Susannah T. French
Susannah T. French joined Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP in 1993. She received her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, and her undergraduate degree from Harvard College.
Ms. French has represented both public entities and public interest clients throughout California, specializing in takings, CEQA/NEPA, and planning issues. Her litigation experience includes Big Creek Lumber Co. v. County of Santa Cruz, 38 Cal. 4th 1139 (2006) (upholding county timber harvesting regulations), Tahoe-Sierra Pres. Council, Inc .v. Tahoe Reg'l Planning Agency, 322 F.3d 1064 (9th Cir. 2003) (holding plaintiffs’ claims against the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency barred by res judicata), Toigo v. Town of Ross, 70 Cal.App.4th 309 (1998) (upholding town’s denial of development application against takings and equal protection challenges), and City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v. United Stated Department of Transportation, 123 F.3d 1142 (1997) (holding Department of Transportation had not adequately analyzed cumulative impacts for proposed freeway bypass through Hatton Canyon). Ms. French also helped draft amicus briefs on behalf of the cities in the takings cases Milagra Ridge Partners, Ltd. v. City of Pacifica, 62 Cal.App.4th 108 (1998) and Hensler v. City of Glendale, 8 Cal.4th 1 (1994).
Ms. French was a contributor to “Takings and Other Constitutional Controls,” in California Environmental Law and Land Use Practice, Ch. 65 (Kenneth A. Manaster & Daniel P. Selmi eds., 2009), and co-author of Fran M. Layton & Susannah T. French, Dolan v. City of Tigard: The Supreme Court's Rough Proportionality Standard Is Still Rough Around the Edges, 1994 Cal. Env. L. Rptr. 243. She is a member of the Bars of the State of California, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Ms. French currently works part-time at the firm and is the author of the recently released children’s novel Operation Redwood (Amulet Books, 2009), under the name S. Terrell French.