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Experience
Kevin O'Brien is a member of the firm's executive committee and the former head of the water practice group. The focus of his practice is environmental and natural resources law, with special emphasis on water rights. He represents public and private sector clients in a broad range of water-related matters including litigation, administrative proceedings and business transactions involving the transfer of water rights.
Mr. O'Brien has served as lead counsel in several major water right litigation matters including the adjudication of rights to groundwater in the Santa Maria Basin (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties) and the Seaside Basin (Monterey County). He serves as special water counsel to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency on matters relating to the Salinas Valley Water Project, a water supply project designed to halt seawater intrusion in the Salinas Valley. Mr. O'Brien also serves as special counsel to the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District in matters relating to the proposed new appropriation of substantial quantities of water from the Santa Ana River. He also serves as special counsel to the Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County on matters relating to groundwater rights and groundwater management.
Mr. O'Brien has represented buyers and sellers in numerous water transfers. For example, he represented the Dublin San Ramon Services District in connection with the permanent assignment of State Water Project entitlements from agricultural water users in Kern County to municipal and industrial users in Contra Costa County for a major mixed-use development. He has also served as lead counsel for agricultural water purveyors in connection with the temporary transfers of water from Northern California to south-of-Delta water users.
Prior to joining Downey Brand in 1985, Mr. O'Brien served as an associate with Kirkland & Ellis in Denver, Colorado, where his practice emphasized natural resources law and litigation. Immediately following law school he served as an Honors Program Attorney with the United States Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, in Washington D.C.
Representative Clients
Calera Wine Company; Columbia Canal Company; Dublin San Ramon Services District; Monterey County Water Resources Agency; Natomas Central Mutual Water Company; Newhall Land & Farming Company; North Delta Water Agency; Reclamation District 108; San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District; Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District; Semitropic Water Storage District, South Sutter Water District; Sutter Extension Water District; Sutter Mutual Water Company; Vulcan Materials Company. | 