• Coblentz Names Four Attorneys to Partnership

    Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP is pleased to announce the election of four attorneys to the firm’s partnership. The promotions are effective January 1, 2016.

    “We are delighted to welcome these outstanding individuals to the Coblentz partnership,” said Alan Gennis, co managing partner. “Our new partners mirror the depth and breadth of our practice areas. These talented lawyers, with wide-ranging experience, have shown a deep commitment to clients and our firm. We look forward to their future contributions as our partners.”

    The 2016 new partners are:

    Caroline Guibert Chase, Real Estate. Caroline Chase advises commercial and residential developers, predominantly in obtaining the requisite approvals to develop real property, and has significant experience with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other state and local laws affecting development. Having worked as an urban planner in the public and private sectors before attending law school, Caroline has a unique ability to understand and counsel clients on the governmental planning processes and, in particular, the continuing process to change the area plans in the City and County of San Francisco. Caroline received her J.D., with honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law where she served as an editor of the Journal of Law and Technology, and received her undergraduate degree in environmental design/urban planning, with honors, from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

    Lindsay M. Gehman, Business. Lindsay Gehman serves as outside general counsel to a variety of technology companies and advertising and marketing agencies, and advises business teams on diverse and complex corporate and securities law matters, including entity formation, corporate governance, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial contract issues, advertising and marketing issues and intellectual property issues. Lindsay earned her J.D. from Loyola Law School, where she received a full academic scholarship, was named to the Dean’s Honor List and served on the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review, and received her undergraduate degree in business economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

    Scott C. Hall, Litigation. Scott Hall’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including consumer class actions, intellectual property infringement actions, and other commercial litigation at the trial and appellate levels. He has also conducted numerous internal investigations on behalf of audit and special committees in connection with inquiries and proceedings by law enforcement and regulatory agencies. His clients include companies in the financial, electronics, technology, and telecommunications industries. Scott served as a law clerk to the Honorable William W Schwarzer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Scott earned his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served as an Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and received his undergraduate degree in Political Science, cum laude, from Brigham Young University.

    Jaime Mannon, Family Wealth. Jaime specializes in estate planning for high net worth families and counsels clients with respect to a variety of tax matters, including income, gift, estate and property taxes.  She also advises clients on a variety of cross-border matters, including structuring gifts made from outside of the U.S., tax planning for beneficiaries of foreign trusts and estate planning for U.S. citizens living abroad. Jaime received her J.D. from Yale Law School and her undergraduate degrees in political science and social welfare, with high honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.

    Categories: News
  • Coblentz Counsels AgJunction in Merger with Novariant

    Paul Tauber, Peter Wang and Brandi Brown acted as California counsel to AgJunction Inc. in its merger with Novariant, Inc., including obtaining, through the fairness hearing process, a permit from the California Department of Business Oversight. AgJunction Inc. provides innovative hardware and software applications for precision agriculture worldwide. The company is headquartered in Hiawatha, Kansas, with facilities in Silicon Valley; Scottsdale, Arizona; Calgary; Winnipeg; and Queensland, Australia. With the completion of the merger with Novariant, AgJunction gains a preeminent position in automated steering and machine control technologies, differentiated by its broad intellectual property portfolio, which includes more than 140 patents, and its ability to deliver application-specific solutions to precision agriculture customers worldwide.

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  • Coblentz Recognized as Client Service Leader by BTI

    Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass is recognized in BTI’s Client Service A-Team 2016, where corporate counsel ranked Coblentz in the top 100 firms nationally for client service excellence. The BTI Client Service A-Team is based solely on direct, unprompted feedback from corporate counsel, where in-depth interviews with more than 300 corporate counsel revealed that Coblentz delivers better client service than nearly 90% of the law firms serving the world’s largest clients.

    The independent survey from BTI Consulting Group solicits feedback from leading legal decision makers at large organizations with $1 billion or more in revenue. to determine which law firms top the charts in client service. Firms are scored on 17 client service activities including client loyalty, legal skills, understanding a client’s business and advice on business issues. No submissions, nominations or client names are accepted for the survey.

    Categories: News
  • Coblentz Counsels Pure Wafer in Sale of Assets to Wafer Holding Company

    Paul Tauber and Peter Wang represented Pure Wafer plc in the sale of its Arizona manufacturing facilities to Wafer Holding Company LLC. Pure Wafer plc is a provider of high quality silicon wafer reclaim services to a blue chip customer base of semiconductor manufacturers and independent foundries from its manufacturing facilities in Swansea, Wales, and Arizona. Following a fire at its Swansea facilities in 2014, Pure Wafer decided to sell its Arizona business to Wafer Holding Company for $16 million.

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  • Clifford Yin Honored With Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award

    Coblentz congratulates Clifford Yin on being honored with a Minority Bar Coalition 2015 Unity Award. Cliff was selected for this award by the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco for his volunteer work with the organization, including his dedication to coaching the Mock Trial Program for the last 20+ years. Cliff was one of 15 recipients honored at a reception on November 18th, 2015, for his dedication to the cause for diversity in the legal profession.

    Categories: News
  • Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass Awarded Best Law Firms Recognition by Best Lawyers®

    U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® ranked Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP among its 2016 list of “Best Law Firms.” Coblentz is ranked in 13 different practice areas in both National rankings and Metropolitan San Francisco rankings. The Firm was awarded  six prestigious “Tier 1” rankings in the highly competitive Metropolitan San Francisco law firm category, in the following practice areas: Commercial Litigation, Land Use & Zoning Law, Litigation – Land Use & Zoning, Real Estate Law, Tax Law and Trusts & Estates Law. Coblentz was also awarded a National “Tier 1” ranking in Land Use & Zoning Law.

    Best Lawyers® names firms included in the 2016 “Best Law Firms” list as being recognized for “professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.”

    Rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes clients’ and peers’ evaluation of firms based on expertise, professionalism and responsiveness. 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. Fifteen Coblentz attorneys are recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, and name partner Pam Duffy was selected as the Best Lawyers® 2016 Real Estate Law “Lawyer of the Year” in San Francisco.

    Categories: News
  • Coblentz Sponsors Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting

    Coblentz is proud to be a principal sponsor of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Fall Meeting, taking place over four days in San Francisco. The annual ULI Fall Meeting brings together more than 6,000 attendees to connect with thought leaders in every sector of the real estate industry. The meeting is scheduled for October 5-8 at the Moscone West Center, where attendees range from developers to investors, architects, planners, brokers, academics, attorneys, decision makers, and government. Coblentz partner Harry O’Brien will be among the distinguished conference speakers.

    The Urban Land Institute is a global nonprofit education and research institute with more than 35,000 members worldwide. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in sustaining and creating thriving communities worldwide.

    Announced at the 2014 ULI Fall Meeting, Coblentz client project, The Exploratorium, was awarded a ULI Global Award for Excellence.

    More information about the Fall Meeting can be found here.

    Categories: News
  • Richard Patch Named Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America

    Richard Patch has been selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) Trial Lawyer Honorary Society, which recognizes the nation’s top trial attorneys. Fellowship in the LCA is by invitation only, and is composed of less than one-half of one percent of American Lawyers.

    The LCA is a highly selective membership known for its excellence in trial and appellate work, its integrity in practice, and its commitment to diversity throughout every aspect of the profession of law and the administration of justice. Fellows are selected based upon excellence and accomplishment in litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels, and superior ethical reputation. The LCA is aggressively diverse in its composition. Established as a trial and appellate lawyer honorary society reflecting the American bar in the twenty-first century, the LCA represents the best in law among its membership. The number of Fellowships has been kept at an exclusive limit by design, allowing qualifications, diversity and inclusion to align effectively, with recognition of excellence in litigation across all segments of the bar.

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  • Pamela Duffy Named 2016 “Lawyer of the Year” in Real Estate Law

    Pamela Duffy has been selected as the Best Lawyers® 2016 Real Estate Law “Lawyer of the Year” in San Francisco. This is the fourth year Pam has received the “Lawyer of the Year” honor, previously being recognized in 2014 and 2011 as the San Francisco “Lawyer of the Year” in the Litigation – Land Use and Zoning category, and in 2010 in the Real Estate Law category.

    Pam has continuously been listed among The Best Lawyers in America® since 1989.

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  • Fifteen Coblentz Partners Recognized as 2016 Best Lawyers in America

    The Best Lawyers in America© has honored 15 Coblentz attorneys in its 2016 ranking of the nation’s top legal talent. The annual referral guide is based on peer review and feedback from leading attorneys in the same geographical region. Several of our ranked attorneys have been included annually on The Best Lawyers in America© list for over 15 years.

    Congratulations to these Coblentz attorneys for inclusion in the 2016 Best Lawyers in America® guide:

    Categories: News