Best Lawyers in California, United States for Litigation - Real Estate
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Steven A. Goldfarb, a former longtime co-chair of Hahn Loeser’s national Litigation Practice Area , is a skilled and highly acclaimed trial lawyer practicing in California and Ohio with experience representing companies and individuals across the country in diverse business litigation matters. In addition to leading the firm’s well-recognized Class Action and Title Insurance Industry Teams, Steve has significant experience in unfair competition/trade secrets, insurance coverage/ba...
Brian Fish focuses his practice on land use, public/private partnerships, public contracting, environmental and real estate matters. Mr. Fish assists public and private clients with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance, coastal permitting, planning and zoning issues, Subdivision Map Act processing, Williamson Act issues, condominium conversions and prevailing wage analysis. He also negotiates and drafts all other manner of documentation required to acquire, develop, finance,...
John Murphy focuses his practice on eminent domain, inverse condemnation and other complex real estate trials. He represents a wide variety of public agencies, corporations, and landowners. Mr. Murphy and his firm have earned its clients over $275 Million in eminent domain awards over the past six years. His firm has won arguably the highest condemnation awards in the State in each of the past four years. Its 2017 judgment against the County of San Bernardino totals $48 Million. He has been c...
Michael Berger is one of California’s preeminent appellate lawyers and is a partner in Manatt Real Estate and the appellate practice. One of the top land use and condemnation lawyers in the United States, his appellate cases have involved planning, zoning, eminent domain, various kinds of business litigation, landslides, contract, due process, equal protection, defective construction, nuisance, insurance and environmental law. Michael has argued four cases before the United States Supre...
Michael J. Gleason is an AV-rated trial and appellate lawyer with over 20 years of experience handling key areas of business litigation, including consumer class action defense, California’s Proposition 65, product liability, fraud, real estate, escrow, and title insurance. He serves as Partner-in-Charge of Hahn Loeser’s San Diego office, is founder of the firm’s Proposition 65 defense group, and a member of the San Diego Litigation Team, which is ranked among the Top Tier P...
Dan Miller is a founding member of the firm. His success as a trial lawyer has been recognized by the Daily Journal which named him one of the Top 20 Lawyers Under 40 in the State of California. Dan is recognized in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Real Estate by the Best Lawyers in America® 2024. In 2022, he was named among Los Angeles Business Journal’s Leaders of Influence: Litigators and Trial Attorneys , and in 2021, was named among Leaders of Influence...
David C. Palmer is a Senior Attorney with extensive litigation experience and proven record of delivering results for his clients. Mr. Palmer specializes in high-stakes business and real estate litigation as well as civil rights, environmental, and governmental tort litigation. Mr. Palmer received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara with majors in Law and Society and Cultural Anthropology. He then received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, where he was a two-year member o...
James W. Hill is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Real Estate. James W., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which James W. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Eve Brackmann serves as lead counsel in jury and bench trials in all California state and federal courts and she is well known for her effective private arbitration work. Her real estate practice covers high-stakes litigation for casino developers, shopping center owners, mortgage companies, and big-box retailers. Her business litigation practice covers disputes in venture partnerships, manufacturer and distributor disputes, contract-related lawsuits, fiduciary duty, unfair competition, defam...
A seasoned trial lawyer with significant experience in both state and federal courts in Santa Clara County, Bill’s expertise in representing businesses and individuals in complex civil litigation has provided clients many noteworthy results. In addition, Bill works with individuals and families in cases involving litigation such as will contests, trust disputes, and related issues. Bill is often called into family law matters when specific litigation expertise is required in cases where...
Benjamin E. Strauss is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Litigation - Real Estate. Benjamin E., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Benjamin E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Jay Ross is Co-chair of Hopkins & Carley’s Litigation Department. He handles contract, fulfillment, and payment disputes as well as real estate disputes, including construction, purchase and sale transactions, commercial landlord-tenant disputes, easements, and land use. A wide variety of businesses associated with the real estate industry rely on Jay to apply his years of business litigation experience and practical approach to solve their problems. These include: Commercial genera...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.