Eric N. Robinson, Managing Shareholder

Eric, the firm’s Managing Shareholder, represents public and private sector clients in the fields of natural resources and environmental law. He provides counsel on obtaining and defending water rights and water supplies, obtaining environmental compliance approvals for development projects under local, state, and federal laws, and litigates in state and federal courts. Eric speaks frequently on water-related issues for a variety of educational and professional organizations.

Legal Experience

Eric represents water supply agencies, private landowners, counties, cities, and not-for-profit organizations in a range of areas, including:

  • Counsel to obtain and protect rights to use surface water and groundwater
  • Complete due diligence assessments of water rights for real property acquisitions or other investment opportunities
  • Counsel concerning assessment and verification of water supplies for new real estate development projects under SB 610/221
  • Counsel to prepare and defend Urban Water Management Plans, updates and amendments that carry out new water conservation mandates imposed by SB 7
  • Compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
  • Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
  • Compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)
  • Compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
  • Compliance with the Clean Water Act (CWA)
  • Compliance with Fish and Game Code provisions governing water supply facilities, including Streambed Alteration Agreement program and sections 5901 and 5937
  • Litigation defending and bringing CEQA, NEPA, ESA, and Fish and Game Code compliance challenges
  • Litigation defending groundwater pumping rights
  • Representation before State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Fish and Game, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other local, state and federal regulatory agencies

Practice Examples

  • Eric represented the City of Los Angeles in California’s largest court adjudication of groundwater rights.
  • Eric has assessed water rights and water supply availability for proposed land acquisitions throughout California.
  • Eric has counseled local public water suppliers on Proposition 218 compliance for new water service ratemaking decisions and has successfully defended against lawsuits alleging Proposition 218 violations.
  • Eric served as special water counsel in connection with SB 610 and CEQA review for the successful approval of a 16,000-unit master-planned community in the San Joaquin Valley.
  • Eric represented a private landowner in a trial adjudicating rights to groundwater in a California coastal basin and is participating in watermaster proceedings to manage that basin.
  • Eric advises public water supply agency clients in assessing the sufficiency of their water supplies to sustain new development projects pursuant to SB 610/221.
  • Eric is assisting a range of real estate development projects in securing and demonstrating long-term water supplies pursuant to SB 610, CEQA and SB 221.
  • Eric defended a Clean Water Act citizen suit alleging violation of an industrial storm water permit.
  • Eric challenged a municipal separate storm sewer discharge permit for exceeding state regulatory authority.
  • Eric defended a NPDES permit for a municipal wastewater discharger through Regional Board, State Water Resources Control Board and Superior Court review proceedings.
  • Eric successfully defended a city in trial court and appellate CEQA litigation challenging the approval of a regional shopping mall.
  • Eric defended a California water supply agency against a $200 million inverse condemnation lawsuit arising from the reoperation of water supply reservoirs to prevent seawater intrusion from destroying a regional groundwater supply.
  • Eric represented the State Water Project (SWP) contractors against litigation challenging the CALFED program to restore the Bay-Delta estuary and statewide water supplies.
  • Eric represented Central Valley Project (CVP) water contractors in federal litigation challenging the United States Department of the Interior’s compliance with NEPA, the ESA and Reclamation Law for actions changing the operation of the CVP’s Trinity River Division.
  • Eric is defending private landowners against a lawsuit challenging their diversion and use of water under Fish and Game Codes sections 5901 and 5937.
  • Eric successfully resolved an Endangered Species Act enforcement action and negotiated the terms of local, state and federal approvals for a steelhead habitat enhancement project on a California steelhead stream.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

  • Best Lawyers® 2024 Natural Resources Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Sacramento
  • Best Lawyers® 2021 Natural Resources Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Sacramento
  • The Best Lawyers in America, Natural Resources Law, Environmental Law, Water Law (2019-2024)
  • Northern California Super Lawyer (2009-2014, 2019-2023)
  • Top Lawyer, Sacramento Magazine (2016-2021, 2023)
  • Board Member, Water Education Foundation
  • Co-chair, Natural Resources subsection of the Real Property Section of the California Lawyers Association
  • Co-Chair of LSI Groundwater Sustainability in California Conference
  • Member, Real Property Advisory Committee for the Continuing Education for the Bar (CEB)
  • Member, Sacramento County Bar Association
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Legal Affairs Committee, Association of California Water Agencies
  • Continuing Education of the Bar, Real Property Advisory Committee member (2019-present)
  • California State Bar #191781

Reported Decisions

  • Antelope Valley Groundwater Cases (Tapia), 63 Cal.App.5th 17 (2021)
  • Antelope Valley Groundwater Cases (Willis Class), 62 Cal.App.5th 992 (2021)
  • Antelope Valley Groundwater Cases (Phelan Pinion Hills Community Services District), 59 Cal.App.5th 241 (2020)
  • Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment v. Castaic Lake Water Agency, 1 Cal.App.5th 1084 (2016)
  • Firebaugh Canal Water District v. United States, 712 F.3d 1296 (9th Cir. 2013)
  • Sonoma County Water Coalition v. Sonoma County Water Agency, 189 Cal.App.4th 33 (2010)
  • O.W.L. Foundation v. City of Rohnert Park, 168 Cal.App.4th 568 (2008)
  • In re Bay-Delta Programmatic Environmental Impact Report Coordinated Proceedings, 43 Cal.4th 1143 (2008)
  • California Water Impact Network v. Newhall County Water District, 161 Cal.App.4th 1464 (2008)
  • Westlands Water District, et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 275 F. Supp. 2d 1157(E.D. Cal. 2002), reversed in part by Westlands Water District v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 376 F. 3d 853 (9th Cir. 2004)
  • Jahr v. Casebeer, 70 Cal. App. 4th 1250 (1999)

Academic Background

J.D. University of California, Davis, 1997

B.S. Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, Chicago, 1989