Joshua Safran

Joshua Safran has extensive experience in all aspects of land use and development, CEQA, real property, municipal law, business transactions and litigation, and writ and general civil litigation. His practice includes business formation, governance, contracting, and disputes; complex development projects; multi-party real estate transactions; and, complicated multi-stakeholder public agency and public-private partnerships. Joshua is also well known for his pro bono post-conviction habeas work.

Benefits of working with Joshua:

• Joshua excels at guiding his clients through the challenges of negotiation, regulation, and litigation to successfully achieve their desired results.
• He is skilled at counseling clients on how to meet their strategic and operational objectives in the day-to-day management of their properties, businesses, and agencies, and often serves in inhouse counsel capacities.
• Because of Joshua’s expertise in so many different areas of law, he is available to assist clients with projects involving a wide array of legal issues and challenges.

Prior Experience:

• Before returning to private practice, Joshua served as the Deputy Port Attorney for the Port of Oakland, in-house counsel for one of America’s largest container ports, Oakland International Airport, and the Port’s Commercial Real Estate Division.
• His aviation portfolio at OAK included federal regulatory compliance and permitting, security, landside and airside operations, free speech permitting, ground transportation, major litigation, administrative appeals, general aviation real estate, and airport governance. His work at the airport included permitting, approvals, and grants from nearly a dozen agencies for improvements to the commercial south field; prosecution, defense, and successful resolution of a highly contentious, multi-million dollar, multi-party litigation involving airport concessions, organized labor, and individual workers; negotiating public-private partnerships for the redevelopment of the general aviation north field with multiple fixed base operators; and, drafting and  implementing comprehensive airport rules and regulations.
• Joshua’s commercial real estate portfolio at the Port included redevelopment, leasing, state regulatory and public trust compliance and permitting, and major litigation for 875 acres of commercial and industrial property along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, including governance and management of Oakland’s iconic Jack London Square area. His work included the successful negotiation, legislative and regulatory approval and judicial validation for the $1.5 billion, 64-acre, Brooklyn Basin project, representing one of the largest Chinese investments in American real estate and allowing for the development of 3,100 housing units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and 30 acres of parks and open space on former industrial land.
• While at the Port, Joshua also represented the Environmental Programs & Planning, Maritime, and Social Responsibility Divisions, as well as the Board of Port Commissioners.
• His environmental portfolio included environmental review, administrative appeals, and litigation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and land use regulations within the Port Area of Oakland. His work included drafting and implementing the Port’s land use and development code and managing the Port’s lead agency responsibilities under CEQA.
• His social responsibility portfolio included management, administrative enforcement and appeals, and litigation relating to the Port’s living wage, prevailing wage, local hire, and project labor agreement programs.
• His maritime portfolio included federal and state regulatory compliance and permitting and maritime security. His board portfolio included public agency governance and administration and administrative actions and litigation relating to the Port’s open meeting and public records programs.
• Before coming to the Port, Joshua worked for nine years as an Associate and, then, Counsel at Bingham McCutchen, LLP, a global law firm, specializing in land use, real estate, development, and local government law. There, he represented a wide array of governmental agencies, Fortune 500 companies, landowners, and developers in real estate transactions, due diligence, land acquisition, planning, land use entitlement, environmental review and processing, project permitting, the political process, administrative appeals, litigation, development and construction, and property management and disposition.

Education:

Joshua received his Juris Doctor with a Certificate of Specialization in Environmental Law from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2001. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College in 1997 with a triple major in Politics, Environmental Studies, and Judaic/Near Eastern Studies.

Professional & Bar Association Memberships:

• California Bar Association

Admitted to Practice:

• State of California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• United States District Court, Northern District of California
• United States District Court, Eastern District of California

Practice Areas:

• Land Use/Environmental Permits
• Municipal Law/Public-Private Partnerships
• Real Estate Transactions
• Construction and Development
• Corporations and Limited Liability Companies
• Business Transactions and Contracts
• Litigation
• Business Disputes
• Real Estate Litigation
• Landlord/Tenant Issues

Honors:

• Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center
• Domestic Violence Pro Bono Law Award from UC Berkeley School of Law, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, and the California Habeas Project
• Alameda County Bar Association Volunteer Legal Services Corporation Award
• Rollie Mullen Award from Stand! for Families Free of Violence
• KOLOT Ending Abuse Award
• Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse Award
• California State Legislature Special Recognition

Publications & Presentations:

• Feature for FORUM, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Volume 37, No. 1, Remembrances of a Righteous Man, Robert Buechler (1946-2010), 2010
• Philosophical reporter subject of Philosophy Talk, radio series, The Prison System, 2009
• Roundtable discussion and presentation for the Henderson Center for Social Justice and the Domestic Violence Practicum at Boalt Hall , Crime After Crime, 2009
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Privileges Are Preserved When Sharing Documents for CEQA Purposes, 2009
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Land Use Year In Review, 2008
• Presentation to the Interfaith Council in Walnut Creek, California, Interfaith Perspective on the Deborah Peagler Case, 2007
• Presentation to Boalt Hall School of Law, Lawyering for Social Justice, 2007
• Presentation at the Osher Marin JCC, Pursuit of Justice, Tests of Faith, 2007
• Prison Focus with Charles Carbone, KPOO FM 89.5, The Deborah Peagler Case, 2007
• The Bay Area Housing Report with Joseph Perkins, KNBR AM 680 and 1050, Prevailing Wage Impacts on California Development, 2007
• 17th Annual Bingham Land Use and Development Breakfast Briefing, Prevailing Wage Determinations: Avoiding the D.I.R. Hammer, 2007
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Freeing Development, 2007
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Untangling Restrictions, 2007
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Battling Blight, 2007
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Map Act Mayhem, 2007
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Compelling Interest Needed to Deny Permits to Build Temples, 2006
• Featured biography article in the Contra Costa Lawyer, Attorney Spotlight, 2006
• Presentation to the Association of Environmental Professionals, CEQA Basics, 2005
• Article for American Law Institute, ABA, Approaches to Land Use Compatibility for Military Facilities, 2005
• Law review article for Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Vol. 6, Zero Sum Game: The Debate Over Off-Site Agricultural Mitigation Measures, 2005
• Article for Zoning and Planning Law Report, Vol. 27, No. 7, Contracting for Preservation: An Overview of State Agricultural District Programs, 2004
• Article for Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal, Denial of Religious College’s Rezoning Bid Was Not Illegal, 2004
• Article for Real Property Law Reporter, Vol. 25, Dedications Implied in Law: Blazing Old Trails on the Beaten Path, 2002
• Case note for Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 27, Reconciling Environmental Liability Standards After Iverson and Bestfoods, 2000

Podcasts/Radio Appearances:

Safran’s compelling and inspirational story has been seen around the world on PBS, CBS, FOX News, Shalom TV and Authors@Google, and heard on the BBC, NPR, PRX, CBS Radio and Talkline. His essays have appeared in Salon, Huffington Post, Utne Reader and The Daily Beast. A sought-after public speaker, Safran has inspired audiences nationwide at book and film festivals, universities and law schools, businesses and nonprofits. Joshua Safran has also presented at grand rounds regarding childhood resiliency.

Organizations/Associations: 

• General Counsel and Board Secretary, Medical Justice Alliance
• Board of Directors, Free From Abuse
• Board of Directors, Headfirst Arts & Media

Joshua is an author and nationally recognized advocate for survivors of domestic violence and the wrongfully imprisoned. Seven-year legal odyssey to free an innocent woman from prison was featured in the award-winning documentary film Crime After Crime, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The film won over 25 awards, including the National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Received numerous awards and national media coverage for pro bono advocacy work. Critically-acclaimed memoir, FREE SPIRIT: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid (Hachette), about a childhood on the dark side of the Age of Aquarius, has been called a “beautiful, powerful memoir. . . reminiscent of David Sedaris’s and Augusten Burroughs’s best work: introspective, hilarious, and heartbreaking” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and “a remarkable account of survival despite the odds” (Kirkus Reviews).