Remembering Howard Coleman

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Howard Coleman, our friend and colleague, who was a partner at Nossaman for many years.

After attending Berkeley as an undergraduate and for law school, Howard joined Nossaman in 1971 and made many enduring contributions to the Firm during his long tenure here. He was the first leader of Nossaman’s Real Estate Group, and for many years he served as the Firm’s assistant managing partner. He represented public and private project owners, developers, investors and institutional lenders with respect to all types of real estate transactions, and his practice focused on issues relating to complex real estate legal and title issues, oil and gas and tideland and coastal matters.

Howard was also quite active in the community, serving as president of the Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners, a member of the Mayor's Special Task Force on Transportation, an adjunct professor on coastal zone law at the University of Southern California School of Law and chair of the Legal Committee of Chapter 1 of the International Right of Way Association. He retired from the Firm in January 2020.

“We remember Howard as a person of great intellect, kindness, wit and curiosity and as a very genuine individual,” said George Joseph, managing partner of Nossaman. “We will miss him tremendously.”

Karla MacCary, co-chair of the Firm’s Real Estate Group, added, “Howard was a one-of-a-kind attorney, and the impact he had on shaping the Firm’s real estate practice cannot be overstated. Perhaps his most enduring contribution is his mentoring of associates into partners and successful in-house attorneys. It is a sad day at Nossaman.”