Shute Mihaly & Weinberger LLP

Shute Mihaly & Weinberger LLP Environmental/Land Use Law Firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP is a law firm specializing in government, land use, natural resource and environmental law.

Since 1980, the firm has provided public agencies and community groups throughout California with the highest quality legal representation, offering an array of litigation, counseling and planning services. Known for its commitment to promoting environmental and community values, SMW is at the forefront of the major land use and development issues facing California today.

San Francisco Baykeeper has filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court challenging the California State Lands Comm...
08/26/2026

San Francisco Baykeeper has filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court challenging the California State Lands Commission's approval of ten-year sand mining leases in the San Francisco Bay.

The suit alleges the commission violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the state's public trust doctrine by using flawed baseline data to authorize two private companies to extract up to 1.75 million cubic yards of sand annually.

SMW attorneys Robert “Perl” Perlmutter and Orran Balagopalan represent Baykeeper in the litigation alongside the organization’s in-house legal team.

https://www.smwlaw.com/2026/06/17/smw-client-san-francisco-baykeeper-challenges-sf-bay-sand-mining-leases/

To assist local governments in navigating California’s complex housing legislation, the state’s California Department of...
08/24/2026

To assist local governments in navigating California’s complex housing legislation, the state’s California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) has released resources that can help guide implementation decisions, discussed in this article with a focus on SB 79 advisory memos and a primer for the bill’s provisions to facilitate transit-oriented development.

https://www.smwlaw.com/2026/06/24/housing-law-guidance-senate-bill-79-advisories-and-further-resources-from-hcd/

SMW Partner Deborah Miller and Senior Counsel Marlene Dehlinger recently joined our client, the Central Contra Costa Sol...
08/20/2026

SMW Partner Deborah Miller and Senior Counsel Marlene Dehlinger recently joined our client, the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, for an informative tour of Recology’s composting facility in Vernalis.

Pictured over Deborah’s shoulder is the raw, incoming organic material just before it enters the facility's rigorous multi-stop filtration and curing process to be transformed into high-quality compost.

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP is inviting second- and third-year law students to apply for its Spring 2027 part-time cl...
08/18/2026

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP is inviting second- and third-year law students to apply for its Spring 2027 part-time clerkship program, with applications due no later than October 1, 2026.

The firm's clerkships offer students substantive, practical assignments that typically go to junior associates at larger firms, allowing students to gain broad exposure to the firm’s diverse practice areas, work closely with a wide range of SMW attorneys, and actively participate in client meetings and legal hearings.

https://www.smwlaw.com/apply-for-clerkship/

In photos: SMW attorneys at this year’s Northwest Land Camp. Andrew Miller presenting about Title Review: Tools, Tips, a...
08/14/2026

In photos: SMW attorneys at this year’s Northwest Land Camp.

Andrew Miller presenting about Title Review: Tools, Tips, and Legal Insights for Conservation.

Aidan Freeman with a bit of post-conference fishing. While fish may have been elusive, they still managed to make the most of the outdoors by foraging for salmonberries.

SMW’s Rachel Hooper, Kevin Bundy, Susannah French, Tori Gibbons, and Heather Minner have been honored with the 2026 “Cal...
08/12/2026

SMW’s Rachel Hooper, Kevin Bundy, Susannah French, Tori Gibbons, and Heather Minner have been honored with the 2026 “California Lawyer Attorney of the Year” (CLAY) Award by The Daily Journal for their work on a landmark CEQA lawsuit, along with their co-counsel Daniel Selmi, Professor Emeritus at Loyola Law School.

The legal team successfully challenged a Kern County ordinance that allowed, over-the-counter permitting for thousands of oil and gas wells across 2.3 million acres of the San Joaquin Valley without adequate environmental review or mitigation measures.

https://www.smwlaw.com/2026/

Two separate California courts have issued consecutive rulings against the city of Santee and developer HomeFed, halting...
08/10/2026

Two separate California courts have issued consecutive rulings against the city of Santee and developer HomeFed, halting the proposed Fanita Ranch housing development northeast of San Diego. A San Diego Superior Court judge and a Fourth District Court of Appeal panel both ruled in favor of environmental groups challenging the 2,600-acre, 3,000-unit project, which is located in a high-risk wildfire zone.

https://www.courthousenews.com/california-courts-deal-major-blow-to-3000-home-development-project/

Following a fourteen-year dispute, SMW clients The League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) and Sierra Watch have rea...
08/06/2026

Following a fourteen-year dispute, SMW clients The League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) and Sierra Watch have reached a landmark settlement with Alterra Mountain Company to substantially limit future development at the Palisades Tahoe resort, cutting the proposed project's total bedrooms by 40% and commercial space by 20% while permanently eliminating an indoor waterpark from the blueprint.

https://www.sierrawatch.org/

More than 70 pesticides currently banned in the European Union are permitted in California, creating severe health risks...
08/04/2026

More than 70 pesticides currently banned in the European Union are permitted in California, creating severe health risks that fall disproportionately on the State’s low-income residents and communities of color. Unlike the EU's precautionary framework, which places the burden of proof on chemical corporations to demonstrate safety before approval, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) operates in reverse, approving substances unless regulators can definitively prove harm.

https://legal-planet.org/2026/06/05/california-permits-pesticides-the-eu-has-banned/

A decade-long legal battle over oil permitting in Kern County has fundamentally reshaped the interpretation of the Calif...
07/31/2026

A decade-long legal battle over oil permitting in Kern County has fundamentally reshaped the interpretation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Represented by Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, farmer Keith Gardiner challenged a county ordinance that allowed over-the-counter oil drilling permits based on an industry-funded environmental review. Appellate rulings in the case established landmark precedents regarding when agencies can defer environmental mitigation and the validity of using conservation easements to mitigate the loss of agricultural land.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/victors-in-kerns-oil-permitting-lawsuit-say-case-forever-changed-state-environmental-law/article_642823b9-8b9c-4f11-89c6-8ac65e4b36e7.amp.html

Address

396 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA
94102

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14155527272

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