Professional Experience
Ms. Steinmetz specializes in land use, real estate and government law. She represents developers, land owners, alternative energy companies, private school institutions, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, concerned citizens, and lenders on all aspects of the land purchase and development process. Ms. Steinmetz has substantial experience in obtaining land use entitlements and annexations, natural resources permitting, California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), Subdivision Map Act, California Coastal Act, Williamson Act, planning and zoning law and initiative and referendum law compliance, providing political, campaign and public relations expertise, and negotiating and drafting development agreements, affordable housing agreements, development conditions and exactions, and open space and agricultural easements. As a LEED (Leadership in Environment & Energy Design) Accredited Professional, she specializes in advising clients in achieving LEED certification as well as complying with local and state green building regulations. She also has briefed a number of administrative writs of mandate concerning local agency land use decisions.
Prior to joining Manatt, Ms. Steinmetz spent one year with Bingham McCutchen, LLP focusing primarily on land purchase and leasing matters and four years with Jorgensen, Siegel, McClure & Flegel, LLP, where she assisted the Town Attorney for the Town of Portola Valley, the City Attorney for the City of Menlo Park, and the acting City Attorney for the City of Morgan Hill on land use and government law matters. Before graduating from law school, Ms. Steinmetz served as a legal intern for the United States Department of Justice in the Environmental Enforcement Division and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Lawrence K. Karlton, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District, California.
Education
University of California, Davis School of Law, J.D., 2002.
University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A., Environmental Studies, 1994.
University of Bergen, Norway, Exchange Student 1991-92.
Memberships & Activities
Admitted to practice in California.
U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP.
Honors & Awards
Voted a Northern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine in 2010.
Publications
Author, “First Statewide Mandatory Green Building Code Published; Effective January 1, 2011”, Manatt Real Estate & Land Use Newsletter, August 19, 2010
Author, “When Does a Development Become a “Project”: Supreme Court Clarifies When Pre-Development Approvals Trigger CEQA Review, Manatt Real Estate & Land Use Newsletter, October 30, 2008
Author, “California Adopts Green Building Standards”, Manatt Real Estate & Land Use Newsletter, July 30, 2008
Co-author, “The Richmond Case; Questions Answered and Unanswered On the Scope of U.S. Indemnity for Base Cleanup,” Military Base Reuse and Privatization Newsletter, Summer 2007.
Co-author, “City Maintains Control of Navy Broadway Complex Redevelopment; Project Faces More Hurdles,” Military Base Reuse and Privatization Newsletter, Winter 2007.
“The Unjustified Revival of the Nondelegation Doctrine,” Environs Envtl. L. & Pol’y J., Spring 2001.