COSTA MESA, CA – March 13, 2018 – Claremont City Council voted unanimously to appoint Rutan & Tucker Partner Alisha A. Patterson as its City Attorney. Jeffrey Oderman had been serving as the Interim City Attorney since November. Through a competitive RFP process, 11 law firms vied for the position.
Ms. Patterson provides strategic counsel to, and litigates on behalf of, public agencies. She is currently Assistant City Attorney for Irvine, Laguna Woods and Duarte. In addition, Ms. Patterson serves as deputy City Attorney to Dana Point, Yorba Linda, and Menifee has provided special counsel services to the cities of Downey, Anaheim, and Escondido.
In her representation of public entities, she is involved with all aspects of general municipal affairs and, in particular, planning and land use. She has worked with clients in every stage of the entitlement process (pre-application through public hearing and litigation, if any) and has a thorough knowledge of the myriad of state and federal laws that regulate local governmental agencies and those who do business with them. A significant part of her practice concerns advising and defending clients on issues arising under the Planning and Zoning Law, the Subdivision Map Act, the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), the Permit Streamlining Act, the Quimby Act, and the Mitigation Fee Act.
