Top best R Lawyers in ZIP 94618 | 34 available

Welcome to my Avvo page. I'm a solo attorney in private practice. My primary areas of practices are land use and environmental law (especially the California Environmental Quality Act) and elections law, focusing on ballot measure. My primary focus is litigation, although I also represent clients in administrative processes. I primarily represent environmental and community groups. You may send me an e-mail to check whether your legal needs match what I can provide.. As you can tell from my biographical information, I didn't start off intending to be an attorney.  I went through college, graduate school and a post-doc intending to do genetics, and spent ten years doing so, first in academia and then as an industrial biotech researcher.  After being laid off and facing relocation to the midwest, I decided to switch careers instead.. I had gotten involved in local politics and served a short term on the Emeryville City Council.  That got me interested in government, and specifically environmental and land use regulations.  It was a short step from there into law school, and thence into my current practice.. My practice is oriented primarily towards representing environmental and community groups as plaintiffs in environmental and land use disputes.. I got into law intending to do environmental law only.  However, land use law is so connected with environmental law, especially in urban areas, that one can hardly do one without the other.  My electoral law work arose from helping environmental groups first draft, and then qualify ballot measures.. I have also done a few cases involving illegal or improper expenditure of public funds (Code of Civil Procedure Sect. 526a).  Such cases are not easy. They involve a lot of discovery and a full-blown bench trial, compared to most of my cases, which are petitions for a writ of mandate.  The latter usually don't involve much if any discovery and are briefed and then heard, usually with at most two or three hours of oral argument.

I have a gold-star background in commercial contracts, software, intellectual property, real estate and corporate matters. I work on all manner of contracts and contract disputes (short of litigation) and in any given year, I sometimes handle 200-300 contracts in a broad array of areas, domestic and international, with large and small dollar amounts.  In my free time, I enjoy salsa dancing, skiing, chess, and playing with my son and daughter. I also enjoy writing and was honored to have my short story included as the closing chapter in the book "Becoming An Ironman". In additional to providing substantial financial support for charitable causes, I am very involved in my local community. Here is a story that featured some of my work on National Public Radio in 2015.