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Matthew D. Zinn
Mr. Zinn joined Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in 2001 after clerking for the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr., Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and received an MS in environmental policy from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Mr. Zinn served on the senior editorial board of the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received a BA with honors in politics and sociology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1994.
Since joining the firm, Mr. Zinn has represented clients in litigation and counseling capacities involving climate change, air quality regulation, Fifth Amendment regulatory takings, CEQA, conservation easements, endangered species conservation, water supply planning, and the public trust doctrine. Mr. Zinn’s work has included the following:
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Representing clients before the California Air Resources Board in the Board’s ongoing implementation process for AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006;
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Defending the South Coast Air Quality Management District in litigation at the trial and appellate level challenging the District’s regulation of air emissions from oil refineries (W. States Petroleum Ass’n v. S. Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist., 136 Cal. App. 4th 1012 (2006));
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Defending the City of San Francisco in the United States Supreme Court in an action challenging the City’s affordable housing ordinance (San Remo Hotel v. City & County of San Francisco, 545 U.S. 323 (2005));
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Filing an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the National Council of Churches and other religious groups in Massachusetts v. EPA, No. 05-1120, supporting the petitioners’ challenge to EPA’s refusal to regulate motor vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases;
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Challenging, on behalf of the East Bay Regional Park District, the City of Richmond’s approval of the sale of City property along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay for development of a casino;
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Defending the City of Walnut in multiple lawsuits at the trial and appellate levels challenging the City’s decisions to protect habitat for the threatened California gnatcatcher;
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Defending several of the firm’s municipal clients in litigation challenging various land use decisions; and
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Assisting the City of Patterson in preparing one of the state’s first water supply verifications pursuant to new water supply planning legislation (SB 221) enacted in 2001.
From January to June of 2006, Mr. Zinn served as the first Environmental Law Fellow at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Zinn conducted research on public policy responses to global climate change and worked with Boalt’s California Center for Environmental Law and Policy on a project to create a digital database of environmental impact assessment documents.
Mr. Zinn’s prior experience includes work as an assistant to the Associate Director for Natural Resources of the White House Office on Environmental Policy. While in law school he worked for the National Audubon Society’s litigation program; the Policy, Legislation, and Special Litigation Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice; and the law firm of Arnold and Porter.
Mr. Zinn has published several articles on environmental, land use, and administrative law topics, including the following: Adapting to Climate Change: Environmental Law in a Warmer World, 34 Ecol. L.Q. 61 (2007); California's New Water-Supply Planning Statutes: Selected Problems of Application, 2002 Cal. Envtl. L. Rep. 123; Policing Environmental Regulatory Enforcement: Cooperation, Capture, and Citizen Suits, 21 Stan. Envtl. L.J. 81 (2002); and Note, Ultra Vires Takings, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 245 (1998). He is also frequently asked to speak or moderate panels at conferences on environmental and law use law topics.
Mr. Zinn is a member of the State Bar of California and admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of California.
portraits by Liza Heider