Program Co-Chairs

Stuart L. Somach commenced his legal career with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice. In private practice since 1984, his practice now concentrates on water rights, water quality, federal reclamation law, toxics, natural resources, environmental law, all phases of civil litigation before federal and state courts and negotiating federal legislative issues. He has argued cases before both the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at McGeorge School of Law and is a past Chairman of the American Bar Association`s Committee on Water Resources Law.

Roderick E. Walston is Of Counsel in his firm’s Litigation Practice Group. He specializes in natural resources, environmental and water law, and in appellate practice. At the California Attorney General’s office, Mr. Walston litigated many of the State of California’s most important natural resources and environmental cases, particularly at the appellate level. He has served as the top lawyer for the U.S. Department of the Interior, and as head of the California Attorney General’s Public Rights Division, which handles all litigation in the natural resources, environmental and water law areas.

Keynote Presenter

Phillip L. Isenberg is a former 14-year member of the California State Assembly (1982-1996) and Mayor of Sacramento (1975-1982).  During his tenure in the Legislature, he specialized in a variety of governmental activities, including extensive work on the state budget and state/local government financial relations, environmental and water issues and healthcare. Isenberg served as chair of the California Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force from 2004 to 2006 and served as chair of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force from 2007 to 2008, which was reformed into the Delta Vision Foundation, a private association, where Isenberg has served as chair since 2009. He is also a member of the Sacramento Valley Conservancy Advisory Board. Isenberg holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and a Bachelor of Art in Social Science and Government from California State University, Sacramento. He was appointed to the Delta Stewardship Council in March 2010 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He has served as president of Isenberg/O`Haren Government Relations since 2005.

Faculty

Arthur G. Baggett, Jr., Board Member and Hearing Officer  
State Water Resources Control Board, Sacramento

Thomas Birmingham, Esq., General Manager and General Counsel
Westlands Water District, Fresno

Jennifer Buckman, Esq.  
Somach Simmons & Dunn, Sacramento

John Penn Carter III, Esq.  
Horton, Knox, Carter & Foote, El Centro

Karen Donovan, Esq.
East Bay Metropolitan Utility District, Oakland

Richard M. Frank, Esq., Executive Director
California Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Berkeley

Dan Hentschke, Esq.
San Diego County Water Authority, San Diego

Andrew M. Hitchings, Esq.
Somach Simmons & Dunn, Sacramento

Jonathan W. Hughes, Esq.
Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, San Francisco

Jeffrey Kightlinger, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles

Cynthia Koeler, Esq.  
Environmental Defense Fund, San Francisco

James Markman, Esq.
Richards, Watson & Gershon, Brea

Brandon Middleton, Esq.  
Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento

John Moffitt, Deputy Legislative Secretary
Office of the Governor, Sacramento

R. Clark Morrison, Esq.
Cox, Castle & Nicholson, San Francisco

Katherine Poole, Esq.
Natural Resources Defense Counsel, San Francisco

David Sandino, Esq., Chief Counsel      
California Department of Water Resources, Sacramento

Paul Singarella, Esq.
Latham & Watkins, Costa Mesa

Jennifer Spaletta, Esq.
Herum, Crabtree, Brown, Stockton

Paul P. ("Skip") Spaulding III, Esq.
Farella Braun + Martel, San Francisco
    
Karen Tachiki, Esq., General Counsel
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles

Gregory K. Wilkinson, Esq.
Best Best & Krieger, Riverside