California’s Water Law, Policy and Regulation: Coping with Drought, Floods and the New Federal Administration

June 12-13, 2017

Argent Communications 32nd Annual California Water Law & Policy Conference


Downey Brand is pleased to sponsor the 32nd Annual California Water Law & Policy Conference on June 12-13, 2016 in San Francisco. Downey Brand water law attorneys Kevin O’Brien (Conference Co-Chair), Andrea Clark, Meredith Nikkel, and Rebecca Smith are presenting.

This comprehensive two-day California Water Law Conference will focus on two important themes: (1) long-term water supply issues facing the state, and (2) how the new federal administration’s proposed policies might – or might not – impact water law, supply, and management.

Participants will learn what is being done to address aging water control infrastructure, developments in water storage and banking, how climate change is factoring into state regulatory decisions, and several takes on the tensions between the federal and state administrations’ water policies, as well as strategies for Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implementation, and developments with the Bay-Delta and recent indigenous water rights case law.

You’ll hear from representatives of state regulatory agencies, environmental organizations, the academic community, consulting firms, top water attorneys from throughout the state, and Keynote Presentations from Gordon Burns, Undersecretary for Environmental Protection, Cal-EPA, and Karla Nemeth, Deputy Secretary for Water Policy, California Natural Resources Agency.

  • Kevin O’Brien will start things off with a “Conference Overview”
  • Andrea Clark  will provide a “Local Perspective on Aging Flood Control Infrastructure”
  • Meredith Nikkel will discuss “California WaterFix: An Adventure in Administrative Law”
  • Rebecca Smith will discuss “Financing SGMA Implementation: Navigating the Prop. 218 Minefield”

Visit the event website to view the full agenda and to register.