Kevin M. O'Brien

Partner

621 Capitol Mall
18th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Areas of Law:

Environmental, Water, Litigation, Natural Resources, Water Rights, Endangered Species

Admitted to Practice in:

California, Colorado (inactive)

Experience

Kevin O'Brien is a member of the firm's executive committee and the former head of the water practice group. The focus of his practice is environmental and natural resources law, with special emphasis on water rights. He represents public and private sector clients in a broad range of water-related matters including litigation, administrative proceedings and business transactions involving the transfer of water rights.

Mr. O'Brien has served as lead counsel in several major water right litigation matters including the adjudication of rights to groundwater in the Santa Maria Basin (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties) and the Seaside Basin (Monterey County). He serves as special water counsel to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency on matters relating to the Salinas Valley Water Project, a water supply project designed to halt seawater intrusion in the Salinas Valley. Mr. O'Brien also serves as special counsel to the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District in matters relating to the proposed new appropriation of substantial quantities of water from the Santa Ana River. He also serves as special counsel to the Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County on matters relating to groundwater rights and groundwater management.

Mr. O'Brien has represented buyers and sellers in numerous water transfers. For example, he represented the Dublin San Ramon Services District in connection with the permanent assignment of State Water Project entitlements from agricultural water users in Kern County to municipal and industrial users in Contra Costa County for a major mixed-use development. He has also served as lead counsel for agricultural water purveyors in connection with the temporary transfers of water from Northern California to south-of-Delta water users.

Prior to joining Downey Brand in 1985, Mr. O'Brien served as an associate with Kirkland & Ellis in Denver, Colorado, where his practice emphasized natural resources law and litigation. Immediately following law school he served as an Honors Program Attorney with the United States Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, in Washington D.C.

Representative Clients
Calera Wine Company; Columbia Canal Company; Dublin San Ramon Services District; Monterey County Water Resources Agency; Natomas Central Mutual Water Company; Newhall Land & Farming Company; North Delta Water Agency; Reclamation District 108; San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District; Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District; Semitropic Water Storage District, South Sutter Water District; Sutter Extension Water District; Sutter Mutual Water Company; Vulcan Materials Company.

MEMBERSHIPS

American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, Past Chair; Water Resources Committee, Member

State Bar of California, Real Property Law Section, Executive Committee, Former Member

Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section, Member

Placer County Bar Association, Member

Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), Legal Affairs Committee and State Legislative Committee, Member

Northern California Water Association (NCWA), Member

EDUCATION

University of Denver College of Law (J.D., 1980)
University of California, Davis (A.B., 1977)

PUBLICATIONS

36 McGeorge Law Review 435, “The Governor's Commission Recommendations on Groundwater: Treading Water Until the Next Drought,” 2005, Author     

American Bar Association Water Resources Committee newsletter, “Recent Phase 8 Bay-Delta Settlement,” 2001, Author

Natural Resources & Environment (a publication of the ABA Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law), Volume 11, No. 2, "A Tale of Two Coasts: How Two States Link Water and Land Use Planning," Fall 1996; speech on same topic at ABA meeting in Boston, Co-Author with Barbara Markham

25 Pacific Law Journal 1053 (part of a symposium on California Water Law), "Water Marketing in California Revisited: The Legacy of the 1987-92 Drought," 1994; Co-Author with Robert Gunning

California Environmental Law & Regulation Reporter, "From D-1485 to Delta Smelt: A Description of the Controversy Surrounding the Bay-Delta Estuary," September 1994, Co-Author with David Aladjem

California Real Property Journal , "Water Service Issues," December 1991, Author

19 Pacific Law Journal 1165 (part of a symposium on California water law), "Water Marketing in California," 1988, Author

33rd Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute Proceedings, "New Conditions for Old Water Rights: An Examination of the Sources and Limits of State Authority," 1988, Author

American Law of Mining, 2d ed., Matthew Bender, Contributing Author

Administrative Law Review, Former Managing Editor

California Water Law and Policy Reporter, Editorial Board, Former Member

PRESENTATIONS

University of California, Davis, Extension, “Principles of Groundwater Law, Hydrology and Management,” 2001-Current, Lecturer

State Bar Environmental Law Section, Environmental Institute, "What Every Environmental Attorney Should Know About California Law of Groundwater Rights and Groundwater Management," 1998, Presenter

University of California, Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, 1987-1991, Lecturer

CHARITABLE

Eureka Schools Foundation (non-profit corporation raising private funds for the Eureka Union School District ), Former President

Youth soccer coach, Former Coach