Sam Bivins

Sam Bivins is a California water rights and natural resources attorney whose practice focuses on water rights litigation, permitting and enforcement, endangered species matters, public finance, and complex water-related transactions. He represents public agencies, water suppliers, agricultural interests, landowners, and businesses in litigation, administrative proceedings, regulatory matters, and strategic special counsel engagements involving water supplies, natural resources, infrastructure, and public finance.

A substantial part of Sam’s practice involves California water rights. He represents clients in water rights litigation and in proceedings before the State Water Resources Control Board involving new water right permits, enforcement matters, and disputes concerning the scope, validity, and exercise of existing rights. His experience also includes groundwater adjudications and disputes under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), water transfers and supply agreements, and the evaluation of water rights in real estate, infrastructure, and investment transactions. Sam also serves as special counsel to public agencies and water suppliers developing major new water supply projects.

Sam has significant experience under the federal and California Endangered Species Acts and other environmental laws affecting water projects and natural resources. He has successfully defended senior water right holders against federal Endangered Species Act claims, represented clients in matters involving federal wildlife agencies, and advised public agencies on proposed species listings and related regulatory requirements. His broader environmental practice includes CEQA, environmental enforcement, and litigation involving state and federal regulatory programs.

Sam also represents public agencies and private parties in disputes involving public finance, taxes, rates, fees, assessments, and infrastructure funding. His experience includes successfully defending a municipal water supply development fee against statutory and constitutional challenges and recovering delinquent public agency assessments. He also advises agencies on the legal structure and implementation of rates, fees, assessments, and other mechanisms used to fund water supply and infrastructure programs.

Sam’s practice frequently combines litigation, regulatory, and transactional disciplines. He advises clients on water transfers, project agreements, water supply contracts, property transactions involving water rights, and regulatory strategies designed to position projects for permitting and implementation. That background allows him to understand the underlying project and develop litigation and regulatory strategies directed toward the client’s broader business or institutional objectives.

Before returning to Downey Brand, Sam served as a senior hearing officer in the State Water Resources Control Board’s Administrative Hearings Office. In that role, he presided over complex water right proceedings and advised on administrative decision-making, evidentiary issues, and CEQA compliance. His experience on both sides of State Water Board proceedings gives him a practical understanding of how agencies evaluate evidence, develop administrative records, and resolve contested legal and technical issues.

Across his practice, Sam focuses on identifying the legal and strategic issues that matter most and developing practical solutions to complex litigation, regulatory problems, transactions, and public agency matters.

Professional, Community And Pro Bono Involvement

• California Water Law & Policy Conference, Co-Chair, 2023
• California Water Law & Policy Reporter, Editorial Board Member, 2023
• Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section
• California Lawyers Association, Environmental Law Section
• Past Member and Chair of the West Sacramento Environment and Utilities Commission
• Law clerk to The Hon. Morrison C. England, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, 2015-2016
• Reading Partners, Former Board Member
• Duke Law Journal, 2012-2014

Honors & Rankings

• Best Lawyers in America©, Ones to Watch, Natural Resources Law, 2024
• Super Lawyers, Northern California Rising Star, Energy & Resources, 2018-2023
• SacTown Magazine (formerly Sacramento Magazine), Top Lawyer, Energy & Natural Resources, 2017
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Citation for Outstanding Performance in History
• UC Davis Fulmor Scholar