Everett L. DeLano III

Everett DeLano specializes in land use and environmental law, including matters under the California Environmental Quality Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Business & Professions Code § 17200, Proposition 65, as well as Constitutional matters such as civil rights violations and inverse condemnation. Mr. DeLano represents homeowners' associations, non-profit organizations, and neighborhood groups and individuals concerned about land use and environmental issues. His work includes advocacy before municipal and administrative entities and litigation in federal and State court.

Logan Jenkins, a San Diego Union-Tribune columnist, dubbed Mr. DeLano as "the NIMBY lawyer," proclaiming no one is smarter "at applying the legal brakes to community-opposed development."

Mr. DeLano graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of San Diego in 1989. He attended law school at the University of Southern California, where served on the Interdisciplinary Law Journal and Major Tax Journal, served as an extern to the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and was the sole recipient of the U.S. Law Week Award. He graduated from law school in 1992 and is licensed to practice law in both California and Colorado.

Before starting his own practice in San Diego's North County in 1998, Mr. DeLano worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Los Angeles, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in Denver, and the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado. Among his cases, Mr. DeLano has represented plaintiffs in litigation against: (1) a State department of transportation, resulting in a multi-year injunction forcing the agency to decrease its water pollution; (2) a major San Diego shipyard, which resulted in a court-ordered cleanup and fine; (3) a proposed reopening of an older-technology oil refinery, resulting in a settlement that ensured the site would be cleaned up and the refinery would not resume operations; (4) a demolition project on proposed parkland, resulting in a court order requiring consideration of the impacts of the entire park project; and (5) a proposed landfill, resulting in court decisions requiring two different agencies to consider the full scope of the environmental impacts associated with their actions.

Cases on which Mr. DeLano has worked that have resulted in published decisions include RiverWatch v. County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 768; RiverWatch v. Olivenhain Municipal Water District (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 1186; McLeod v. Vista Unified School District (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 1156; Center for Biological Diversity v. FHA (2003) 290 F.Supp.2d 1175; Natural Resources Def. Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc. (2001) 242 F.3d 1163; Communities for a Better Environment v. Cenco Refinery Co. (2001) 179 F.Supp.2d 1128; Communities for a Better Environment v. Cenco Refinery Co. (2001) 180 F.Supp.2d 1062; Natural Resources Defense Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc. (1999) 39 F.Supp.2d 1235; Natural Resources Defense Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc. (1998) 28 F.Supp.2d 584; Natural Resources Defense Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc. (1996) 945 F.Supp. 1330; and Natural Resources Defense Council v. Southwest Marine, Inc. (1994) 857 F.Supp. 734.

Isabela Rodriguez

Isabela Rodriguez is an environmental lawyer in San Diego. She has experience working with nonprofits, government agencies, and the private sector. She previously worked with the California Energy Commission and the Special Litigations Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She has also worked with nonprofits such as San Diego Coast Keeper and Green Energy Consumers Alliance.

Isabela received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Environmental Studies from the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She attended the University of San Diego for law school and received her Juris Doctorate with an Energy and Environmental Law concentration, was a member of the Environmental Law Society and the Journal of Climate and Energy Law. She is admitted to the California State Bar and was chosen as the State Bar Environmental Law Fellow in 2015.

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