Career Highlights

• Represented an environmental organization in its successful challenge to an initiative that purported to approve a development agreement for the World Logistics Center, a massive warehouse project in Riverside County. Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice v. City of Moreno Valley (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 689.
• Represented an environmental organization in its successful challenge to a regional transportation plan that had no effective mitigation for the project’s impacts on climate change and public health. Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. San Diego Assn. of Govs.(2017) 3 Cal.5th 497.
• Defended Napa County in a landmark legal challenge to its 30-year agricultural preservation initiative, ultimately prevailing in the California Supreme Court. DeVita v. County of Napa(1995) 9 Cal.4th 763.
• Served as Managing Partner of Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP from 1998 to 2015.

Recognitions

• California Lawyer’s “Attorney of the Year” (CLAY) Award, for successfully challenging a Kern County ordinance that would have streamlined the permitting of 72,000 new oil wells over 25 years. King and Gardiner Farms, LLC. v. Kern County (2020) 45 Cal.App.5th 814; V Lions Farming, LLC v. Kern County (2024) 100 Cal.App.5th 412 (2026).
• California Lawyer’s “Attorney of the Year” (CLAY) Award, for successfully challenging the Nestle company’s proposal to construct a large water bottling facility on the McCloud River (2010).
• Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter’s “Outstanding Legal Representation” Award, for negotiating a landmark settlement with the California Attorney General and the City of Stockton calling for specific policies and programs to address climate change (2010).
• Daily Journal’s “Top Woman Lawyer” Award (2014).
• Northern California Super Lawyer (2007 to 2025).

Bar Memberships

Member of the Bar of the State of California, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California.

Education

UC Berkeley School of Law, JD, 1980

Yale University, BA, 1973, summa cum laude

Clerkship: Honorable Laughlin E. Waters, United State District Judge, Central District of California

About Me

Prior to law school, I taught high school English. I still turn to literature for escape and inspiration. On weekends, you can find me hiking the trails on Mt. Tamalpais.