
As Chair of the Firm's Government, Land Use, Environment and Energy Department, and head of its Legal Cannabis Practice Group, Benjamin (Ben) Reznik's practice emphasizes real estate development entitlements, zoning and environment issues, including frequent appearances before city planning commissions, city councils and other governmental boards and agencies on behalf of real estate development firms and various industries. Ben leads a group of distinguished attorneys that specialize in CEQA and NEPA, air emissions, energy, licensing, government contracts, and regulatory issues, to name a few.
Ben, who has been lead counsel in high-profile projects for clients including G.H. Palmer, Kilroy, Candy & Candy, Decron Management Corp., and The Clarett Group, was described in 2010 as “the most powerful lobbyist in LA” by Curbed LA, Los Angeles' most respected, widely-read real estate and land use blog.
Profiled in the Los Angeles Business Journal
Selected by the Daily Journal as one of California's "Top 100" Lawyers in 2010 and 2017.
Featured in over fifty Los Angeles Times articles
Sample Projects- Argued before the California Supreme Court as the lead attorney in Landgate, Inc. v. California Coastal Commission, 17 Cal. 4th 1006 (1998) (a landmark decision impacting rights of property owners to sue governmental agencies for damages incurred by delays in the permitting process)
- Represented Mitsubishi Corporation in siting of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receiving terminal and regassification facility in Southern California
- Represented The Clarett Group in obtaining entitlements for 1 million square feet mixed-use project in Hollywood adjacent to the Pantages Theater
- Represented G. H. Palmer Associates in obtaining entitlements for over 3,000 apartments in downtown Los Angeles (The Medici; The Visconti; The Orsini; The Piero)
- Represented Candy & Candy and Project Lotus in obtaining entitlements for high end luxury condo project in Beverly Hills, CA known as 9900 Wilshire
- Represent Trammel Crow Company/Multi-Employer Pension Trust (MEPT) in obtaining development entitlements for large commercial office campus in west San Fernando Valley known as West Hills Corporate Pointe
- Represented Hudson News and Magic Johnson Enterprises in obtaining retail concession at Los Angeles International Airport (2010)
Since joining JMBM in 1997, obtained project approvals for several million square feet of commercial and several thousand units of residential valued in excess of $50 billion.
Recipient of Commendations from:
- The U.S. House of Representatives
- California State Assembly
- California Attorney General
- Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
- Los Angeles City Council
- Los Angeles City Attorney
J.D., University of Southern California Gould School of Law, 1976
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 1973
- Received the AV Preeminent® rating by Martindale-Hubbell®
- Listed, Los Angeles Magazine's Southern California Super Lawyer, 2009-2022
- Named one of California's Top 100 Lawyers in 2010 and 2017 by the Daily Journal
- Best Lawyers in America® 2013-2023, named 2020 "Lawyer of the Year"
- JMBM Land Use Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers for 2023
- JMBM's Land Use & Zoning Practice Receives National Tier 1 Ranking in 2022 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms"
- JMBM's Land Use & Zoning Practice Receives Highest Ranking in 2021 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms"
- California Assembly Bill 1561 supports housing development
- County of San Diego's Latest Effort to Adopt an Adequate Climate Action Plan Fails
- JMBM Land Use Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers for 2023 Los Angeles—JMBM's Land Use Group is pleased to announce that three partners in the practice were recognized by Best Lawyers in America®
- JMBM's Land Use & Zoning Practice Receives National Tier 1 Ranking in 2022 Edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" LOS ANGELES–Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (JMBM) is pleased to announce that the Firm's Land Use & Zoning practice has again
Jewish World Watch - Benjamin Reznik Congratulated by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti