Tamara S. Galanter
Ms. Galanter joined Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger LLP in 1989 and is a partner with the firm. She counsels and litigates on behalf of public entities, non-profits, community groups and environmental organizations concerning environmental and land use matters, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), general plan law, public agency administration, conservation easements, the Williamson Act, real estate transactions, and historic preservation.
Ms. Galanter represents the East Bay Regional Park District in legal actions and negotiations to protect habitat in existing and future parklands. She also advises the City of Pacifica on a variety of land use issues and provides legal services to several land trusts, including the Tri-Valley Conservancy, the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the Sierra County Land Trust. She is general counsel to the Alameda County Waste Management Authority, advising the agency on solid waste and recycling issues.
Ms. Galanter litigates on behalf of a broad range of private and public entities. As lead counsel in the CEQA case Save Round Valley Alliance v. County of Inyo (2007) 157 Cal. App. 4th 1437, Ms. Galanter successfully challenged the approval of a subdivision at the base of Mt. Whitney. On behalf of the Marin Audubon Society, she negotiated a settlement to a CEQA case that ultimately resulted in the purchase and preservation of 630 acres of oak forest and marshland in northeastern Marin County. Ms. Galanter was lead counsel on behalf of the City of Pleasanton in Merritt v. City of Pleasanton, 89 Cal.App.4th 1032 (2001), successfully defending the right to reject development on property prezoned for residential development.
Ms. Galanter is a contributor to Matthew Bender’s California Environmental Law Reporter regarding developments in land use and environmental law. She speaks on environmental and land use law for continuing education of the Bar conferences and at workshops for community activists, including two Planning and Conservation League conferences, the University Extension Advanced CEQA Seminar and the State Bar Environmental Law Section Roundtable Conference.
Ms. Galanter received her law degree from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a member of the Bars of the State of California and several federal courts.