Alfred Smith, Chair of Nossaman's Water Group, is a recognized expert in water, environmental, transportation and public agency law. A graduate of the Harvard Law School, he has successfully litigated multiple water right adjudications, and he has secured more than $750 million worth of contamination settlements in favor of his clients.
He is a trusted advisor on matters involving water rights, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), Colorado River and Pueblo rights, recycled water, water resource development, contamination remediation, groundwater adjudications, water transfers, desalination, conjunctive use, climate change and environmental regulatory compliance. Alfred has also developed Urban Water Management Plans, water supply assessments and environmental impact reports for a wide range of residential and commercial developments.
An experienced General Counsel to multiple government agencies, Alfred is an expert on all aspects of public agency governance and operations, including the Brown Act, Public Records Act, ethics and political law compliance, CEQA, public contracting, construction claims and disputes and related litigation.
Alfred has successfully litigated at all levels. His accomplishments include helping negotiate one of California's largest water contamination mitigation settlements in favor of his clients and winning a unanimous decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is an appointed member of the Association of California Water Agencies' (ACWA) Legal Affairs Committee. He was listed as one of Los Angeles's Top 100 Lawyers by the Los Angeles Business Journal and has been selected to the Rising Stars and Super Lawyers lists every year since 2008. In 2016, the Los Angeles Business Journal named Alfred one of the Most Influential Minority Lawyers in the Los Angeles region, and Alfred was included in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© for Water Law. Recently, he has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Water Education Foundation.
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