Downey Brand Names Two New Partners
January 15, 2020
Downey Brand is pleased to announce that Rebecca (Becky) Smith and Darrin Gambelin, both in the firm’s Natural Resources department, have been elected to the firm partnership effective January 1, 2020.
Rebecca, who works out of the firm’s Sacramento office, has tremendous experience and expertise with regard to water law issues and she continuously provides thoughtful guidance to both public agencies and private sector clients on water rights, water supply, land use and development, groundwater management issues, and environmental compliance under state and federal law.
A respected voice on groundwater law issues, Rebecca provides sophisticated and practical advice to clients grappling with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, helping them to take on the challenges and opportunities such legislation presents. She is a trusted guide in administrative processes before the State Water Resources Control Board, through local agency appeals, and in negotiation with federal permitting and regulatory agencies.
Rebecca is a member of the Water Education Foundation’s Board and also serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Land-Based Learning and the Sutter Davis Hospital Foundation. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 2010 after completing her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis in 2006.
Darrin, from his base in San Francisco, draws from more than twenty years of experience with California and federal environmental laws to assist clients in resolving a range of permit, compliance, and regulatory enforcement issues.
Clients in the manufacturing, pipeline and energy, agriculture, and food processing sectors consistently retain Darrin for his ability to navigate complicated state and federal environmental regulatory schemes, including those created by the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, Oil Pollution Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Darrin also advises clients regarding compliance with environmental and safety rules affecting all phases of energy pipelines, and closely tracks and counsels clients on the latest developments in California and federal efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Prior to practicing law, Darrin gained valuable experience through his career in the environmental compliance field, serving as an environmental, health, and safety professional in the manufacturing, waste management, and research industries. Darrin graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2010 with his Juris Doctor, cum laude, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental and Resource Sciences at the University of California, Davis in 1994.