News & Insights

2025 Best Lawyers in America: Phil Jelsma and Tom Crosbie Recognized as “Lawyer of the Year”

Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) partners Phil L. Jelsma and Thomas Crosbie have been selected by their peers as San Diego Lawyers of the Year for Tax Law and Real Estate Law, respectively in the 2026 edition The Best Lawyers in America.  In addition, 13 other CGS3 attorneys are recognized as Best Lawyers in 2026 and three CGS3 associate lawyers are named as “Ones to Watch.”

Honoring top legal talent across the nation, “Best Lawyers” rankings are based on peer review and evaluations within specific geographic areas and practice areas. 

The Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers in the 32^st edition of The Best Lawyers in America include – Alison Pappas, Amelia Sanchez, Brian Kintz, Craig Swanson, Dana Schiffman, David Dick, David Swartz, Gregory Markow, Phil Jelsma, Priya Huggett, Ray Gliner, Steven Otto, Sean Southard, Sean Gaffney, and Tom Crosbie.  The three CGS3 associate attorneys recognized in Best Lawyers as “Ones to Watch in America” include Riley Cutner-Orrantia, Salvatore Padula, and Ulrick Matsunaga.

This year’s honorees continue a long tradition of CGS3 attorneys who have appeared in this high-profile source for legal referrals.  In the 2026 edition, Jelsma is featured under Tax Law and Corporate Law.  Crosbie, Dick, Gliner, Huggett, Kintz, Otto, Pappas, Sanchez, Schiffman, Southard, Swanson and Swartz are all ranked under Real Estate Law.  Gaffney has been recognized in the Real Estate Law and Construction Litigation categories, and Markow is honored for Commercial Litigation, Construction Litigation, Real Estate Litigation, and Real Estate Law.  In the “Ones to Watch” edition, Cutner-Orrantia is featured under Energy and Real Estate Law, Matsunaga under Real Estate Law, and Padula under Construction Litigation.

• Founding partner 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. Crosbie has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2018.
• Associate attorney Cutner-Orrantia – a rising star in both environmental and legal circles – focuses on a wide range of real estate legal issues – representing developers and investors in all phases of the commercial real estate cycle. Cutner-Orrantia has been recognized in Ones to Watch since 2026.
• Of Counsel to the firm, Dick, embraces a practice style that expands his role beyond an attorney to that of a strategic advisor and consultant to his clients guiding them through all stages of a transactions and important business decisions. Dick has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2026.
• Partner Gaffney is a skilled litigator and successfully represents both plaintiffs and defendants in all phases of trial work and alternative dispute resolution. He is able to settle difficult matters in a cost-effective manner, and equally adept at litigating aggressively where necessary to protect his clients’ interests.  Gaffney has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2022
• Founding partner and now of counsel, 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. Gliner has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2018.
• Partner Huggett’s 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. Huggett has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2025.
• Partner Jelsma is chair of the tax practice team. 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.  Jelsma has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2011.
• Tenured partner and CFO, 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. Kintz has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2024.
• Tenured partner 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. Markow has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2024.
• An associate attorney and member of the firm’s entity formation and tax practice., Matsunaga provides strategic, practical guidance across commercial real estate and tax matters. Matsunaga has been recognized in Ones to Watch since 2026.
• Partner 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. Otto has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2024.
• An associate attorney and a member of the firm’s litigation team, Padula is a skilled litigator who has represented both plaintiffs and defendants across a broad range of civil matters. Padula has been recognized in Ones to Watch since 2026.
• Partner 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.  Pappas has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2025.
• Partner, Sanchez represents national, regional, and local companies in all asset categories – building on her expertise in leasing transactions, specifically retail, office, financial, life science, mixed-use, industrial and telecommunications. Sanchez has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2026.
• Founding partner and now of counsel, 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. Schiffman has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2011.
• Founding partner 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. Southard has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2025.
• Founding partner Swanson, also a founding partner and now of counsel, 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. Swanson has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2019.
• Tenured partner 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. Swartz has been recognized in Best Lawyers since 2025.

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 continues to recruit 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.