Penny Pittman Cobey

Counsel - Los Angeles
pcobey@mckennalong.com
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300 South Grand Avenue, 14th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-3124
TEL: 213.243.6185
FAX: 213.243.6330
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Experience

Penny Cobey concentrates her practice on real estate development, infrastructure and public-private partnerships. From 2002-2004 she served the Los Angeles Unified School District as senior construction counsel to the largest public building project in the United States, charged with delivering approximately 165,000 two-semester classroom seats at an estimated cost of $12.6 billion. Her responsibilities included developing a value-based procurement process as an alternative to the District’s historic reliance on fixed-price bidding and serving as legal counsel to District source selection committees charged with development of new schools through partnership with the private sector. 

Ms. Cobey is a leader in the firm's global infrastructure practice group. She has authored testimony on the monetization of public assets for the New York State Asset Maximization Commission and the transportation committees of the State of Colorado legislature. She has also written and spoken widely on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its potential for the financing and construction of infrastructure projects. She has experience in project development and structuring, procurement, bid protests, complex design and construction contracts, insurance and land use. She speaks frequently on development issues and is a former Governing Committee member of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry.

Ms. Cobey holds a Ph.D. and a J.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.

Representative Matters

Education

Admitted

Publications:

Seminars and Presentations:

  • Ms. Cobey has lectured on design and construction issues to ABA Forum on the Construction Industry audiences across the United States, as well as to the American Institute of Architects, annual Build Boston expositions, public agencies, ALI-ABA programs and Yale University architectural students. Recent speaking includes:
  • “Fundamentals of Construction Law:  Learn the Basics from the Pros,” ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, San Diego, 2009
  • “Stimulus Package Creates Opportunities...But Beware of Strings Attached:  Reporting and Compliance Obligations under ARRA,” California Redevelopment Association, Sacramento, 2009
  • “Compliance Requirements Under the Recovery Act,” San Diego Chamber of Commerce, San Diego, 2009
  • “Latest Developments in Infrastructure Financing,” The California Infrastructure Summit, Anaheim, 2008
  • “State and Local Agency Procurement,” Thomson Reuters Program on Public Private Partnerships, Washington, DC, 2008 

Professional Activities:

  • American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association
  • Boston Bar Association Committee on Construction Law, Founder and first chair