Family Law

• Adoption

Employment Law

• Employment Litigation
  Margaret has over 20 years of experience in the public sector, having served as Senior Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Walnut Creek and Concord. Margaret has extensive experience providing advice on day-to-day issues facing municipalities in areas such as zoning, housing, building, public works, risk management and insurance, tort litigation, and employment issues. She is also experienced in advising planning and engineering staff on current development and planning applications, and has extensive experience in staffing Planning Commission and City Council meetings. She is also well-versed in the Brown Act and the Public Records Act.

Property Law

• Construction Litigation
  The firm’s transactional practice includes comprehensive public contract counseling, including bidding, RFQs, RFPs, drafting, negotiation, and document review.  The firm also provides a full range of public construction law expertise, including pre-qualification and bid documents, bid protests, subcontractor issues, construction claims and close out issues, litigation and dispute resolution.  Our client service includes providing lawyer-drafted bid documents tailored for local agency public works projects.
• Eminent Domain
  Edward (Ed) Low is a seasoned municipal law litigator, focusing his practice on real property litigation, revenue and taxation, condemnation/eminent domain, free speech and right to petition under the state and federal constitutions, the Ralph M. Brown Act, and the California Public Records Act. He has also litigated matters pertaining to historic preservation, charter city “home rule” under the California Constitution, redevelopment, quiet title, and issues arising under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg (“LAFCo”) Act.
• Land Use and Zoning
  The firm’s land use and environmental law practice, which includes both transactional and litigation services, extends to all aspects of the land use and development approval process in California, including matters arising under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the California Planning and Zoning Laws, the Subdivision Map Act, the Mitigation Fee Act, the Permit Streamlining Act, the Development Agreement laws, the California Coastal Act, the Urban Water Management and Planning Laws (SB 221 and SB 610), and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

Finance Law

• Foreclosure
• Tax Law
  In addition to her specialty in local revenue issues, Megan also provides special counsel litigation and advisory services on a wide range of public law matters, including eminent domain and inverse condemnation, redevelopment dissolution, the Bradley-Burns local sales tax law, local land use and zoning issues, general municipal law, the California Public Records Act, the Brown Act, and conflicts of interest.