Jack H. Rubens is a Los Angeles land use and real estate lawyer with more than 40 years of experience. His practice integrates project entitlement and permitting, land use litigation and real estate transactional work— a combination that has made him a go-to lawyer for large, complex and multi-phased development projects and the disputes that arise from them.
Jack helps developers secure the full range of government approvals required for residential, mixed-use, commercial, coastal, religious and industrial projects throughout Southern California. His expertise includes supervising the CEQA process for development entitlements and, increasingly, to identify the most defensible means to exempt projects from CEQA review or streamline the process.
Land use litigation is another core part of Jack's practice. He defends lawsuits for developers, property owners and local governments, spanning bread-and-butter CEQA issues, constitutional claims, Subdivision Map Act disputes, historic resource issues, general plan and zoning consistency and easement rights. He also brings affirmative claims against public agencies when unlawful actions delay or prevent development, including recent successes in takings litigation.
Jack also represents developers in complex disputes that bridge land use and real estate issues, working with trial litigation partners in high-stakes development conflicts.
Real estate transactional work forms a third pillar of Jack’s practice, including purchase and sale documents and the full suite of development-related documents, including development, easement and parking agreements, as well as specific plans and other master plan documents.
Historic resource issues are a significant component of Jack’s work, particularly for redevelopment projects where existing structures must be evaluated, preserved or adaptively used, and he is widely recognized for his experience handling these matters.
Jack is a registered lobbyist with the City of Los Angeles.
