CURTIS F. DOWLING

Professional Profile

Partner, Beckman, Marquez & Dowling, LLP, 2005 to the present

Litigation Associate, Zacks, Utrecht & Leadbetter, P.C.

(formerly Law Offices of Andrew M. Zacks), 2002-2005

Litigation Associate, Dillingham & Murphy, LLP, 1999-2002

Associate Attorney, Wiegel & Fried, LLP, 1997-1999

Education

J.D., 1996, University of California, Hastings College of the Law

Member & Associate Editor, Hastings Law Journal, 1994-1996

Member, Public Law Research Institute (U.C., Hastings), 1996

B.A., magna cum laude, 1992, University of Pennsylvania

Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, San Francisco, California, 1988, with honors

Admissions and Memberships

Admitted to practice law in the State of California, and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Court, Northern District of California

Member of the San Francisco Apartment Association, Professional Property Managers Association, and the Real Estate Section of the State Bar of California

Legal Experience

Curtis Dowling has substantial litigation experience in a wide variety of real estate cases. He has litigated hundreds of residential and commercial evictions, and rent control exemption cases, in San Francisco County and the greater Bay Area. In addition to his extensive experience in landlord-tenant litigation, he has significant experience representing property owners and managers in contract claims, boundary disputes, quiet title and partition actions, lease breach cases, complex construction defect litigation, tenant habitability cases (including class actions), code enforcement actions, and mechanic's liens claims, amongst others.

In addition, Mr. Dowling successfully litigated two constitutional lawsuits against the City and County of San Francisco, on behalf of property owners, which resulted in the facial invalidation of two San Francisco ordinances, which restricted the rights of property owners. In one case, O'Hara v. City and County of San Francisco, Mr. Dowling facially invalidated San Francisco's very first moratorium on owner move-in evictions against certain classes of protected tenants (the precursor to Prop G), in 1998. In the other, John Hickey Brokerage Company v. City and County of San Francisco, Mr. Dowling invalidated San Francisco Planning Code § 209.10 in 1999, a statute which attempted to frustrate, impede, and hinder the withdrawal of rental units under the Ellis Act for owner-occupancy, by attempting to require owners to obtain conditional use permits to owner-occupy their own residential properties when such occupancy was already a principally-permitted use.

Mr. Dowling has represented clients in jury and bench trials in state and federal court, and in administrative hearings before administrative agencies (for example, the San Francisco and Oakland Rent Boards). In addition to representing residential landlords and commercial landlords and tenants in many forms of real estate litigation, he has also litigated personal injury, civil rights, securities law, employment law, and business law claims in state and federal court as well.

Mr. Dowling also primarily handles Beckman, Marquez & Dowling's appellate practice, having started his legal career as an appellate and constitutional lawyer. He briefs and argues many kinds of appeals in both the state and federal courts of appeal. In a more recent appeal, Mr. Dowling secured the reversal of a nearly $700,000.00 judgment against his client (a commercial tenant) for damages arising from a broken lease, and an order directing the trial court to instead enter judgment in favor of his client based on claim preclusion, i.e., res judicata (the landlord had secured a prior judgment in small claims court for $5,000.00 for "unpaid rent" after terminating the tenancy for non-payment of rent).

Mr. Dowling also assists clients in real estate transactional matters and disputes, as well as the formation of TIC's.

For many years now, Mr. Dowling has been a regular MCLE (mandatory continuing legal education) lecturer in San Francisco and Oakland, teaching lawyers, property managers, and other real estate professionals various aspects of commercial and residential landlord-tenant litigation and practice, especially rent and eviction control systems. He has also been a contributor to the San Francisco Apartment Association Magazine many times, and regularly teaches courses for the San Francisco Apartment Association.

Published Appellate Decisions

Securities & Exchange Commission v. Hickey, 324 F.3^d 1123 (9^th Cir. 2003)

1100 Park Lane Associates v. Feldman, 160 Cal.App.4^th 1467 (2008)

Continuing Education and Other Courses Taught

"Landlord and Tenant Law" - April 29, 2008 - Lorman Education Services - San Francisco, California

"Landlord-Tenant Law in California" - February 22, 2007 - Sterling Educational Services - San Francisco, California

"Landlord and Tenant Law in California" - August 23, 2005 - Lorman Education Services - San Francisco, California

"Residential Landlord-Tenant Law in California" - December 15, 2004 - Sterling Education Services - San Francisco, California

"Commercial Landlord and Tenant Law in California" - June 24, 2004 - Lorman Education Services - San Francisco, California

"Commercial and Residential Evictions and How to Collect Overdue Rent" - April 29, 2004 - Sterling Education Services

"Commercial and Residential Evictions, and Collecting Overdue Rent" - January 29, 2004 - Sterling Education Services - Oakland, California

"Commercial and Residential Evictions in California: How to Do Them Right under the New Rent Control Law: Measure EE" - March 6, 2003 - Sterling Education Services - Oakland, California

"Commercial and Residential Evictions in California: How to Do Them Right" - October 3, 2002 - Sterling Education Services - San Francisco, California

OTHER COURSES:

"Landlord 101 - Property Management for Those Who Own Their Own Property" - March 1, 2007, March 20, 2008, June 5, 2008 - (Part I) - San Francisco Apartment Association (San Francisco, California)

"Landlord 101 - Property Management for Those Who Own Their Own Property" - March 8, 2007, March 27, 2008, June 12, 2008 - (Part II) - San Francisco Apartment Association (San Francisco, California)