Overview
Best Best & Krieger LLP was founded in 1891, making it one of California’s oldest continuously operating law firms. The practice began with municipal law as its founding discipline, and more than 130 years later, that practice remains the firm’s most prominent. The firm currently represents close to 250 cities and counties throughout California and beyond, a client volume that reflects institutional relationships built across multiple generations of attorneys.
The firm’s Municipal Law practice carries a Tier One ranking from U.S. News and World Report Best Lawyers in America, the highest designation available under that ranking system. Sixty-two attorneys appear on the 2026 Best Lawyers lists, with 41 recognized as The Best Lawyers in America and 21 as Ones to Watch. Nine attorneys were elevated to partnership in December 2025.
The firm operates from multiple California offices, with a Manhattan Beach location at 1230 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 110, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, reachable at 310-643-8448. The firm’s website is https://bbklaw.com/.
Practice Areas
Municipal Law: The firm’s founding and signature practice area. Best Best & Krieger provides comprehensive legal counsel to cities, housing authorities, successor agencies, and joint powers authorities. With close to 250 municipal clients, the firm functions as outside city attorney for a substantial portion of California’s municipal governments. The practice addresses the full range of challenges these entities face: balancing state and federal mandates, managing limited funding, navigating constituent service requirements, and handling the legal dimensions of public administration. The U.S. News Tier One ranking in this area reflects peer and client recognition of the firm’s position as a leading municipal law practice.
Environmental Law and Natural Resources: The firm handles environmental regulatory compliance and related litigation, including matters arising under the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Real Estate: The firm advises on real estate assets, policy, and investment strategy. Its work spans negotiation, documentation, structuring, and restructuring of acquisitions, sales, finance, leasing, property management, and development contracts across commercial, retail, office, industrial, residential, and mixed-use property types. Chambers USA has recognized this practice for California Real Estate, Land Use and Zoning in both 2024 and 2025.
Land Use, Planning and Zoning: A multi-disciplinary team integrating Environmental Law, Municipal Law, Public Finance, and Telecommunications advises on public-private partnerships, commercial and industrial developments, residential and mixed-use in-fill projects, infrastructure and project finance, open-space acquisitions, and habitat preservation. CEQA, NEPA, and other regulatory compliance are core components of this work.
Public Infrastructure and Contracts: The firm guides cities, counties, special districts, transit and transportation authorities, water agencies, school districts, colleges and universities, community services districts, and other public entities through all phases of public contracting from planning through construction closeout.
Public Finance: Public agency financing, bond issuance, and related financial legal support for government entities.
Special Districts: Representation of special purpose districts across California.
Sustainable Communities: A practice area addressing sustainability in development, reflecting the intersection of environmental law and land use work.
Native American Law: Listed as a practice area, reflecting the firm’s engagement with tribal law and government-to-government legal matters.
Government Relations: Advocacy and government affairs support for clients navigating the legislative and regulatory environment.
Attorney Recognition
The firm placed 62 attorneys on 2026 Best Lawyers lists: 41 as The Best Lawyers in America and 21 as Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. Nine attorneys joined the partnership in December 2025. Multiple attorneys have received recognition from Chambers USA, the National Law Journal, and Law360 across multiple practice areas.
Casey Powell is referenced on the firm’s website; additional attorney-level credential detail beyond the firm-level recognition described above is not publicly documented for individual practitioners in this overview.
Notable Representations
The firm served as counsel to the San Diego Unified Port District on the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan, Hotel, and Convention Center, a major coastal development project. The firm also handled all land use, Subdivision Map Act, California Environmental Quality Act, and development agreement matters for the developer of the Los Angeles Chargers 250,000 square foot corporate headquarters and practice facility and three football fields in El Segundo. These two projects illustrate the scale and complexity of the firm’s land use and public agency representation.
Location and Service Area
The Manhattan Beach office is at 1230 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 110, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266. Phone: 310-643-8448. Website: https://bbklaw.com/. The firm operates multiple California offices and serves clients on a national basis, with particular depth in California municipal law.
Client Focus
The firm’s primary client base for municipal law consists of California cities and counties, numbering close to 250. Additional public entity clients include housing authorities, successor agencies, joint powers authorities, transit and transportation authorities, water agencies, school districts, colleges and universities, and community services districts. The real estate practice serves private developers and investors alongside these public entity clients. The firm also serves private sector clients with environmental, land use, and business legal needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that the Municipal Law practice is ranked Tier One by U.S. News?
U.S. News and World Report, in partnership with Best Lawyers, produces annual rankings of law firms by practice area and metropolitan area. Tier One is the highest ranking designation available. The ranking is based on peer nominations and evaluations. For municipal law, a Tier One national designation reflects recognition by the legal community that the firm’s practice is among the strongest in the country in this specific area.
How does the firm serve close to 250 cities and counties simultaneously?
Best Best & Krieger has built a large team of municipal law attorneys across multiple California offices who serve as outside city attorneys for their respective client municipalities. Each client relationship involves designated attorneys who handle the full range of legal matters arising for that city or county, functioning as the municipality’s outside legal department rather than as occasional outside counsel.
What were the key legal issues in the LA Chargers headquarters project in El Segundo?
The firm handled the land use entitlements, Subdivision Map Act compliance, California Environmental Quality Act review and compliance, and the development agreement between the developer and the local jurisdiction. A project of this scale, involving 250,000 square feet of corporate and practice facility space plus three football fields, requires coordination across multiple regulatory processes and governmental approvals before construction can begin.
What is CEQA and why does it matter for California development projects?
The California Environmental Quality Act requires that state and local agencies identify and mitigate the significant environmental impacts of discretionary projects before approving them. Virtually every significant development project in California must comply with CEQA’s environmental review requirements. The firm’s land use practice includes deep CEQA expertise developed through decades of representing both public agencies and private developers.
Does the firm represent private developers in addition to government entities?
Yes. While the firm’s historical foundation is in representing public entities, it also serves private real estate developers and investors across commercial, residential, and mixed-use property types. The firm’s Chambers USA recognition for California Real Estate, Land Use and Zoning reflects work for both public and private sector clients.
Closing
Best Best & Krieger LLP has been serving California cities, counties, and private clients since 1891, building over 130 years of institutional depth in municipal law, land use, real estate, and public infrastructure. The firm’s Tier One municipal law ranking, close to 250 municipal clients, Chambers USA recognition for real estate and land use, and landmark project representations including the Chula Vista Bayfront and LA Chargers headquarters establish it as one of California’s most established and broadly recognized law firms. The Manhattan Beach office is at 1230 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 110, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, and the firm can be reached at 310-643-8448 or at https://bbklaw.com/.