Jay L. Paxton is a Shareholder in the Real Estate Practice Group of Buchalter Nemer, with a practice focused on real estate transactions, leasing and land use planning.
His experience includes representation of numerous Fortune 500 companies and major investors in acquisitions, sales, sale/leasebacks, build-to-suit developments, ground leases, financings and property acquisitions and dispositions throughout the United States. He was the lead lawyer in a complex sale/leaseback transaction for the expansion of a large corporate headquarters campus in Northern California and recently was the lead lawyer in an assemblage of eleven office buildings for a new corporate campus in Silicon Valley for one of the leading technology companies in the world. He also represented Carnegie Mellon University in establishing its West Coast campus on ground leased land at the NASA Ames Research Park, and represents the University of California in connection with a ground lease of the southern 75 acres of NASA Ames for a new research and education facility.
His extensive experience representing both landowners and users in leasing includes directing all legal aspects of ongoing leasing matters for the owners of several high-rise office buildings in San Francisco and suburban office projects. He also represents major users in lease negotiations for office and retail space and is well experienced in helping landlords and tenants in restructuring troubled leases. Mr. Paxton represented the landlord in the largest office lease in the history of San Francisco and in the real estate aspects of the securitization and sale of the income stream from that lease into the bond markets, a transaction which was the first of its kind in the United States.
In addition to his transactional practice, Mr. Paxton has extensive experience in obtaining land use approvals and entitlements for major retailers, developers and landowners. His work in land use has included securing all approvals for the conversion of a former landfill at the shore of the Bay to a regional retail center, with Home Depot as the anchor tenant.
Publications and Presentations. Mr. Paxton is a contributing author of Office Leasing (California Continuing Education of the Bar, 1996) and is the author of Commercial Leases and Insurance: A Primer for Lawyers (Practising Law Institute, 2008) and Insurance and Commercial Leases: Critical Provisions in Uncertain Times (Practising Law Institute, 2006). He is also a frequent speaker on real estate?related topics, recently on "Negotiating Commercial Leases" for the Practising Law Institute, "Advanced Commercial Leasing" for the California Continuing Education of the Bar and on "Living on the Ring of Fire: Managing Earthquake Risk on the Pacific Rim" for the Urban Land Institute. He has lectured for CLE International, and has lectured on land use and the entitlement process at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Education and Honors. Mr. Paxton is a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He has been selected one of Northern California's Super Lawyers six times from 2005 to 2012 and a Super Lawyer, Business Edition. Most recently, Mr. Paxton has been selected as a 2012 Best Lawyer in America™, an honor he has received since 2009 and is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale Hubbell. Mr. Paxton earned his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley in 1973 and his B.A. degree in 1970, also at Berkeley. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Paxton served as a Special Assistant to the Chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley.
Professional and Community Affiliations. Mr. Paxton is active in various real estate associations. He is a past Chair of the San Francisco District Council of the Urban Land Institute, and continues as a member of its Executive Committee, member of its National Public-Private Partnerships Council, and Co-Chair of its Policy and Practice Committee. He is also a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley and serves on the Executive Committee of the Board. He is a Director of the Golden Gate Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, a land economics honorary society. Mr. Paxton is very active in civic and business life of the Bay Area community, currently serving as a Director of the Bay Area Council, a Trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation and a Trustee of the Marin Community Foundation. He is a member of the State Bar of California, American Bar Association (Real Property Section), the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Marin County Bar Association.