Zacks, Freedman & Chernev, PC

Focus and practice areas

Property owners in San Francisco and the Bay Area are the client base here, and real estate law is the whole of the work. The firm groups its practice into four areas: real estate litigation, landlord and tenant issues, land use permits and appeals, and real estate transactions. Those four cover most of what a property owner runs into over the life of a building.

The firm says it has more than 25 years of experience with residential and commercial transaction work. In my opinion, the tighter a firm's subject matter, the more useful that kind of duration figure becomes. A quarter century inside San Francisco real estate law means a quarter century inside one of the most regulated property markets in the country.

What the four areas usually involve

Landlord and tenant work in San Francisco runs through the city's rent ordinance and the Rent Board that administers it. Petitions over rent increases, capital improvement passthroughs, and wrongful eviction claims are decided there before any court sees them. Owners in these matters deal with hearing officers, written decisions, and appeals to the Board's commissioners.

Land use permits and appeals follow a different track. Applications go to a planning department, then often to a planning commission, and a denial or an approval can be appealed to a board of appeals or a board of supervisors. Neighbor opposition, environmental review, and discretionary review requests all attach at those stages. Transaction work sits apart from both: purchase agreements, due diligence, title questions, and closing documents.

How the team is built

Twelve attorneys appear on the firm's team menu. Andrew M. Zacks is a founder and managing shareholder. He took a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1983 and a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1987, and his practice covers real estate, landlord and tenant, land use and zoning matters across Northern California, along with appellate work.

Scott A. Freedman is a shareholder. He holds a bachelor's degree from Tulane University and a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, and he was previously an associate at Zacks, Utrecht & Leadbetter. His work covers commercial and residential real estate, landlord and tenant disputes, and business matters.

Mark B. Chernev is also a shareholder, with a B.S. from Ithaca College in 1995 and a J.D., cum laude, from Widener University in 1999. His practice focuses on real estate. The three names on the door all carry shareholder status, which tells you where the firm's ownership sits.

The wider bench

Andrew R. Catterall is a senior associate handling real estate and real property matters. He earned a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2002. Gael Bizel-Bizellot is Of Counsel, with an LLM from Golden Gate University School of Law and earlier legal studies at the University of the French Antilles and Guyana and the University of Toulouse. That practice covers real estate and landlord-tenant matters.

Thomas J. O'Brien handles real estate and business litigation. He completed his legal training at Santa Clara University School of Law in 2010. Luke Garvey attended Pepperdine University School of Law. Denise A. Leadbetter took a B.A. from San Francisco State University in 1983 and a J.D. from Santa Clara University in 1987, and her work covers real estate, landlord and tenant law, land use and entitlement, real property finance and development, and commercial law.

Emily L. Brough, Morgan Sellers, Rachel Pyle and Pete Ryan complete the twelve listed on the team page.

Where the attorneys have appeared

The firm says its attorneys have advocated before local administrative agencies, in state and federal court, and before the United States Supreme Court. Those three forums demand different things. Agency hearings turn on the text of a local ordinance and the record built in front of a hearing officer.

Trial court work brings pleadings, discovery, motions and the possibility of a jury. Appellate practice is narrower again: briefs, an existing record, and oral argument on questions of law. Andrew M. Zacks lists appellate law within his own practice.

Supreme Court advocacy is rare for any firm of this size. Cases reach that court by petition for certiorari, and the court grants a small fraction of the petitions filed each term. Property rights disputes have produced a steady line of such cases over the decades, and California rent regulation has generated more than its share.

Offices and reach

Three offices carry the firm's work: the main one on Montgomery Street in San Francisco's financial district, a second in downtown Oakland, and a third in Soquel, near the Santa Cruz coast. The first two cover both sides of the Bay. The Soquel location extends the firm's reach south into Santa Cruz County.

That spread matters in this field because land use law is local. San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz County each write their own zoning code, run their own planning department, and set their own rules on rent and eviction. An attorney who knows one set well does not automatically know the next.

A recent change and what it signals

In 2026 the firm announced a new name and now operates as Zacks, Freedman & Chernev, PC. Earlier attorney profiles reference the firm under previous names, including Zacks & Freedman, P.C. and Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC. Name changes at a professional corporation usually follow a change in shareholders, and Mark B. Chernev's move onto the masthead fits that pattern.

As a reviewer, my read is that the listing does what a directory entry should: it names its lawyers, states its areas, and gives a duration for its experience. The firm has published the schools and graduation years for several of its attorneys, which is more than many California real estate practices put in public view. Four of the twelve listed attorneys carry no published biography on the site.

Prospective clients weighing this firm will find the clearest signal in the overlap between its practice areas and its geography. Real estate litigation, landlord and tenant disputes, land use permits and appeals, and transactions all concentrate in the same three counties where the firm keeps offices. The site states more than 25 years of service to property owners in San Francisco and the Bay Area.