Best Lawyers in California, United States for Land Use and Zoning Law
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Jennifer L. Hernandez co-chairs Holland & Knight’s National Environmental Team and leads the West Coast Land Use and Environment Practice Group. She divides her time between the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, and works on projects in Northern and Southern California, as well as the Central Valley. She has achieved national prominence in her work on brownfields redevelopment, wetlands and endangered species, and master planned community projects. She represents private, nonpr...
Experience doesn't make us smarter, but it does steer us to solutions where the less-experienced might only see problems. Experienced land use counsel is particularly critical in California, for it is here that creative "been down this path before" thinking is needed to meet the challenges of an often-daunting convergence of federal, state, and local land use regulation. For more than four decades, Tim's insight has been shaped by work on some of California's most complex entitlement projects...
Anne E. Mudge is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Environmental Law, Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation - Land Use and Zoning, Natural Resources Law and Real Estate Law. Anne E., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2011. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Anne E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
George Soneff is a partner in the Los Angeles office. He has over 30 years' experience in complex litigation in state and federal courts, and administrative tribunals. He has an extensive background handling real property litigation, including real estate development and valuation, land use restrictions and governmental regulation of property rights, eminent domain/inverse condemnation, ownership disputes, construction-related claims, water rights, and insurance. His clients have included maj...
Sean Matsler is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Land Use and Zoning Law. Sean, who practices law in Irvine, California, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Sean is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Victor De la Cruz leads Manatt’s land use practice. He counsels developers, institutions, individuals, for-profit corporations and nonprofit organizations on matters at the nexus of law and government, including real estate development and land use entitlements, bid protests, and government contracts. In 2016, the Daily Journal named him one of the top 40 attorneys under the age of 40 in California, and in 2018, in recognition of his work in the area of land use, he received the Califor...
David has over twenty-five years of land use and environmental law experience. His practice focuses on CEQA, climate change, development agreements, discretionary permits and entitlements, infrastructure agreements, public-private partnerships, subdivisions, zoning, environmental regulatory compliance, CERCLA, RCRA, and Proposition 65. David regularly appears before planning commissions, city councils, and other federal, state, and local government agencies on land use and regulatory matters....
Barbara Schussman, a partner in the firm's Environment, Energy & Resources practice, focuses on securing federal, state and local agency approvals needed to develop a wide range of private and public projects, including industrial scale solar facilities, university campuses, hospitals, research and development facilities, water supply and storage projects, oil refineries, maritime port and airport expansions, and numerous industrial, commercial, housing and mixed use developments. Barbara...
Cecily Barclay focuses her practice on land use and entitlements, real estate acquisition and development and local government law. She regularly assists landowners, developers and public agencies throughout Northern California in all aspects of acquisition, entitlement and development of land, including land use application processing, drafting and negotiating purchase and sale agreements, negotiating and securing the approval of development agreements, general plan amendments, specific plan...
Tamsen Plume is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Public Policy & Regulation Group. Her practice concentrates on land use and environmental law. She represents project proponents in land use and environmental permitting, compliance, and due diligence matters for complex land use, development and redevelopment projects. Ms. Plume’s practice includes: Local land use entitlements, including development agreements, general plan amendments, zoning amendments, variances, design re...
Marie A. Cooper is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Land Use and Zoning Law. Marie A., who practices law in San Francisco, California, has been recognized since 2017. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Marie A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Alicia Guerra has developed a multi-disciplinary practice focused on local, state, and federal land use entitlement and permitting and environmental review for a broad sector of private industry, developers, and public agencies. Ms. Guerra’s practice often involves complex and controversial projects at all levels of the administrative process including due diligence, land use entitlements, development agreements, disposition and development agreements, permitting advice, and counsel for...
Matthew Gray focuses his practice on land use entitlement processing and litigation. He represents a range of local agencies, real estate developers and landowners in all stages of the land use entitlement and development process. He assists clients in negotiating and securing approval of development agreements, general plan amendments, specific plans, zoning, subdivision approvals, and annexation of property into cities and special districts; regularly appears before planning commissions and...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.