Coyote Valley Saved!
The firm works with the Peninsula Open Space Trust, the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, and the City of San Jose to preserve 937 acres in Coyote Valley for wildlife and open space in 2019. SMW partners Bill White, Tamara Galanter, and Sara Clark receive the 2020 California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year (CLAY) […]
Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger Announces New Partners Sara Clark and Sarah Sigman
San Francisco – Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP is proud to announce the addition of two new partners, Sara A. Clark and Sarah H. Sigman. Both attorneys were associates of the firm before joining the partnership. “We are excited to have Sara Clark and Sarah Sigman join our team of partners,” said Richard S. Taylor, […]
Protecting Ag Land from Development
The firm successfully represented the Cleveland National Forest Foundation in challenging San Diego County’s approval of a residential subdivision on ranchland protected under the Williamson Act. The Court of Appeal held that such projects are permissible only where homes would support the land’s agricultural use.
SMW Contributes to the Land Conservation Movement at the National Level
Photo credit: DJ Glisson, II / Firefly Imageworks From 2017-2020, firm partner Tamara Galanter serves on the Land Trust Alliance Conservation Defense Advisory Council, working on land conservation issues at the national level.
SMW Chairs Conservation Law Forum
In 2015, firm partner Tamara Galanter begins chairing and helping organize the Conservation Law Forum for the California Council of Land Trusts.
SMW Prepares Ballot Measure to Fund Open Space Protection
In 2014, voters approve a parcel tax measure sponsored by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority and drafted by the firm.
Audubon Society Leverages Project Implementation for Conservation Funding
Assisted by the firm, the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society negotiates a 2013 agreement with San Jose developers during project implementation that provides significant funding to permanently preserve burrowing owl habitat and conduct surveys to support regional conservation efforts.
Critical Wildlife Corridor Established
The firm advises Laguna Greenbelt in successful negotiations leading to the 2019 opening of the Orange County Great Park Wildlife Corridor in Irvine to connect the Cleveland National Forest to the coast.
Water Rights for Fish and Wildlife
The firm represents The Nature Conservancy in a petition to dedicate water rights for the Big Springs Ranch in Siskiyou County to instream use for the protection of fish and wildlife in the Shasta River. The project becomes a model for sustainable ranch management to protect endangered coho salmon. The firm later represents private ranch […]
SMW Protects Parks and Greenbelt Along San Joaquin River
The firm successfully challenges in court Fresno County’s approval of 5,000 homes adjacent to the San Joaquin River Parkway. The firm is then able to negotiate a settlement that forces the developer to mitigate its project’s impacts on the parks and other public resources within the Parkway. (San Joaquin Parkway and Conservation Trust v. County […]