Oct. 16, 2014
Remy Moose Manley LLP
See more on Remy Moose Manley LLPSacramento | Environmental, land use, planning and zoning
Recent work has included helping on the approval process of the first leg of a high speed rail project that is eventually expected to link the Bay Area to Southern California, and assisting with a plan to redevelop a former Naval station at Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island in the San Francisco Bay.
"We're helping shape major projects that will affect Californians decades in the future," said managing partner Andrea K. Leisy. "All of our experience in cases leading up to this point has helped us be involved in projects such as the high speed rail and Bay Delta Conservation Plan and the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority cases."
She attributes the success of the Sacramento environmental law firm, which specializes in the California Environmental Quality Act, to "good relationships with people over the years and doing really good work."
Coming from one of the few firms that have garnered published decisions in connection with the state's landmark 1970 environmental law, some might view that as an understatement.
In one seminal CEQA case that founder Mike Remy and partner Jim Moose were involved in on behalf of petitioners in 1990, Kings County Farm Bureau v. City of Hanford, (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 692, which still gets cited, an appellate court held inadequate an environmental impact report prepared for a proposed coal-fired cogeneration power plant, according to the firm.
The opinion addressed several important issues, including the need, in some instances, to support with rigorous analysis and concrete substantial evidence the conclusion that impacts will be insignificant, and the proper method by which to assess cumulative impacts in the context of an already degraded environment.
"I think CEQA is our bread and butter," said Leisy, characterizing the law as nuanced and continuing to evolve. "The senior partners have grown up with the statute so to speak and we continue to be involved in new regulations coming forward and new case law getting published. Our niche being CEQA, we've evolved along with the statute."
Until his death from cancer in 2003, Remy enjoyed his work at the firm representing clients in environmental and land use matters, with an emphasis on CEQA, according to the firm .
The same attorneys at Remy Moose Manley handle both the administrative and entitlement side of the project and any court challenges to approvals won, Leisy said.
Cases focusing on CEQA are piling up at the California Supreme Court. Legal observers say the complexity of the law, the high volume of CEQA litigation and the recent push by CEQA critics to reform the law are possible drivers behind the increase in cases granted by the high court .
Because CEQA has evolved and continues to evolve, Remy Moose Manley attorneys focus their energies on staying on top of the current cases and guidelines, Leisy said. The firm has been approached in the past for mergers. "It's always very flattering but it's not ever been a good fit, so we have resisted being gobbled up, she said. "Philosophically we don't want to be [a part of] large firms. We are able to make decisions quickly and all the partners get along really well."
Leisy, who grew up in Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe, herself joined the firm in 1999 as an associate and became a partner in 2005. She became managing partner in 2011. She knew of the firm from having watched it take on the Squaw Valley Ski Resort and a golf course builder.
"This was my dream job," she said.
- Vik Jolly
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