Joseph D. “Seph” Petta
Title:
Partner
He/Him/His
Joined Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger in:
2012
Primary Practice Areas:
CEQA & NEPA, City Attorney & General Counsel Services, Litigation & Appeals (incl. community group litigation practice, public agency defense), Land Use Planning & Zoning, Renewable Energy
Career Highlights
- Served as Assistant City Attorney for the City of Cupertino. Advised the Planning Commission on development applications, land use regulations, open meeting laws, public contracts, and conflicts of interest.
- Advised municipal and special district clients on California Environmental Quality Act, real estate, and land use matters, and on the imposition of taxes and fees.
- Negotiated the extension of protections, including limits on “piecemeal” development and building that could increase wildfire risk, to hundreds of thousands of acres of the Cleveland National Forest.
- Prevailed in a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit on behalf of community groups to halt a 3600-unit subdivision on undeveloped land — home to sensitive species and vulnerable to flash floods — outside of San Bernardino.
- Advised on real estate and public trust matters to further a multi-agency project at the site of former Candlestick Park, which will include substantial affordable housing and redevelop the Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.
Community Service, Publications, and Recognitions
- Northern California Super Lawyer Rising Star, 2022.
- Member, League of California Cities’ Committee on Attorney Development and Succession.
- Author (former), California Bar Environmental Law Section’s Environmental Law Update.
- Sky Stanfield, Seph Petta and Sara Baldwin Auck, Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc., Charging Ahead: An Energy Storage Guide for Policymakers (Apr. 2017).
- Sky Stanfield, Erica McConnell, and Seph Petta, “A New Frontier: The Interconnection of Energy Storage,” Greentech Media (Jan. 4, 2018).
- Seph Petta, “Funding Public Transit in California After Proposition 26,” Public Law Journal (Vol. 36, No. 1, Winter 2013).
Bar Memberships
Member of the Bar of the State of California, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
Education
UC Berkeley School of Law, JD, 2012
Georgetown University, BA in English, 2002
About Me
Mushroom foraging, birding and tidepooling — and watching my kids discover their own loves about being outdoors — are some of my favorite things.