Joseph Byrne
USC Gould School of Law

Joseph Byrne is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Best Best & Krieger LLP and is a member of the firm’s Environmental Law & Natural Resources, Special Districts and Business practice groups. He provides general counsel services and advises both public and private sector clients on water law and has additional experience in general business law.

Byrne serves as general counsel to the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, the Municipal Water District of Orange County, Lake Arrowhead Community Services District, the Rowland Water District and the Upper Los Angeles River Area Watermaster. In his general counsel capacity, he advises clients on a broad range of issues. He regularly attends public agency meetings and works closely with elected board members. He also serves as general counsel to the State Water Contractors, an organization that represents 27 public agencies with long-term water supply contracts for State Water Project water. Together, these agencies provide clean drinking water to more than 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland throughout the State.

From 2010-2019, he served as a member of the California Water Commission, serving under three governors, and was commission chair from 2013 until 2017. From 1998-2002, he worked in the California State Assembly, serving two years as counsel to the speaker of the California State Assembly and as the speaker’s chief policy consultant on water/environment and public safety. 

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The Washington Post
July 28, 2021
Re: Clare Pastore

Clare Pastore was interviewed about the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. “The DFEH would want to take on cases to set precedents, against particularly bad actors, if there are lot of complaints about the same employer, or to send a wake up call to the industry," she said.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Gregory Keating
May, 2021

“Form and Substance in the 'Private Law' of Torts,” 14 Journal of Tort Law 45 (2021).

Robin Craig
May, 2021

Robin Craig accepted the invitation of the Environmental Law Institute (Washington. D.C.) to participate in its new project on Communicating the Science of Sea Level Rise. The project will involve a webinar and a conference in late 2021, with Craig slated to speak on property, water law, and constitutional issues arising from adaptation to sea level rise.

Robin Craig
May, 2021

Robin Craig accepted an invitation to join the Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Water Policy.