanis Club President David DeLeon. “I am humbled by the generosity of our members.”

The backpacks and supplies were purchased with money raised by BB&K’s attorneys and staff and contributions from Kiwanis Club members. Donations were also collected from Staples, Intex, Schmid Investments, DTI, All State Legal, First Legal and through an ice cream social/donation event for tenants organized by One Cal Plaza, the landlord for BB&K’s Los Angeles office.

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.

20 BB&K Attorneys Make Best Lawyers in America 2017 List

15 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0800

For Immediate Release: August 15, 2016
Media Contact: Denise Nix • 213.787.2552 • denise.nix@bbklaw.com

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Best Best & Krieger LLP congratulates the 20 attorneys who were selected by their peers for inclusion on The Best Lawyers in America© 2017 list. In addition, Partner Edward J. Quinn, Jr. and Of Counsel Joseph Coomes are being recognized as Lawyers of the Year for their contributions to the legal industry, and their professional achievements. This is the second year in a row that Joe has earned this prestigious honor.

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. For the 2017 edition, more than 83,000 leading attorneys globally were eligible to vote, and 7.3 million votes were analyzed. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. To learn more about Best Lawyers, click here.

Below are the BB&K attorneys included on The Best Lawyers list, by office, along with the practice areas they were recognized for:

Irvine

Sonia R. Carvalho, Municipal Law

Los Angeles

Eric L. Garner, Litigation – Environmental and Water Law

Ontario

John E. Brown, Municipal Law
Stephen P. Deitsch, Land Use and Zoning Law and Municipal Law

Riverside

Arthur L. Littleworth, Energy Law, Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental, Natural Resources Law and Water Law
Michelle Ouellette, Energy Law, Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental and Natural Resources Law
George M. Reyes, Corporate Law

Sacramento

Joseph E. Coomes, Jr., Land Use and Zoning Law and Municipal Law
T. Brent Hawkins, Municipal Law
Gary F. Loveridge, Health Care Law
Edward J. Quinn, Jr., Land Use and Zoning Law and Municipal Law
Ann Taylor Schwing, Appellate Practice
Harriet A. Steiner, Litigation – Municipal and Municipal Law
Iris P. Yang, Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation – Municipal and Municipal Law

San Diego

Robert J. Hanna, Commercial Litigation
Shawn D. Hagerty, Land Use and Zoning Law
Arlene P. Prater, Employment Law - Management
Gary Schons, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law

Walnut Creek

Gene Tanaka, Litigation - Environmental
Roderick E. Walston, Natural Resources Law and Water Law

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Best Best & Krieger LLP is a national law firm that focuses on environmental, business, education, municipal and telecommunications law for public agency and private clients. With 200 attorneys, the law firm has nine offices nationwide, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.bbklaw.com or follow @BBKlaw on Twitter.