News & Insights

CGS3 Partners Featured in Lawyers of Distinction

SAN DIEGO – Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson (CGS3) partners Steven Otto and Thomas Crosbie have been recognized in “Lawyers of Distinction” for excellence in real estate law.

Lawyers of Distinction members have been selected based upon a review and vetting process by a selection committee utilizing a patented platform. Encompassing over 20 areas of practice, membership is limited to no more than 10% of attorneys from any given state. The organization was first incorporated in 2014 and now has than 5,000 lawyer members from all 50 states and Canada.

With a wealth of experience and consistently successful results, Otto joined the real estate transactions group at Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLC (CGS3) as a partner in 2021.  Prior to CGS3, he worked for Pinnacle West Capital Corporation as a senior attorney and for several top tier San Diego law firms. Adept at structuring complex transactions, his experience spans the acquisition, development, leasing, licensing and sale of office, industrial and retail portfolios, and mixed-use office/retail projects.  He has successfully negotiated numerous master developer and merchant builder agreements as well as private party development agreements for retail shopping complexes and residential developments.  His clients have included international firms and public companies, REITs, developers, and private joint ventures, and he has played a key role supporting one of the largest nuclear power generating sites in the country.  With a unique ability to handle out-of-the-box deals, he frequently draws on his engineering degree from the United States Naval Academy, as well as his military service, to develop solutions to complex issues and deal structures.

A member of NAIOP and Lambda Alpha International, as well as the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni association and the UC San Diego Rady Network, he holds an M.B.A. from the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the United States Naval Academy.

A founding partner of CGS3, 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. He has negotiated the purchase and sale of numerous commercial properties throughout the United States and he is uniquely qualified to anticipate and address the needs of his clients in the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate. On the development front, he has vast expertise in all aspects of ground-up development and redevelopment projects, including drafting and negotiating development agreements, CC&Rs, REAs, construction contracts and design contracts for commercial, industrial, multi-family residential and mixed-use projects. Additionally, he has worked as counsel to numerous borrowers and lenders regarding all aspects of commercial loan transactions and workouts in connection with all major property types.

A member of NAIOP, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

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.