Claire S. Lai

Claire S. Lai is Senior Of Counsel in Redwood Public Law and currently serves as Assistant City Attorney for the City of South San Francisco, City of Walnut Creek, and Town of Los Altos Hills, as well as the General Counsel for Graton Community Services District and the Oro Loma Sanitary District. She also serves as Assistant General Counsel for the SSF Conference Center Authority and Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission. Additionally, Claire serves as supporting counsel for the San Diego Countywide Oversight Board and the North County Library Authority.
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Claire advises cities and special districts on a wide range of municipal and public law issues. Her areas of focus include land use, telecommunications, housing, public contracts, the Brown Act, and the Public Records Act. In her practice, Claire assists cities and regional agencies with navigating state housing laws and adopting local development regulations; procuring and managing public works projects; and considering land use and CEQA issues in urban developments. Additionally, Claire regularly counsels public agencies on real property transactions and prepares purchase and sale agreements, leases, and other disposition documents. Claire also advises public agencies on unique legal areas such as redevelopment agency dissolution law, the Surplus Land Act, and federal and state public utilities regulations.

From her background serving as Deputy County Counsel at the Merced County Counsel’s Office and Interim Deputy City Attorney at the Milpitas City Attorney’s Office, Claire further brings valuable first-hand experience to our public law clients. While in law school, Claire was a Judicial Extern in the Pro Se Department of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco and a law clerk in the Appeals, Writs and Trial Section of the California Attorney General’s Office.