Harry O’Brien was featured in the June issue of California Real Estate Journal, “Beyond the Business Card.”  O’Brien was the recent recipient of California Real Estate Journal’s Deal Maker of the Year, and California Lawyer of the Year (CLAY Award) for his work on the Tejon Ranch Land Use agreement, the largest conservation and land use agreement in California history.

New Trio of Managing Partners Follow Harry O’Brien
After a five year tenure serving as the managing partner of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass, Harry O’Brien has transitioned the role to partners Jeffrey Knowles, Danna Kozerski, and Alan Gennis. O’Brien has provided excellent leadership for the firm and will be focusing on the increasing demands of his real estate practice. During O’Brien’s tenure as managing partner at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass (CPDB), the firm continued its long-term commitment to excellence and its dedication to providing innovative, sophisticated service in all of its practice areas.

From 2003 to 2008, the firm experienced tremendous growth. In 2003, the firm had 53 attorneys — 33 partners and special counsel — and was just settling in to its new Ferry Building location. Today, the firm’s number of lawyers is 71. In addition to overseeing the firm’s 33 percent growth, O’Brien has been at the firm’s helm during the approval and construction of landmark real estate projects such as the brand new California Academy of Sciences, the successful resolution of major litigation cases, and the expansion of the firm’s practice groups, most recently adding prominent attorney John Anderson to the firm’s advertising and intellectual property practices.

In the past five years, CPDB has been consistently recognized as a go-to firm for all of its practice areas, with the selection of CPDB attorneys for numerous awards and honors, including the California Attorney of the Year Award and the Chambers and Best Lawyers in America lists.

Case Highlights: 2003-2008

• CPDB was lead counsel for the $488 million rebuilt California Academy of Sciences, a Platinum LEED certified and state-of-the-art green building facility in Golden Gate Park.
• CPDB was counsel for the development of the Westfield San Francisco Centre, a 1.5 million-sq.-ft. retail center with 235,000 sq. ft. of office space. The project involved over 10 years of planning and prevailing in a legal challenge. Pamela Duffy and O’Brien led the CPDB team in paving the way for the landmark development.
• CPDB successfully represented eBay Inc. in its acquisition of a two million square foot corporate campus in North San Jose.
• CPDB represented Catellus Development Corporation regarding the buildout of its 300-acre mixed use Mission Bay Project in San Francisco.
• CPDB successfully defended a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter and prevailed on summary judgment and on appeal to the 9th Circuit on a breach of contract claim.
• CPDB successfully defended a Big Five accounting firm in a $1.1 billion lawsuit alleging fraud in connection with the lease of a football stadium.
• CPDB successfully defended a Big Five accounting firm in a $70 million securities fraud claim arising from the audit of a beauty supply company. The firm achieved a very favorable settlement on behalf of the client.
• CPDB handled the development of the world class San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s new location in San Francisco’s Civic Center. The expanded facility opened in 2006.

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Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com have selected Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass partner Pamela Duffy as a Northern California CRE Woman of Influence. Ms. Duffy was selected from over 100 nominees on a criteria of leadership, achievement and philanthropic activities. She will be honored at a luncheon to be held at the San Francisco City Club in May.

SAN FRANCISCO, Mar. 31, 2009 – Jonathan R. Bass, a name partner at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, was honored by the California Bankers Association (CBA) at its annual Bank Counsel Seminar in Newport Beach with the 2009 Robert Frandzel Award, given annually “for superior and noteworthy legal assistance by an outside counsel to the California banking industry.”

“To be recognized as outstanding outside counsel by the California banking industry’s largest and most respected professional organization is a testament to Jon’s reputation and decades of dedication to legal leadership in this dynamic field.  We congratulate him on this prestigious honor,” said Jeffrey Knowles, one of the firm’s managing partners.

Bass has successfully represented banks in dozens of cases involving customer claims arising out of forgeries, embezzlements and fiduciary fraud, at both the trial and appellate levels. The CBA’s award was presented to him in recognition of a series of appellate decisions favorable to the banking industry.

Bass, who has been listed as a commercial litigator for the past 10 years in Best Lawyers in America, handles a broad range of complex litigation in addition to his working in the banking sector.

About CBA

Established more than 115 years ago, the California Bankers Association is one of the largest state banking trade associations in the country. CBA leads the way in developing relevant educational and legislative solutions to some of California’s more pressing financial and banking issues, including adult financial empowerment, identity theft, financial privacy, and financial elder abuse. CBA’s membership includes more than 300 of California’s commercial, industrial and community banks and savings associations. For more information, visit www.calbankers.com.

Harry O’Brien and Matt Bove were recently honored at the annual CLAY Awards presentation — California Lawyer magazine’s Attorney of the Year Awards.

O’Brien and Bove were recognized with CLAY Awards for their work on the landmark Tejon Ranch land preservation deal, which provides for permanent protection of 240,000 acres of the historic Tejon Ranch property, located along Interstate 5 about 60 miles north of Los Angeles. O’Brien and Bove led a team of CPDB attorneys representing the Tejon Ranch Co. in negotiations with many of the nation’s major environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Audubon California, the Planning and Conservation League, and the Endangered Habitats League, leading to the unprecedented agreement, which was heralded as one of the largest of its kind in California history when it was announced in May 2008.

Congratulations to the San Francisco School of the Arts mock trial team for winning the San Francisco city championship! The team, coached by Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass attorneys Clifford Yin and Courtney Huizar, placed first in the city for the second consecutive year. Next stop for the team is the state competition later this month in Riverside.

The San Francisco Business Times delivered a special issue featuring the 2009 Best Lawyers in the Bay Area. William Coblentz, Jeffry Bernstein, William Hutton, Jonathan Bass, Pamela Duffy, Philip Feldman, Frederick Fields, James Mitchell, Harry O’Brien, Cynthia Rowland, and Tay Via were listed in the inaugural issue of Best Lawyers in San Francisco.

Many of the Coblentz attorneys have been on the Best Lawyers list for over 10 years. This year’s national list is based on more than 2.2 million individual evaluations. The inclusions are strictly based on peer review, and fewer than 3 percent of practicing attorneys in the U.S. are included on the final list. Listings cannot be bought, and no purchase is required to be included. In this regard, Best Lawyers remains the gold standard of reliability and integrity in lawyer ratings.

The list includes 889 Bay Area Attorneys representing 296 law firms. That is an average of 3:1 attorneys to each law firm. Coblentz has 11 lawyers listed in Best Lawyers – more than 3 times the average.

Pamela Duffy was quoted throughout the editorial on pro bono work in law firms as was Frederick Fields, recently honored by the Bay Area’s Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights as the recipient of the Keta Taylor Colby Award. Tay Via and Pamela Duffy provided insightful remarks in the article covering mentoring and developing a firm’s future leadership.