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.”

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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.

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass is listed as one of the top three Best Trusts & Estates Firms in The Recorder’s “The Best of 2011.”

Coblentz is proud to announce that Pamela Duffy was selected as one of Daily Journal’s Top 100 – California’s Leading Attorneys of 2011. The list, an honor of excellence, recognizes the 100 elite lawyers across all practices in California – men and women who are making the most impact on the legal profession and on society right now. Ms. Duffy was among 18 women selected for this distinguished list.
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Led by Partner Pamela Duffy, the Exploratorium museum’s move to Piers 15 -17 on the San Francisco Embarcadero has been awarded a “Top Real Estate Development Deal” for 2011.
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15 Coblentz partners have been recognized by Law and Politics as 2011 Northern California Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a rigorous, multiphase rating process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis. The final published list represents no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state. Super Lawyers is a comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys representing a wide range of practice areas, firm sizes and geographic locations.

Pamela Duffy was also named to the distinguished list of the Top 50 Women Lawyers, and as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California. She has been recognized since 2004 by Super Lawyers.

Click here to view the complete list of Coblentz lawyers who are named in the 2011 list.

Paul Tauber served as counsel to Open SystemC Initiative (OSCI) in negotiations to form a single organization with Accellera. The two industry organizations are focused on the creation and adoption of electronic design automation (EDA) and intellectual property (IP) standards, and recently signed a memorandum of understanding, beginning the process of combining the groups in order to create more comprehensive standards to benefit the worldwide electronic design community, and facilitate efficient collaboration among their members.

In Cedar Fair v. City of Santa Clara. (2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 1150, Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass litigation attorneys Jonathan Bass and Charmaine Yu prevailed in a CEQA action challenging the proposed stadium for the San Francisco Forty Niners football team.

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Paul Tauber served as lead counsel for Chronix Biomedical in solidifying an exclusive license agreement with Myriad Genetics to commercialize Chronix’s early cancer detection technology. Chronix is extremely pleased with the closing of this significant deal, one that will ultimately progress Chronix’s proprietary technology and tests.

Chronix Biomedical has pioneered a breakthrough approach to the diagnosis, monitoring and management of a broad range of cancers and other conditions through proprietary technology that measures and categorizes DNA sequences circulating in the blood that are associated with specific changes in disease and health status. Myriad Genetics, Inc., is a leading molecular diagnostic company dedicated to developing and marketing novel predictive, personalized and prognostic medicine products to assess a person’s risk of developing disease and guide treatment decisions.

“We are pleased with the partnership of our technology with Myriad Genetics given their expertise in developing and commercializing molecular diagnostic products,” said Dr. Howard Urnovitz, Chief Executive Officer of Chronix Biomedical. “The technology we have licensed from Chronix Biomedical has the potential to revolutionize the early detection of cancer through the analysis of unique DNA sequences in blood samples,” said Mark Capone, President of Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc.

Under the terms of the agreement, Myriad has exclusive rights in North America, South America, and Europe to commercialize tests developed from the Chronix Biomedical technology for the early detection of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. In turn, Myriad will help validate these tests and will pay Chronix an undisclosed sum in upfront fees, milestone payments, and royalty payments upon the technical and commercial success of the products. The success of the development and commercialization of these early detection cancer tests could end up being a highly profitable investment for Myriad and a significant authentication for Chronix.

San Francisco Business Times selected Danna Kozerski as one of the “2011 Most Influential Women in Business” and honored Pamela Duffy as a “Forever Influential” inductee. The publication honors women leaders who are making a difference in their companies, their industries and their communities.

Read the full article here.