William Kraemer Coblentz [KAHB-lenz] (July 28, 1922 – September 13, 2010) was an American attorney and behind-the-scenes power broker who played an important role in California politics in the years after World War II, serving as a Regent of the University of California and legal representative for the rock bands Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, as well as for socialite, kidnapping victim and convicted bank robber Patty Hearst.
Coblentz defended the university's faculty, including such radicals as Eldridge Cleaver and Angela Davis, calling Reagan "a menopausal Cary Grant".
Despite the mixed ruling, Coblentz insisted that the support for the case by the regents helped send a message that the University of California cared about providing educational opportunities for minority students.
After efforts were made to block performances by the Grateful Dead at Fillmore West citing concerns that the auditorium posed a blight on a fine neighborhood, Coblentz arranged for a friend to observe a hotel across the street from the Fillmore used for prostitution and had photographs taken of police officers which were passed on to the Board of Permit Appeals, which decided in the end to approve the project.
[1] As an attorney, Coblentz was a land use lawyer who assisted in getting the necessary approvals for a new baseball stadium for the San Francisco Giants, as well as for Mission Bay and Yerba Buena Gardens.