Manuel Fishman, who serves as the Chair of the firm’s northern California Real estate practice group focuses his practice on representing real estate developers and owners in the acquisition, sale, and financing of commercial properties. In addition, he has an active leasing practice representing owners of several major office buildings in San Francisco, including the Transamerica Pyramid, as well as tenants in lease and sublease transactions. His expertise includes letters of intent, tenant improvement work agreements, security deposits/letters of credit, signage rights, expansion and contraction rights, permitted transfers, operating expense audits, and lender and master landlord recognition agreements. Mr. Fishman maintains close relationships with the real estate brokerage community and utilizes these relationships to provide clients with market based information important to their existing and prospective real estate requirements. Mr. Fishman also has extensive experience in the area of ground leasing and retail leasing and is recognized as a leading attorney in the area of landline and wireless communications and Internet-based services in commercial properties and rooftop installations.

In addition, Mr. Fishman acts as outside general counsel to start-ups that seek to leverage some part of commercial real estate into a tech application, and helps guide these companies in their efficient use of legal time and expertise in various subject matters, from employment and IP to enterprise contracts and web site privacy policies.

Mr. Fishman also represents clients in equity structuring for, and the acquisition of, value add properties, including the formation of single purpose entities and joint ventures, and acquisition financing. Mr. Fishman has negotiated numerous construction management, project development and property management agreements relative to ground up development projects, as well as all types of easements and other adjoining owner agreements.

Most recently, Mr. Fishman has been recognized as a 2025 Best Lawyer in America in Real Estate Law, an honor he has received since 2007, and was recognized as a 2014 Top Rated Lawyer by American Lawyer Media in conjunction with Martindale Hubbell. He has also been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer since 2012 and as one of Bay Area Magazine’s Top Lawyers in the Bay Area. Additionally, he was the recipient of the 2019 Associate Member of the Year award from BOMA San Francisco.

Mr. Fishman is a frequent lecturer on office and shopping center leasing matters and writes frequently for industry newsletters.

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• Santa Clara University School of Law
• State University of New York at Purchase

• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Provides New Evidentiary Presumption in Continued Push to Provide Rent Relief to Limited Commercial Tenants

  By Manuel Fishman |August 2021

• Buchalter COVID-19 Alert: California is Reopening, Will Commercial Evictions Remain on Hold?

  By Manuel Fishman |May 2021

• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Regional Stay-at-Home Orders Lifted as California Returns to Tiered COVID System; Companies and Landlords Consider Ramifications of Mandatory Vaccine Programs

  By Manuel Fishman |February 2021

• New California Law Impacts Leases to Certain Smaller Sized Tenants Including Translation Requirements and Limitations on Pass Through of Operating Expenses
• UPDATE: Advice to Landlords Holding Letters of Credit Issued by Silicon Valley Bank, and Landlords Where Silicon Valley Bank is a Tenant
• Advice to Landlords Holding Letters of Credit Issued by Silicon Valley Bank, and Landlords Where Silicon Valley Bank is a Tenant
• Update on San Francisco’s Treatment of Vacant Properties
• A Coda to the Covid Pandemic: Do Local and State Closure Laws Provide Cover for Tenant Nonpayment of Rent?
• San Francisco’s Commercial Vacancy Tax
• LC Use in Commercial Real Estate Lease Transactions
• Keeping an Eye on San Francisco’s Plans to Decarbonize Existing Commercial Buildings
• Do Tenant Exclusives Work in Today’s ‘On Demand’ Retail Environment?
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Provides New Evidentiary Presumption in Continued Push to Provide Rent Relief to Limited Commercial Tenants
• Buchalter COVID-19 Alert: California is Reopening, Will Commercial Evictions Remain on Hold?
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Regional Stay-at-Home Orders Lifted as California Returns to Tiered COVID System; Companies and Landlords Consider Ramifications of Mandatory Vaccine Programs
• Predicting the Market for Office Space
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Congress Incentivizes Rent Deferral During COVID-19 Pandemic Through Bankruptcy Code Amendments in Stimulus Bill
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Commercial Eviction Moratorium Update
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Extends Commercial Eviction Moratorium and Provides Repayment Relief for Qualified Small Businesses
• 2020 Election Results Confirm California’s Cautious Approach to Sweeping Ballot Provisions, While the Bay Area Remains Progressive and Ready to Tax
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Moves to Lowest COVID Tier in California, Begins Process of Reopening Non-Essential Offices; Other Bay Area Counties Slower to Follow
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Guidance in Implementing San Francisco Department of Public Health COVID-19 Health Screening Forms
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: The Future of California Evictions in the COVID Era: California Judicial Council Votes to End Statewide Eviction Moratorium
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Excusing Contractual Performance in Real Estate Agreements in the Age of COVID
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: UPDATE: San Francisco’s Emergency Ordinance on Cleaning Commercial Office Buildings and Hotels Signed by Mayor and Became Effective July 17, 2020
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Bay Area Businesses Face Uncertainty Over Conflicts Between State and Local Reopening Guidelines
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Supervisors Pass COVID-19 Emergency Ordinance on Cleaning Hotels and Commercial Office Buildings
• San Francisco Cannot Impose a Transfer Tax on the Value of an Existing Lease With a Remaining Term of Over 35 Years When the Building is Sold
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Continues “Shelter in Place” Order with Limited Expansion of Essential Business Operations
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: San Francisco Announces Plan for Phased Reopening
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Extension of San Francisco Commercial Tenant Eviction Moratorium and Impact of Proposed California Senate Bill 939
• Buchalter Client Alert COVID-19: Planning for Re-Opening: What Owners, Property Managers and Users of Office and Retail Properties Should Consider
• Stress Testing Your Rent Roll
• Expert Insight: How Retailers Should Communicate with Landlords Amid COVID-19
• Buchalter Client Alert COVID-19: California and Selected State, City, and County Moratoria List
• Impact of San Francisco’s Commercial Tenant Eviction Moratorium
• Buchalter Client Alert: Impact of COVID-19 on Real Estate Transactions
• The Impact the New Prop 65 Warning Regulations on Multi-Family Apartments and Other Prop 65 Updates
• San Francisco Needs to Overhaul Its Policy on Business Taxes
• The Impact the New Prop 65 Warning Regulations on Commercial Property Owners
• Proposed San Francisco Assessment District May Affect Buildings You Own or Manage in the Historic “North of Market” Financial District
• First in Nation: California Energy Commission Adopts Standards Requiring Solar Systems for New Homes
• The Changing Face of CRE Investment
• Ensure Your Investments Are Insured
• Keep Your Exposure to Real Estate Low: Sublease
• Litigation Gone Sour: A Failed Landlord Lawsuit
• Insurance: Why It Is Good For Your Company’s Health
• How Real Estate Intersects with the On-Demand Economy
• Service, Vendor and Enterprise Agreements
• Shopping Centers and Free Speech
• Real Estate: An Introduction to Leasing For Start-Ups
• Water and Energy – A New Cost Model
• Are Your Contracts Set Up for Electronic Signatures?
• Title 24: What the Future of Energy Efficiency Regulations Means for Commercial Landlords and Tenants
• As 2014 Comes to a Close, Start Planning for 2016
• Estoppel Certificates: Achieving Certainty
• Office Leasing and Airline Reservations
• Prepare for Q4 in the Summer
• Is It a Bubble Yet? Reflections on the Current State of CRE
• WARNING: Estimates in Letters of Intent Can Come Back to Bite
• Beware of Estimates in Letters of Intent
• Estimates in Letters of Intent Can Come Back to Bite
• Rainmaker Q&A: Buchalter’s Manny Fishman
• Legal Update: How to Incorporate the New Disability Access Disclosure Requirements in Commercial Leases and What to Consider in Determining Whether to Perform a CASp Inspection
• The World is Going Mobile – What About Your Building?
• The World is Going Mobile – What About Your Building?