SMW Celebrates New Partners Caitlin Brown, Vaneeta Chintamaneni, and Aaron Stanton
June 3, 2026Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger is proud to announce that we welcomed three new partners earlier this year: Caitlin Brown, Vaneeta Chintamaneni, and Aaron Stanton. All three attorneys were associates at the firm before joining the partnership.
“Caitlin, Vaneeta, and Aaron have all done fantastic work at Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger, making significant contributions to the firm in the areas of land trusts, air and water quality, litigation, and other matters,” said Catherine Engberg, SMW’s Managing Partner. “We are thrilled to add them to our partnership.”
Caitlin Brown advises land trusts and public agencies on complex real property transactions and land use matters. She represents multiple land trusts, advising on fee acquisitions and conservation easement transactions, as well as ongoing stewardship and organizational matters, and counsels public agency clients on affordable housing regulatory compliance and public trust matters.
Ms. Brown earned her degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2017 and joined the firm that same year.
Vaneeta Chintamaneni provides strategic guidance to public agencies and nonprofits dealing with water and natural resource issues, counsels land trusts, advising on mitigation transactions and fee acquisitions, and assists public agencies with litigation and property issues. Prior to joining the firm, she was a senior enforcement attorney at the State Water Resources Control Board, where she represented Regional Water Quality Control Boards across the state to enforce water quality regulations.
Ms. Chintamaneni earned her degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and holds a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois. She joined the firm in 2023.
Aaron Stanton represents public agencies in litigation and appeals involving land use, energy, environmental, and constitutional claims, including regulatory takings and First Amendment matters. He has also represented environmental non-profits, land trusts, and community groups in renewable energy, CEQA, and conservation matters.
Mr. Stanton graduated from Stanford Law School in 2016 and clerked for the Honorable Howard R. Lloyd of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Prior to law school, Mr. Stanton served as Senior Plan Manager at the New York City Office of Emergency Management and as a Planning Section Chief in the city’s Emergency Operations Center during the response to Hurricane Sandy. He joined the firm in 2017.