Over 100 years in the making of a law firm

Raymond Best began it all. He purchased the law library of John G. North, the son of the founder of Riverside, and opened his office for the practice of law on the second floor of the Evans Building at the corner of Eighth and Main Streets.

He also founded the Riverside Abstract Company (later Safeco Title) which he sold in 1915 to turn his attention solely to the practice of law. At that time there were 19 attorneys listed in the Riverside City Directory, six in county towns, none in Palm Springs or Indio. Raymond Best and his partner Oliver P. Widaman were called "able and reliable lawyers" and "a firm of prominent attorneys."

Raymond's son, Eugene, worked for the title company, and then attended the University of Southern California and Stanford University, obtaining an engineering degree from Stanford in 1915. He then began to study law and abstract titles. He never attended law school, yet he took the bar examination in 1918, passed, and was admitted to practice. He assisted in his father's practice for several years, and became a partner in 1925, at which time there were 31 practicing lawyers in the Riverside area.

In 1938, John G. Gabbert joined the Bests; in 1941, the firm became Best Best & Gabbert. Gabbert attended Riverside Junior College and Occidental College before attending Duke University and Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley. He graduated from Boalt in the midst of the Depression, and returned to Riverside to practice law. Several years later, James H. Krieger left O'Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles and joined the firm in 1946. Gabbert had known Krieger at South Pasadena High School and urged him to relocate to Riverside. In 1947, the firm became Best Best Gabbert & Krieger.

Two years later, the firm and the town were flourishing. Gene Best was on the State Bar Board of Governors and John Gabbert was President of the Riverside County Bar Association. When a third judgeship was created in the Riverside County Superior Court, Gene Best was mentioned for that position. Although he did not know it, John Gabbert was a candidate as well. One Saturday morning in 1949, Governor Earl Warren called Gabbert at home and offered him the appointment. He accepted. Gabbert's name was deleted from the firm name, and the partnership became known as Best Best & Krieger in 1949. The name has not changed since.

By 1954, space was becoming a problem for the growing firm. After considering the possibility of remodeling the offices in the Evans Building, a decision was made to hire a rising young architect, Clinton Marr, to design a new building on the southeast corner of Twelfth and Orange Streets, later known as 4200 Orange Street. The award-winning building was completed in 1958 and inspired much interest in the architectural community.

In order to provide additional office space, property adjacent to the building at 12th and Orange Streets was acquired in 1962, and arrangements were made to construct a three-story addition. Although several other tenants occupied the new addition when first completed, the firm eventually occupied all three floors of the new building, and again ran out of space. In 1986, Best, Best & Krieger moved to its present location at 3750 University Avenue (formerly Eighth Street), returning to the same corner across Main Street from its original location in the long-disappeared Evans Building.

In later years, the founders of the firm went on to bigger and better things. Judge John Gabbert was elevated by Governor Reagan to the position of Justice of the Appellate Court for the Fourth District Court of Appeals. Jim Krieger continued to build the water practice begun by Gabbert in the 30's, and acquired a statewide reputation for the firm in that specialty. Krieger's career was cut short by his untimely death in a midair commuter airplane accident in 1975. He was on his way to meet the Governor of Wyoming to discuss an extensive project to meet growing Western energy needs.

The firm has continued to grow in numbers and offices. Today, 200 attorneys service clients from eight offices strategically located throughout California. In 2010, 19 highly regarded public and private lawyers joined BB&K from the Sacramento firm of McDonough Holland & Allen, further confirming BB&K's reputation as a state-wide premier law firm.

The lawyers at Best Best & Krieger are proud to trace the firm's current success back to professionalism and community service begun by its founders many years ago. We look forward with confidence to the next hundred years.