Firm History
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 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.
|||||
Return To Top
