The Firm's Appellate Practice

The Firm regularly and successfully practices before all California appellate courts and the California Supreme Court, as well as the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and its partners have handled appellate matters in numerous other jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Seventh Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.  We excel in conducting the highly detailed analysis of the facts and law forming the basis of an underlying trial court’s decision which is necessary for proper representation before an appellate tribunal.  The Firm’s emphasis on superior writing skills serves our clients well in our appellate practice where such skills are utilized to the fullest extent.  The Firm not only handles appellate issues arising out of its trial practice, but is also often called upon by other counsel to step in and handle difficult appeals.

 

Recently, the Firm represented one of the largest property developers in the United States in complicated, multi-party land use litigation which went to the California Supreme Court and forced a legislative amendment favorable to our client.  We also recently were engaged on appeal to represent the beneficiaries of a large estate who by virtue of an unfortunate trial result could have lost three-quarters of the estate to a “putative spouse” who claimed entitlement to the estate through a Mexican marriage.  The Firm successfully employed the doctrine of judicial estoppel to achieve a complete and final reversal of the trial court’s ruling, restoring the full benefit of the estate to the testator’s named beneficiaries.

 

In the past, partners of the Firm have handled a multitude of appeals, both as appellant’s counsel and as respondent’s counsel, with an enviable rate of success. In the matter of Jarrow Formulas, Inc. v. Nutrition Now, Inc., 304 F.2d 829 (9thCir. 2002), two of the Firm’s partners successfully defended a nutritional supplements manufacturer against a competitor’s claims of unfair competition which were pursued through a petition to the United States Supreme Court.  One of the Firm’s partners successfully represented entertainer Frank Sinatra in obtaining compensation for the misappropriation of his name and likeness by a combination of a Swiss health clinic, Clinique La Prairie, and the National Enquirer magazine, Sinatra v. National Enquirer, 854 F.2d 1191 (9th Cir. 1988).  In the case of In Re Willie Gault, 578 N.Y.S.2d 683 (Appellate Division, Supreme Court of New York), one of the Firm’s partners singlehandedly overturned an injunctive order barring implementation of an arbitrator’s award allowing athletes Willie Gault, Edwin Moses, and Greg Harrell to compete in qualifying rounds for the 1992 Winter Olympic bobsled competition, moving from an unfavorable ruling on an Order to Show Cause to a successful emergency appeal reversing that order in less than three days.

The Firm's Corporate & Business Transactions Practice

At FINNEY ARNOLD, LLP, our attorneys have decades of experience in the public and private energy sectors providing strategic general counsel guidance and advice to help our clients successfully develop, implement and manage startups, expansions, investor relations and acquisitions.

 Core Competencies

• Organize global businesses, including resolving Know Your Client compliance, international leasing and banking issues
• Drafting Private Placement Memoranda and SAFE Agreements to secure investor funds
• Conduct mergers and acquisitions
• Designing and implementing employee stock option plans, profit sharing and employment agreements
• Manage Securities and Exchange Commission and State securities compliance filings

Client Experiences

• Managed the design, construction, engineering, legal work, and funding for the Bay Bridge post-earthquake reconstruction project
• Assisted the City of Long Beach with land use permitting, entitlements, construction team, finance for the Desmond bridge construction project
• Successfully negotiated three land swaps between Long Beach and the CA State Lands Commission and acquired coastal development permits from the California Coastal Commission; managed bond counsel and financing for the Queensway Bay parking lot project, The Pike and the Pike Outlets
• Managed creation of the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation, a nonprofit to mitigate Los Angeles/Long Beach port impacts on Wilmington, San Pedro and Long Beach; repurposed containers to Accessory Dwelling Units and protective walls; installed air scrubbers in local schools to prevent asthma and other breathing anomalies
• Designed all OCIPs/CCIPs for AON insurance broker, worldwide
• Secured public/private land leases, drafted drill rig leases, construction, and insurance agreements, and conducted public outreach efforts

The Firm's Construction Law Practice

At FINNEY ARNOLD, LLP, our attorneys have decades of experience providing strategic guidance and general counsel advice to help our clients successfully develop, implement and manage complex construction related projects

Core Competencies

  • Construction agreements (partnerships, gap, bridge and permanent financing, construction)

  • Securing public/private land use entitlements, California tax credits and HUD funds

  • Crafting winning responses to Requests for Proposals

  • Designing Owner/Contractor Controlled Insurance Programs (OCIPs/CCIPs)

  • CEQA litigation, including Environmental Impact Report legal compliance issues (public/private clients)

Client Experiences

  • Negotiate and secure entitlements and draft design, engineering, construction and finance contracts for:

  • Churches to develop their land (Los Angeles)

  • Senior housing projects (Los Angeles, North Las Vegas)

  • Affordable housing projects (Los Angeles)

  • Stapleton Airport redesign to a multi-use project (Denver, Colorado)

  • Design and implement OCIPs/CCIPs for hospital, bridge, and skyscraper construction projects (California, Las Vegas)

  • Post-construction lease-up assistance (negotiations, leases, county service and property management agreements)

  • Provide support for obtaining welfare exemptions for affordable housing projects

  • CEQA compliance guidance and litigation support to cities, developers and community groups

  • Land use permitting, entitlements, construction, and finance legal assistance to the Desmond bridge construction project

  • Negotiated three land swaps between Long Beach and the CA State Lands Commission and acquired coastal development permits from the California Coastal Commission; managed bond counsel and financing for the Queensway Bay parking lot project, The Pike and the Pike Outlets

  • Helped the City of Long Beach; repurposed containers to Accessory Dwelling Units and protective walls

The Firm's Energy/Regulatory Practice

At FINNEY ARNOLD, LLP, our attorneys have decades of experience in the public and private energy sectors providing strategic guidance to help our clients successfully develop geothermal, wind, solar, waste management, biomass and other renewable energy projects. Our private sector clients include many First American Nations and multiple Great Plains, Southwest, Northwest and Alaskan Tribes. FINNEY ARNOLD is also uniquely positioned to provide prudent legal advice on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) legal compliance issues.

Core Capabilities

  • Private/public partnerships

  • Contracts, leases, project financing and bank guarantees, Power Purchase and Transmission Agreements

  • Owner/Contractor-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs/CCIPs)

  • CEQA Litigation 

Client Experience

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power:

  • Member of the Seams Steering Group of the Western Interconnection (SSG-WI)

  • Participated in electricity market redesign to integrate functions between CAISO, RTO West and WestConnect to design the Market Monitoring Compliance Program, Transmission Upgrades Planning and Real-Time Market Open Access Same Time Information System (OASIS)

Los Angeles Unified School District:

  • Developed template energy audit agreements; negotiated parameters for Proposition 39 green energy audits of school premises

  • Drafted Design and Construction, Consulting and Solar Agreements with third-party vendors.

  • Reviewed and analyzed Environmental Impact Statements for regulatory compliance.

Iceland America Energy (Geothermal)/ Herhof Gmbh (Waste-to-Energy Conversion):

  • Represented international companies in launching new technologies and global project development

Represented public utility and private renewable energy clients before regulatory commissions, including, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California State Lands Commission (CSLC), California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO)

The Firm's Entertainment Law Practice

The Firm’s diverse entertainment law practice is well established through our representation of high-profile clients in negotiations, complex business transactions, and high stakes litigation.  The Firm is sensitive to the unique needs of the entertainment industry community while providing aggressive and effective advocacy in court when necessary.  Our transactional and litigation departments work very closely together to provide the integrated services our entertainment industry clients require to achieve the best possible result.

 

The Firm’s partners have represented well known recording industry personalities, including Frank Sinatra in a number of litigation matters; Warner/Elektra/Asylum Records in massive antitrust litigation against independent record promoters, including Joseph Isgro; a recent multi-million dollar dispute between shareholders and principal directors that involved major recording industry labels, including Virgin Records; numerous film production companies, including Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Lorimar Productions, Sony/Tristar Productions, New World Entertainment, Reeves Entertainment, Marvel Productions, and Fries Entertainment, in copyright, trademark, unfair competition, and other types of intellectual property litigation; professional and internationally acclaimed athletes, in litigation related to misappropriation of name and likeness, and as well in connection with legal issues arising in connection with competitive activities; a major production company in litigation with Michael Jackson and the Jackson family; and numerous best selling writers and television personalities.

 

Partners of the Firm also spent years representing Las Vegas Casinos, including the Aladdin Hotel, the Stardust Hotel, the Royal Americana Hotel, the Fremont Hotel and the Sundance Hotel and Casino, both with respect to tax licensing matters as well as all aspects of labor and employment law.

 

Most recently, the Firm serves as counsel to a new feature film and television production studio, a related television network and distribution company, as well as several independent television and video production and distribution groups. Partners of the Firm also served as liaison to the California Film Commission, the major Hollywood studios and talent agencies, and to the cable and digital media industries on behalf of the Governor of the State of California.

 

The Firm is well versed in the newest legal developments in the entertainment industry, including the formation and management of film funds; bridge, gap, and super gap financing; the protection of intellectual property from online and other piracy; economic and labor policy as it relates to the flight of production; and land-use, regulatory, and environmental restraints to the development of new production facilities.

The Firm's Environmental Law & CEQA Practice

The Firm has a preeminent Land Use and CEQA practice. The Firm also handles a wide variety of highstakes environmental regulatory matters. As a result, FA is able to offer its clients comprehensive strategies for clearing the potential environmental hurdles that confront businesses and proposed development projects. We have assisted multiple public agencies to draft legally compliant environmental impact reports; assisted small, mid-sized, and large developers in navigating CEQA compliance issues within planning commission, city council, and county supervisorial challenges and meetings, and has represented community groups ensuring that local projects are CEQA compliant and in court, negotiating settlements, filing petitions for writs of mandate, and litigating CEQA actions.

The Firm has extensive expertise and experience in handling CEQA and land use matters for both private companies and public entities throughout California. We have good working relationships with numerous local, state, and federal land use agencies and regulators. The Firm also has experience negotiating with many of the prominent environmental nonprofit plaintiff groups and neighborhood advocacy groups in California.

For the last seven years, the Firm has fully litigated CEQA challenges to protect the rights of municipalities, developers, landowners and other stakeholders. Our regulatory experience includes effective negotiation with local, regional, state and federal agencies, administrative permitting, and inspection and compliance reviews. We have represented a diverse client base in over 50 CEQA matters, most of which were litigated, several to appeal.

The Firm has represented developers with real estate opportunity projects in Santa Clara County, including CEQA compliance and other land use issues. Mr, Finney has also worked with the County of Santa Clara over many decades, including assisting the County with state land use, education, social services, infrastructure, workforce development, former CRA and COIN projects with the financial services industry, aerospace, and community and cultural projects including museums with state funding and regulatory issues through multiple state administrations, and has served on state boards and commissions with key Santa Clara County public and private individuals. He has relationships with key players in the region and has assisted with technology and investment projects with Silicon Valley companies and executives both locally and abroad.

The Firm's Real Property Practice

The Firm’s real property practice draws on our expertise in many areas, including environmental law, administrative law, litigation, and business transactions.  We represent clients in transactions involving real property and in litigation concerning real property.  We have extensive experience in the purchase and sale of real property and in the preparation of lease agreements.  The Firm’s Real Property Practice clients range from individual real property investors to a nationwide developer and manager of market-dominant communities operating more than 500 shopping centers in over 40 states. We currently represent the trust department of a major national financial institution and handle the diverse real estate related legal needs of their trust clients.

–         Land Use and Development

Our clients regularly rely upon us for our real property development experience.  We obtain land use approvals for our clients, including zoning permits, conditional use permits, and variances. We assist our clients in the development process from start to finish, from the financing and creation of appropriate business structures and conducting pre-acquisition due diligence to obtaining final certificates of occupancy and preparing lease agreements.  We utilize our extensive regulatory and political experience in working with cities and counties to achieve our clients’ objectives through legislative, administrative, and political processes. When required, we represent clients in litigation to obtain their goals, or to defend against challenges to development, including those seeking to set aside approvals.

–         Litigation

Our real estate litigation experience includes the representation of clients in disputes concerning title to commercial or residential real property, financing for real property, and the acquisition of real property.  These disputes include issues arising from disclosure statements, estopppel certificates, delays in transfer, and failure to obtain conditional use permits.  We also have experience in commercial lease disputes, including unlawful detainer actions, disputes over the exercise of options to extend leases, improperly constructed improvements, and delays in the provision of improvements.  We regularly represent clients in litigation concerning permits, variances, obstruction of views, improper use of easements, and boundary disputes.

–         Brownfields Policy and Legislation

The Firm has also been intimately involved in the development of Brownfields policy and legislation over the past decade.  From the creation of the state’s Brownfields Clean Loan Fund to the progressive evolution of immunity law with respect to Brownfields ownership and development, the Firm’s attorneys have been integral to California’s treatment of these issues.  The Firm’s clients in this area include one of the largest environmental engineering, design, and development firms in the world (which, along with the Firm, recently won the bid to redevelop the waterfront for the City of Antioch along the Sacramento River which connects the State’s capitol with the San Francisco Bay), one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, a specialized Brownfields developer focused on rehabilitating one acre to five acre sites, and a public entity seeking to remediate and reuse a high profile abandoned landfill surrounded by a pristine environment.

Last fall, the Firm organized and hosted a major conference on the current state of Brownfields law and opportunities, along with Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown (nationally renowned for his innovative Brownfields development policy and accompanying successes), the Director and Chief Counsel of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Assistant Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (responsible for Brownfields development policy, regulation, and enforcement), the Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and most of the state’s leading developers and builders.  The Firm’s strong relationships with the state’s administrative agencies provide our clients with unique opportunities to develop immunity plans through working directly with their regulators in a cooperative environment.  In the end, we are uniquely adept in maximizing sources of public funding to assist our clients before, during, and after the development of their properties.

The Firm's Regulatory Advocacy Practice

The Firm is well recognized for its regulatory experience.  This is due in part to several of the Firm’s attorneys having served the public in various capacities at the local, city, and state-wide government level.  The Firm’s regulatory experience has enabled it to provide a more complete and comprehensive representation to its clients, as many of the regulatory issues apply to a number of different industries and are national in scope.

 

We utilize our extensive regulatory and political experience to achieve our clients’ objectives through legislative, administrative, and political processes.  The Firm has multi-decade relationships representing clients on regulatory and enforcement matters before, and, when necessary, litigating against, a host of federal, state, and local public entities, including the California Insurance Commissioner, the California Department of Insurance, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Department of Labor, the California Attorney General, the California Corporations Commissioner, the Franchise Tax Board, the Board of Equalization, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Business, Transportation & Housing Agency, the California State Lands Commission, the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Air Resources Board, the California Coastal Commission, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California State Water Resources Control Board, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Alcohol Beverage Control Board, the California State Legislature, the California Governor’s Office, and multiple local government departments and agencies across the state, including regional water quality control boards, air quality management districts, planning and zoning departments, and city councils.

 

The Firm prides itself on its ability to negotiate fair resolutions of disputes with such entities and in enhancing its clients’ relationships with such entities through proactive relationship building and advisory activity.

 

The Firm has handled administrative law matters and hearings before many of the same federal, state, and local departments and agencies for a variety of corporate and public entity clients.  We have also helped to develop regulatory and administrative law policy at the state government level for over 15 years in the California Legislature, throughout the State Administration, including the Office of Administrative Law, and in many local governments.  Members of the Firm served as the heads of state departments, chief counsel to state constitutional officers, state and local board and commission members, and senior staff to the California State Controller, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor.