News

Farella Braun + Martel Earns 2023 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" Rankings

November 4, 2022 Announcement

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel earned national and regional rankings across several practice areas in the 2023 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms."

The U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms” rankings recognize firms for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. According to the publication, achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

National Rankings
Tier 1
Appellate Practice
Land Use & Zoning Law 
Natural Resources Law

Tier 2
Commercial Litigation
Construction Law
Environmental Law
Insurance Law
Litigation – Construction 
Litigation – Environmental
Litigation – Intellectual Property
Litigation – Patent
Litigation – Securities
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - 
   Defendants

Tier 3
Litigation – Antitrust
Real Estate Law
Tax Law
Trusts & Estates Law

Metropolitan Rankings -San Francisco 
Tier 1
Appellate Practice
Arbitration
Commercial Litigation
Construction Law
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Environmental Law
Insurance Law
Land Use & Zoning Law
Litigation – Construction
Litigation – Environmental
Litigation – Insurance
Litigation – Intellectual Property
Litigation - Patent
Litigation – Securities
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions -
    Defendants
Natural Resources Law
Nonprofit / Charities Law
Real Estate Law
Tax Law
Trust & Estates Law

Tier 2 
Banking and Finance Law
Bet-the-Company Litigation
Corporate Law
Litigation – Antitrust
Litigation – Labor & Employment

Tier 3
Energy Law
Mediation

Metropolitan Rankings - Santa Rosa
Tier 1 
Real Estate Law

To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in the 2023 editions of The Best Lawyers in America®. 45 Farella lawyers are recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2023 and four Farella lawyers received “Lawyer of the Year” awards. In San Francisco, “Lawyer of the Year” awards went to David Lazerwitz for Natural Resources Law, John Green for Litigation-Insurance, and Mark Petersen for Litigation-Construction. In the Santa Rosa metropolitan region, Katherine Philippakis was “Lawyer of the Year” in the Real Estate Law practice area. Only one attorney in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.” Click here to view all of Farella’s Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch.

Firm Highlights

Publication

AB 1633: The Housing Accountability Act

The Housing Accountability Act (HAA) requires local agencies to approve housing projects that meet objective zoning, general plan, subdivision, and design standards unless there is a specific, adverse impact upon public health and safety...

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News

Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?

Real estate partner CJ Higley provided expert commentary in the Multi-Housing News article "Affordable Housing Outlook: What Challenges Will 2024 Pose?" The article is available here .

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Publication

A Summary of New Laws Coming for California Employers in 2024

In 2023, California has adopted several new employment laws either introducing new employee protections or codifying existing practices into state law. With these changes, employers will need to examine and adjust some of their...

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News

Farella 2024 Partner Elevations: Cynthia Castillo and Greg LeSaint

Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel is pleased to announce the election of two lawyers to partnership effective Jan. 1: Cynthia Castillo and Greg LeSaint. “We are thrilled to elevate Cynthia and...

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Publication

Nonprofit Tenants and Lease Agreements: Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

Welcome to  EO Radio Show – Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . I'm Cynthia Rowland, and today, we are again lucky to have Farella real estate partner Quinn Arntsen with us to talk about leasing...

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Publication

Achieving Compatibility Between Solar Project Developers and Mineral Estate Holders

By Dirk R. Mueller , Alyssa Netto , and Will Russ Texas and California lead the country in terms of solar energy generating capacity while also maintaining major oil and gas production operations, which...

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Publication

Regulatory Changes Underway To Address Dwindling California Property Insurance Market

We keep hearing about how difficult it is for our clients to get property insurance these days, both for homes and businesses in Northern California’s wildfire-prone areas. Which, of course, is most of Northern...

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News

Burdened by Debt, Savvy SF Office Owners Get Creative

Restructuring, insolvency, and creditors rights partner Gary Kaplan provided expert commentary in The San Francisco Standard article, "Burdened by Debt, Savvy SF Office Owners Get Creative." In the article, Gary explained that in most cases...

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News

Brookfield Forecloses on 2,150-Unit Veritas Portfolio With Uncontested $464M Bid

Restructuring, insolvency, and creditors rights partner Gary Kaplan provided expert commentary in The Real Deal  article, "Brookfield forecloses on 2,150-unit Veritas portfolio with uncontested $464M bid." Read the full article  here  (subscription may be...

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News

Ashley Breakfield Elected 2024 President of CREW SF

Farella Braun + Martel is proud to announce that real estate and land use partner Ashley E. Breakfield has been elected president of the Commercial Real Estate Women of San Francisco (CREW SF) Board...

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