Jonathan V. Holtzman

Holtzman is a founding partner of the firm and a longtime colleague of name partner Louise H. Renne. Holtzman was San Francisco’s chief labor and employment negotiator when Renne was San Francisco’s city attorney. And Holtzman is an author of the Rutter Group’s California Practice Guide on public sector employment litigation.

His specialty is in crafting project labor agreements, negotiations, fact finding, mediation, grievance and interest arbitration and litigation related to bargaining obligations and constitutional law.

In the wake of the George Floyd murder and its national fallout, Holtzman has spent considerable time working with municipal clients on law enforcement issues.

“My police reform business is a current focus,” he said.

Holtzman served as special counsel for the Fresno Commission on Police Reform in 2020, helping produce a 292-page report with recommendations for policy changes. “There was a series of incidents and major protests down there,” he said of the San Joaquin Valley economic hub.

In April 2021 Fresno reached a $4.9 million settlement with the family of an unarmed teen, Isiah Murrietta-Golding, whom a police officer shot in the back of the head in 2017. Also in April Fresno agreed to pay the family of Casimero “Shane” Casillas $4.4 million after he too was killed by police. In March a judge’s order forced Fresno police to release body camera footage from a 2017 homicide in which an officer sits on a backboard on top of victim Joseph Perez as he says “I can’t breathe” before he dies.

“I was counsel to a 40-member commission,” Holtzman said. “A lot of the skills you learn as a labor lawyer are useful in addressing police reform issues. So much of what I do involves structural reform.” He said the city wanted a community-based group to deal with subcategories of concern such as oversight structures, changes in use of force rules and policies to deal with mental health issues and homelessness.

“They’ve now created an implementation task force, and I’m the lawyer for that group as they work on the first 24 of the 73 recommendations the commission made.”

Holtzman also helped craft and negotiate Measure II in Berkeley, which voters passed by 84.5 percent in November 2020 to create a police accountability board.

He is currently in negotiations for a project labor agreement for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Last year he performed a similar assignment for State Center Community College District in Fresno.

He’s juggling a host of other tasks. “This is labor bargaining season,” Holtzman said in late May. “I’m at 18 bargaining tables—all remotely.”

Meanwhile, Holtzman presents to municipal officials a seminar on “The Economic Effects of Covid-19,” discussing how governments can manage uncertainty regarding pensions and concession bargaining.

“I’m where I want to be, putting together what I’ve learned over the decades and working on public interest issues with important policy components,” he said.

— John Roemer