PAULA B. HERNANDEZ

Paula Hernandez is an associate in our San Bernardino office where her practice focuses on land use, handling a wide range of cases involving legal issues related to environmental, zoning, real estate, and property law. Her experience includes research and analysis of land use issues such as development of impacted properties, redevelopment projects, development agreements, tentative maps and subdivision map issues, zoning, general plan amendments, specific plans, traffic and transportation issues, and conditional use permits and variances.

In the past, Paula externed at the Van Nuys District Attorney’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission Office in Los Angeles. While in law school, she was a staff member of the Pepperdine Law Review and worked with the Palmer Center Microenterprise Program in assisting underprivileged members of the Los Angeles community to find gainful employment and launch micro-businesses.

Paula also spent two months in Kampala in 2014 working for the Ugandan Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

• Serves as environmental and land use legal counsel to a national retailer for the acquisition, entitlement, development, operations and/or expansion of over 200 stores and warehouse facilities throughout California, in addition to numerous other Fortune 500 companies.
• Successfully worked with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to develop a response plan for the redevelopment of a 302-acre brownfield site in coordination with multiple agencies.
• Proactively developed guidance and client compliance strategies related to recent regulations and legislation including: California’s Proposition 65 amendments; California Senate Bill 334 (2021) related to correctional facilities; Los Angeles County’s “Green Zones” Ordinance; South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Rule 2305 (Warehouse Indirect Source Rule); and a variety of local ordinances including moratoria and “big box” ordinances.
• Assisted a major beverage company with environmental due diligence for future manufacturing plant sites and operational environmental compliance matters.

• Dean’s Excellence Scholarship
• Pepperdine Law Review, 2014-2016
• Straus Institute Certificate in Dispute Resolution
• CALI Award for Criminal Law
• Dean’s List
• Phi Delta Phi Honors Society

• Interview, “A Strong Sense of Justice and Curiosity for the Law,” Fennemore Blog, July 7, 2022
• Author, “California Third District Court of Appeal Affirms State Water Board’s Authority to Regulate Unreasonable Water Use through Temporary Emergency Regulations and Curtailment Orders Without Prior Evidentiary Hearing,” California Water Law & Policy, September 2020
• Author, “California Department of Water Resources Awards $47 Million in Grants for Groundwater Sustainability Projects,” California Water Law & Policy, April 2020
• Author, “Natural Resources Defense Council Files Suit Against Various Counties and Cities for Failure to Comply with California Water Regulations,” California Water Law & Policy, February 2020
• Author, “California Kicks Off Water Year 2020 with Strong Start,” California Water Law & Policy, November 2019
• Author, “California Legislators Reject Water Tax But Approve Funding for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water,” California Water Law & Policy, July 2019
• Author, “Full Reservoirs and Dense Snowpack:  A Look at California’s Water Supply for the Rest of the Year,” California Water Law & Policy, May 2019
• Author, “State Lawmakers Propose Several Sweeping Environmental Measures this Year on Single-Use Plastic, Wastewater Reuse, and More,” California Water Law & Policy, May 2019
• Author, “California Department of Water Resources Releases Final Updated Groundwater Basin Prioritizations,” California Water Law & Policy, March 2019
• Author, “Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Issues Notice Accepting Utah’s Application for Lake Powell Pipeline,” California Water Law & Policy, February 2018
• Author, “Prompted by the Oroville Dam Crisis, California Department of Water Resources Orders Inspection of Nearly 100 California Dams,” California Water Law & Policy, September 2017
• Author, “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Reverses Decision to Extend Air Quality Deadline After 15 States Sue,” California Water Law & Policy, September 2017
• Author, “Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Authorize Department of Public Works to Study Use of Parcel Tax for Funding Stormwater Capture Projects,” California Water Law & Policy, July 2017
• Author, “Opposing Counsel: Michael H. White,” The Riverside Lawyer, Vol. 67, No. 3, March 2017

• Member, American Bar Association
• Secretary, Hispanic Bar Association
• Board Member, Adventist Attorneys Association

• Portuguese
• Spanish

• California