Marguerite P. ("Peg") Battersby is a special counsel in the Real Estate, Land Use and Natural Resources and Environmental Practice Group in the firm's Orange County office.

Areas of Practice

Ms. Battersby has more than 23 years of experience advising and representing public agencies and private clients. For more than 20 years, she advised and represented general law and charter cities, and other local public agencies in a wide range of government law issues, including land use, planning and zoning; annexations and incorporations; open meetings, conflicts of interest and ethics; the Public Records Act; aviation/airport law; elections law; public works construction and contracting; mobilehome rent control; mining/SMARA regulations; utilities and solid waste franchising; and water rights and water law. Ms. Battersby successfully represented the Cities of Highland, Yucaipa, Calimesa and the Town of Truckee in legal actions challenging property tax determinations made by Local Agency Formation Commissions and Counties in the municipal incorporation process, and has successfully prosecuted and defended condemnations, land use entitlements and environmental challenges.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Battersby was the City Attorney for the Cities of Highland (1987-2007), Yucaipa (1989-2007), Calimesa (1993-2007) and Adelanto (2001-2007), and General Counsel to the Redevelopment Agencies for those Cities. In addition to her municipal practice experience, she has served as General and Special Counsel to a number of water agencies, including the Mission Springs Water District (1993-2007) and the Victor Valley Water District (1985-1999).

Ms. Battersby has managed and actively litigated matters brought under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Cortese-Knox Local Government Reorganization Act, the California Planning and Zoning Laws, and Eminent Domain Laws.

Ms. Battersby also has extensive experience in public contracting and prevailing wage issues, public sector labor relations and employment law, and has served as special counsel to local public agencies, conducting personnel investigations, drafting personnel rules and policies, handling discipline and grievance procedures and labor negotiations, and providing legal advice to human resources staff. Ms. Battersby has created effective code enforcement programs, and trained code enforcement officers to deal with a broad range of nuisance conditions. She also has prosecuted code enforcement violations and established administrative citation and hearing procedures for local enforcement of municipal and building code violations.

Ms. Battersby is the author of a number of complex ordinances and local ballot measures, including a mining tax ordinance, land use initiatives, development impact fee and user fee ordinances, and adult business and sign regulations. She has also negotiated and drafted complex public-private contracts, including land development agreements for large scale residential and commercial developments.