Best Best & Krieger: The Public Good
Professional Services
Written by Steffen Smith   
Monday, 01 October 2007
rp Best Best & Krieger: The Public Good - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Boom times ushered in an era of growth for one of California’s leading environmental and public law firms.
Two simple words on its corporate Web site say more about the Riverside, Calif.-based law firm of Best Best & Krieger than the reams of good press and accolades it has received over the years. The words are “California Solutions.”

Indeed, both private- and public-sector entities throughout the Golden State have benefited from the legal expertise and commitment of a firm whose California roots reach back to 1891. One of the state’s 50 largest law firms, Best Best & Krieger LLP (BB&K) enjoys a well-established and diverse environmental and public law practice. It is a full-service law firm with more than 185 attorneys in offices strategically located to serve California’s most dynamic communities.

Best Best & Krieger: The Public Good - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Eric Garner, Managing Partner
Helping to oversee the firm’s growth is managing partner Eric Garner, who noted that the key to the firm’s success is the ability to handle complex, multi-disciplinary issues and provide solutions of common interest to leaders of both business and government.

A large part of what makes BB&K unique among Californian law firms is its focus on the public sector—public agencies ranging from school and water districts to the state’s rapidly growing towns and cities. In fact, BB&K serves as general counsel to 31 Californian municipalities, including Ontario and Indian Wells, and as special counsel to many others.

That means covering an incredibly wide range of legal specialty areas. “Our niche is a key one,” said Garner. “We address those issues that all communities must face: transportation, water, environment, and public finance.” As California’s cities continue to grow, these issues become more and more critical, whether it’s gridlock on the roads or water sources running dry.

In particular, BB&K is recognized as a leader in issues related to natural resources and environmental law. The firm helps clients navigate the complexities of due diligence and environmental impact evaluation processes. For instance, the firm represented the City of Needles in its successful effort to thwart a planned low-level radioactive waste facility.

In the arid West, issues of water rights are ever-present. “With the growing awareness of climate change and the very dry winter we had, water issues are huge right now,” Garner said.

In fact, Garner was a key figure in resolving one of the largest water cases in recent years involving underground water supplies. The almost decade-long Santa Maria groundwater rights adjudication was a classic Californian water fight involving some 1,200 parties and pitting agriculture against urban interests in a fast-growing area of Central California. Garner, who represented the city of Santa Maria, was among the chief architects of the settlement, which helped assure adequate water supplies for all involved.

This expertise has helped make BB&K the go-to firm for many municipalities. It helps that the firm recruits top legal talent with relevant public-sector experience. For example, the firm wooed attorney Ricardo Soto (former California Assistant Secretary of Education) to its San Diego offices, where he quickly became counsel to the San Diego Unified School District.

That is not to say that the firm ignores the business sector. “Following the recession of the early ’90s and the loss of the aerospace industry, what got California back on its feet was entrepreneurs and small businesses,” noted Garner.

To that end, Best Best & Krieger works with a wide range of national corporations, such as Centex Real Estate Corporation and Washington Mutual, as well as a host of homegrown businesses. BB&K attorneys provide counsel on an array of issues, including entity formation, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, business succession planning, health- care transactions, and securities and finance.

The opportunity to engage in challenging work on timely and relevant issues is a key draw for the attorneys of BB&K. “People here really enjoy seeing the impact of their work on the community. When they can see the traffic flowing and the water coming out of taps, they know that we’re doing our jobs,” said Garner. “Attorneys who chose this firm do so because they have a particular interest. Many times, they can’t simply go to the next firm over and get to do challenging work with endangered species or water issues.”

As growth in California continues to soar, BB&K has enjoyed a boom of its own, doubling in size over the past six years. “Our offices are located in some of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the US,” said Garner. And the firm has positioned itself to take full advantage of new opportunities during this continued period of economic expansion. It’s a strategy that is paying off: revenue at the firm is expected to top $75 million this year.

Of course, the firm’s challenges are similar to those of any growing organization: managing growth. That has meant establishing new levels of management within the firm, from practice group leaders to office managing partners. It also led to Garner being named managing partner two years ago.

“We now have 70 partners, and that requires a different type of management,” he said. “A law firm is not hierarchically structured. Lawyers like to be independent and be their own bosses.”

Garner admitted it has also been challenging to maintain the culture of the firm while moving to a more centralized management structure. “Communication is key, and one can never do it well enough,” he said. “Ideal communication would be if I could sit down with every partner every week.”

Garner noted that it is also important to remind attorneys what brought them to the firm in the first place: interesting and complex matters to get involved in. “We have to remind ourselves that when you have the opportunity to sit with a client and counsel them because you have that specialized knowledge, it is a very rewarding thing to do. It’s a privilege that we sometimes forget.”

Steffen Smith is an Atlanta-based writer and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
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