Best Best & Krieger LLP, the Riverside-based firm with offices through out California including a 19-attorney office in Irvine, has acquired a leading Washington, DC telecommunications boutique, Miller & Van Eaton, and will establish its first out-of-state office in its 120-year history.
Currently BB&K has eight offices in California, including Irvine, Riverside, Ontario, Indian Wells and San Diego in Southern California, and approximately 200 attorneys specializing in municipal, environmental and business law. The firm has an especially strong water law practice and boasts one of California’s largest municipal and public agency law practices.
Miller & Van Eaton attorneys specialize in a wide range of telecommunications law niches, including cable, television, broadcast and wireless communication for public and private sector clients. Miller & Van Eaton, with offices in Washington DC and San Francisco, is best known for its municipal work and has assisted more than 250 municipalities nationwide with telecommunications advice, including representation of the City of Los Angeles in a U.S. Supreme Court victory.
“We are pleased to be welcoming such a stellar group of attorneys who specialize in an increasingly critical area of law for our clients in California, especially the cities we serve,” said BB&K Managing Partner Eric Garner. “By virtue of being in the nation’s capital, we will be in a better position to provide representation before federal agencies that craft significant regulations impacting our clients.
A nine-attorney boutique, Miller & Van Eaton is led by Nicholas Miller, who once served as the U.S. Senate communications counsel and as a special consultant to the White House on telephone deregulation issues, and Joseph Van Eaton, who has worked with cities in drafting wireless communication ordinances and negotiated franchises for cable and telecommunications service providers. Miller said BB&K has a “wide footprint among California cities needing help as the telecommunications world develops at a rapid pace.” He pointed out that cell phone towers are a critical and thorny issue for many cities and that there are presently 250,000 cell towers across the United States with projections for as many as several million within 10 years.
“There is a major effort within the communications industry to get unrestricted use of [public] property for free for cellular towers and other devices – in other words, have the taxpayers subsidize the stockholders,” Miller said.
BB&K works for dozens of public agencies in California, serving as city attorney for more than 25 cities and as general counsel to water agencies, joint power authorities, fire districts, transportation agencies and other special districts. Marco Martinez is the managing partner of BB&K’s Irvine office and is a partner in the Municipal and Redevelopment Law practice group.
