Professional Experience
Ms. Hori is the Administrative Partner for the Orange County office and a member of Manatt's Real Estate and Land Use practice group. She focuses on the processing of land use entitlements and regulatory permits for real estate development projects and the resolution of environmental issues affecting real property. It includes substantial work on matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the California Coastal Act and other local, state and federal land use and environmental laws. Ms. Hori’s clients include landowners, financial institutions, developers and builders in the residential, retail, hotel/resort, and commercial and industrial development industry.
Ms. Hori’s federal regulatory work includes Section 404 permitting under the Clean Water Act, National Historic Preservation Act compliance and Endangered Species Act permitting, including work on habitat conservation plans.
Prior to entering private practice, she clerked for the Alaska Supreme Court and served as an attorney with the Solicitor’s Office in the Department of the Interior in Washington D.C. where she represented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Education
University of California Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1979.
Managing Editor, Ecology Law Quarterly, 1978-1979.
Moot Court Board, 1978-1979.
University of Washington, B.A., magna cum laude, 1976.
Memberships & Activities
Admitted to practice in California and Washington, D.C.
Executive Committee Member and Legislation Co-Chair, State Bar of California, Environmental Law Section, 1997-2000; Executive Committee Advisor, 2000-2006; Member, Legislation Committee, 2000-2006.
Executive Committee Member, State Bar of California, Real Property Section, 1987-1992.
Adjunct Professor, Chapman University Law School, “Land Use Practice,” Spring 2005.
Conference Co-Coordinator, UCLA Extension, Land Use Law and Planning Conference, 1998-Present.
Ms. Hori also serves on the Board of Directors of Arts Orange County, the Dean’s Council of the School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine, Board of Directors of the Orange County Forum, and Board of Directors of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association.
Honors & Awards
Named one of California’s Top 25 “Land Use Leaders” for 2011 by the Daily Journal.
The Best Lawyers in America, 2005-2012.
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2010-2011.
The Legal 500: 2008-2009.
Named one of SoCal’s Most Influential Women in Real Estate by Real Estate Southern California, 2005.
Publications
"Water Quality and Land Use,” Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use? Environmental Law Institute, 2005.
“Due Diligence in Major Real Estate Acquisitions: Land Use Issue,” 5 Land Use and Environment Forum 24, 1996.
“No Net Loss: The Challenge of Protecting Wetlands and Agency Approaches to Mitigation,” 1 Land Use Forum 241, 1992.
“The Future of the Endangered Species Act,” 1 Land Use Forum 39, 1991.
Speaking Engagements
Ms. Hori is a frequent speaker on topics related to CEQA, wetlands permitting, water quality and the Endangered Species Act. She has also taught land use and environmental courses at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Southern California, and is the co-coordinator of the annual UCLA Land Use Law and Planning Conference. Representative speaking engagements include the following:
Speaker, AEP Annual CEQA Update Workshop, 2006 to 2011.
Speaker, “Fee Fi Fo Fum: Proposition 26,” UCLA Extension, Land Use Law and Planning Conference, January 2011.
Speaker, “Fee Fi Fo Fum: Proposition 26,” UCLA Extension, Land Use Law and Planning Conference, January 2011.
Speaker, “Public Access,” CLE International, California Coastal Law, April 2010.
Speaker and Moderator, “Planning For LIDs: The New Alphabet Soup of Water Quality,” UCLA Extension, Land Use Law and Planning Conference, January 2010.
Speaker, “Putting Things Together: Interrelated Wetlands Standards,” ALI-ABA Wetlands Law and Regulation, November 2009.
Speaker, “Biological and Cultural Resource Mitigation,” CLE International, CEQA, August 2009.
Speaker, “What Happens When a Locally-Issued Permit is Appealed,” CLE International, California Coastal Law, March 2009.
Speaker, “Defensible Not Gold-Plated EIRs,” AEP State Conference, March 2009.
Speaker, “Biological Mitigation,” CLE International, CEQA, August 2008.
Speaker, “State Protections of Wetlands and Other Waters in California,” ALI-ABA Wetlands Law and Regulation, May 2008.
Speaker, “Local Coastal Program Amendments,” CLE International, California Coastal Law, December 2007.
Speaker, “CEQA and Global Warming,” CLE International, CEQA, August & September 2007.
Speaker, “State Protections of Wetlands and Other Waters,” ALI-ABA Wetlands Law and Regulation, May 2007.
Speaker, “Coastal Zone Management,” UCLA Extension, November 2006.
Speaker, “CEQA Update: A Discussion of Key CEQA Decisions and Judicial Trends,” 2006 State Bar Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite, October 2006.
Speaker, “The California Legislature Year in Review: Homebuilding and Development Issues,” 5th Annual BILD Foundation SuperConference, September 2006.
Speaker, “Writing Effective Mitigation/Preservation as Mitigation” CLE, CEQA, August 2006.
Speaker, “Land Development in California Environmental Issues in the Land Development Process,” Lorman Education Services, March 2006.
Speaker, “Cumulative Impacts: Is Every Project Cumulatively Significant?” Law Seminars International, CEQA & NEPA Workshop; September 2005.