It was a cold night up in L.A.'s Santa Monica Mountains earlier this year when three real estate attorneys huddled to make a decision about a major career move.
But over dinner at the Old Place, a remote country store-turned-restaurant set against rolling hills, Elisa Paster, Dave Rand and Todd Nelson warmed up to the idea of starting their own practice. The trio of attorneys are well-known names in the land-use world of Los Angeles, where a housing crisis is worsening for residents who can't find affordable properties and for developers and investors who are grappling with complex property restrictions and regulations.
The three struck an agreement to launch a firm together while listening to live bluegrass and dining on steak and potatoes.
"It was a rustic place to launch an urban infill, Los Angeles-focused law firm," Rand said.
Rand Paster & Nelson LLP opened its doors on April 25. The three attorneys had known each other for years, with Rand and Paster having mutual clients and friends, and they say they jelled over having a firm that's focused on solving land-use issues contributing to L.A.'s worsening housing crisis.
In 2020, roughly 205 homeless people in Los Angeles County found housing each day, while 225 people fell into homelessness, according to Heidi Marston, the former executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Another measure of the housing shortage: L.A. County needs to add more than 800,000 housing units by October 2029 to meet the goals of the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment that requires cities and counties to plan for population growth.
Paster, Rand and Nelson readily acknowledge the region's housing problems are wide-ranging and entrenched, and that frustration can be involved. But the three find fulfillment in focusing their practice on housing, Paster said: "It's not just business, it's something we really believe in. We need more housing, because people are really suffering."
The partners said their firm represents governments, developers and property owners in land-use matters and entitlements for real estate projects, and advises clients on development and permitting. Clients, many of whom came from the attorneys' prior firms, include those planning to build housing, including multifamily and affordable units. The attorneys also help developers and cities plan and develop more housing, which helps tackle the housing shortage.
The three have a variety of experiences, but found they share an interest in creating more housing opportunities.
Paster, a former member of the Santa Monica Planning Commission, is a former partner of Los Angeles-based law firm Glaser Weil. Her most memorable case involved one of the largest mixed-use projects in Culver City history. At first, the project had little community support but, after years of outreach and project revisions, it received nearly unanimous support from neighbors and, ultimately, resulted in hundreds of housing units.
Rand, an L.A. native, is a former partner of Los Angeles-based law firm Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac. He got into housing law after his senior year in college when there were no places for students to live because the city council wouldn't approve any housing projects. After a failed stint running for Davis City Council on a pro-density platform, he said he has been battling NIMBY-ism ever since.
Nelson, also a former partner at Armbruster Goldsmith, worked for affordable housing organizations on the East Coast and in the Pacific Northwest and was a planner before getting into law. His most memorable projects recently included working with jurisdictions to help them understand and employ current state housing and environmental laws.