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CGS3 Earns 2026 Best Law Firm Recognition, Including Tier One Status in Los Angeles and San Diego
National Tier 3 Real Estate – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 1 Real Estate – Los Angeles; Metropolitan Tier 1 Real Estate – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 1 Commercial Litigation – San Diego, Metropolitan Tier 1 Construction Litigation – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 1 Tax Law – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 2 Real Estate Litigation – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 2 Construction Law – San Diego; Metropolitan Tier 3 Corporate Law – San Diego.
SAN DIEGO (November 6, 2025) – Best Lawyers – one of the nation’s oldest and most respected legal peer-review publications – has announced its 2026 “Best Law Firms” rankings, recognizing Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3) across multiple categories. The firm earned a National Tier 3 ranking for real estate law; Metropolitan Tier 1 rankings in Los Angeles and San Diego for real estate law, and additionally in San Diego for commercial litigation, construction litigation, and tax law; Metropolitan Tier 2 rankings in San Diego for real estate litigation and construction law; and a Metropolitan Tier 3 ranking in San Diego for corporate law.
According to CGS3 founding partner Sean Southard, this year’s recognition marks a new milestone for the firm with some notable firsts – a National Tier 3 ranking, Tier 1 placements in both San Diego and Los Angeles and a Tier 3 nod for corporate law. “These rankings spotlight the top 3.8% of law firms nationwide,” said Southard. “We’re proud to see CGS3 among them, a true testament to our team’s dedication to excellence and innovation in real estate law.”
This year’s results were compiled from more than 110,000 client references, 70,000 peer-lawyers surveyed, and almost 1,000 leadership interviews.
A firm must have at least one attorney in the current edition of Best Lawyers in America to earn eligibility for the Best Law Firms listing. Best Lawyers recognizes the top 5% of private practicing lawyers in the United States. In total, 16 Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) lawyers – Alison Pappas, Amelia Sanchez, Brian Kintz, Gregory Markow, Craig Swanson, Dana Schiffman, David Dick, David Swartz, Phil Jelsma, Priya Huggett, Ray Gliner, Sean Gaffney, Sean Southard, Steven Otto, and Tom Crosbie – have been recognized in the 33rd edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Three CGS3 associate attorneys – Riley Cutner-Orrantia, Salvatore Padula, and Ulrick Matsunaga are recognized in Best Lawyers: “Ones to Watch in America.”
About Best Law Firms
Debuted in 2010, Best Law Firms® has become oner of the most credible rankings of exceptional law firms due to its peer-to-peer, industry-driven evaluation process. For more information visit https://www.bestlawfirms.com.
About Best Lawyers
Since 1983, Best Lawyers has published lists of outstanding attorneys that are recognized as a result of extensive peer-review surveys. Because attorneys do not pay a fee for the listing, Best Lawyers is uniquely reliable and unbiased. In addition to the print version, Best Lawyers in America is posted online at www.BestLawyers.com.
About Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3)
CGS3 is a recognized leader among a new generation of commercial real estate law firms with practice areas covering the entire commercial real estate life cycle, including finance, acquisition/disposition, entity formation, tax, construction & development, land use, leasing, distressed asset workouts and dispute resolution. Earning a reputation as one of California’s leading commercial real estate law firms, CGS3 recruits some of the state’s top real estate attorneys from both large corporate firms and senior in-house positions. For more information, visit http://www.cgs3.com.