Congratulations to Partner Paul Tauber upon joining the Pacific Council on International Policy as a member.
Congratulations to Partner Paul Tauber upon joining the Pacific Council on International Policy as a member.
Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Jonathan R. Bass as the “San Francisco Best Lawyers Litigation – Real Estate Lawyer of the Year” for 2012.
After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”
Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.
The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.
Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession. We would like to congratulate Jonathan R. Bass on being selected as the ‘San Francisco Best Lawyers Litigation – Real Estate Lawyer of the Year’ for 2012.”
Coblentz lawyers Zuzana Ikels and Aaron Foxworthy successfully advocated for the Sloan family, disenfranchised members of the Cahto Tribe of the Leytonville Rancheria. Fifteen years ago, the family was expelled from Tribal rolls on fabricated grounds after a tribal elder and family member confronted the Tribe’s casino operators on claims of embezzlement. In Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria v. Amy Dutschle, Regional Director for the Pacific Region, Bureau of Indian Affairs, et al., the United States District Court, Eastern District of California denied the Tribe’s challenge to a Bureau of Indian Affairs decision not to recognize the unlawful expulsion. Ms. Ikels and Mr. Foxworthy worked with the Department of Justice on briefing and arguing the Summary Judgment motion, and advocated for the Sloans in an Amicus filing due to the court’s earlier rejection of the family’s request to intervene.
The Sloans are hopeful that the decision brings to a close a 15-year odyssey for justice, in which the Sloan family members have been denied benefits, voting rights, tribal land rights, and any proceeds from the Tribe’s operations. Coblentz is a signatory to the State Bar Association’s Pledge on Pro Bono and was awarded the 2010 President’s Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year from the California State Bar.