News & Insights

Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) partner Robert J. Bell has been selected by his peers as a San Diego Lawyer of the Year for Construction Law in the 2025 edition The Best Lawyers in America, a prestigious national ranking of attorneys selected through an exhaustive annual peer-review process.

According to Best Lawyers CEO Phillip Greer, the Lawyer of the Year award is particularly impressive, as it is presented to a single lawyer in each practice area and geographic region.

In total, 14 Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) partners – Bell, Thomas B. Crosbie, Sean Gaffney,  Ray B. Gliner, Priya Huggett, Phil L. Jelsma, Brian Kintz, Gregory Markow, Steven Otto, Alison Pappas, Sean Southard, Dana I. Schiffman, Craig D. Swanson and David Swartz – have been recognized in the 31st edition of The Best Lawyers in America. 

Over the years, CGS3 attorneys have consistently appeared in this high-profile source for legal referrals. This year, Bell is listed under the Real Estate Law and Construction Law categories while Jelsma is featured under Tax Law and Corporate Law.  Crosbie, Gliner, Huggett, Kintz, Otto, Pappas, Schiffman, Southard, Swanson and Swartz are all ranked under Real Estate Law. Gaffney has been recognized in the Real Estate Law, Commercial Litigation and Construction Litigation categories and Markow is honored for Commercial Litigation, Construction Litigation, Real Estate Litigation, and Real Estate Law.

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-reviewed publication in the legal profession. Because of the exacting methodology involved, the annual ranking is regarded as the industry’s definitive guide to legal excellence. For three decades, Best Lawyers has become a resource for both lawyers and clients looking for top legal talent.

The featured partners all have extensive experience in all aspects of commercial real estate, construction and tax law:

• Bell focuses his practice on real estate development/construction, investment and brokerage matters. His career spans the spectrum of real estate development, investment, construction and brokerage matters including multi-family, urban infill, mixed-use, hospitality, industrial, retail, office and land transactions.
• Crosbie has extensive experience in a broad variety of commercial real estate areas, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing, leasing and construction in connection with commercial, residential, industrial, retail and mixed-use projects for local, regional and national real estate developers and investors.
• Gaffney is a skilled litigator and successfully represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all phases of trial work and alternative dispute resolution.  He is frequently able to settle difficult matters in a cost-effective manner, but he is equally adept at litigating aggressively where necessary to protect his clients’ interests.
• Gliner represents landlords in various complex lease provisions, including lease takeover provisions, extensive overlapping expansion and contraction rights, and build-to-suit work letter/construction and related commencement date issues.
• Huggett practice emphasizes a variety of corporate/commercial and real estate transactions, particularly private equity, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and commercial contracts including vendor and licensing contracts.
• Jelsma is chair of the tax practice team at He is widely recognized as one of the state’s leading joint venture and tax attorneys, with a more than 30-year background in real estate exchange transactions, syndications, nonprofit corporations and international tax planning.
• Kintz focuses his practice on a broad range of commercial real estate deals, including leasing, purchase and sale transactions, ground leases and financing – with an emphasis on commercial lease transactions involving industrial, retail, office, life science and mixed-use asset types.
• Markow heads up CGS3’s busy litigation practice, representing commercial real estate investors, developers, owners, and property management companies looking to minimize risks that lead to litigation and defending them forcefully when disputes cannot be avoided.
• Otto is adept at structuring complex transactions, with a unique ability to handle out-of-the-box ideas. His experience spans the acquisition, development, leasing, licensing and sale of office, industrial and retail portfolios and mixed-use office/retail projects.
• Pappas specializes in the complex leasing of office, life science, retail and mixed-use projects. With over two decades of experience handling a variety of commercial real estate transactions, she is a core member of CGS3’s complex transactions practice group.
• Schiffman is well versed in a wide range of acquisition, development, leasing and financing matters for a variety of commercial real estate projects. His experience includes large portfolio sales, development agreements, CC&Rs, complex ground leases, build-to-suit leases and anchor retail leases. 
• Southard has successfully completed major leasing transactions totaling more than 10 million square feet of space across all sectors of commercial real estate, including retail, industrial, and office, with special leasing expertise in life science and retail asset types. 
• Swanson specializes in the acquisition, disposition, development, leasing and financing of commercial and mixed-use projects, with clients including some of the nation’s leading real estate companies.
• Swartz has a deep knowledge of commercial real estate law and many years of in-house experience, bringing a valuable “end-user” perspective to CGS3’s delivery of legal services – critical in the firm’s commitment to achieve greater efficiencies and effectiveness amidst the ever-increasing flow of complex real estate transactions.

About Best Lawyers

Since 1983, Best Lawyers has compiled lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting extensive peer-review surveys in which thousands of top lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. Because attorneys do not pay a fee for the listing, Best Lawyers has gained respect as the country’s most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. 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, 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 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.