The Registry's Q3 Commercial Issue
“Before the first rivet was ordered for the new San Francisco 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, the owners of the National Football League team, the York family, picked San Francisco law firm Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP to handle the complex negotiations that would make or break the project. The law firm is known for handling large and complex development projects and for attorney Harry O’Brien, who revels in seemingly impossible deals that move at a snail’s pace.”
“So who is Harry O’Brien, this wonk who revels in complexity? ‘He’s an absolute pro,’ says Santa Clara City Councilmember Kevin Moore, who has been a leader in efforts to get the stadium. ‘He was absolutely on his ‘A’ game.’ There’s ‘The Six Million Dollar Man.’ He’s ‘The Billion Dollar Man.’”
“He knows when to talk and he knows when to just accumulate information,” Moore says. “You can almost hear his brain ticking. He’s a lot of times steps ahead of other people in the room.”