Attorneys
Craig M. Collins
Partner
Mr. Collins is one of California’s preeminent property lawyers. One of the top land use and condemnation lawyers in the United States, Mr. Collins' cases have involved planning, zoning, eminent domain, various kinds of business litigation, landslides, contract, due process, equal protection, defective construction, nuisance, insurance and environmental law.
Mr. Collins focuses on land-use and environmental impacts of a wide range of private and public projects, including industrial scale solar facilities, university campuses, hospitals, research and development facilities, water supply and storage projects, oil refineries, maritime port and airport expansions, and numerous industrial, commercial, housing and mixed use developments. He also reviews compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), legislative and quasi-adjudicatory approvals required under the California Planning and Zoning Law, and permits and approvals required by other land use and environmental regulations, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, federal and state Endangered Species Acts, California Coastal Act and the Subdivision Map Act.
Mr. Collins is an experienced litigator, and has both defended and challenged projects in both the state and federal courts.
Awards & Honors
Recognized as a Lawyer of Distinction
Awarded to Top 10% of Lawyers in the USA
Rated an AV Preeminent Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell for professional excellence
Approximately Top 10% of Lawyers in the USA
ALMA MATER
New York University School of Law, e-LL.M
Loyola Law School, LL.M.
Columbia University School of Law, J.D.
Occidental College, magna cum laude
PRIOR EXPERIENCE
Law Office of Hannah Bentley/Hannah Bentley APC
Morrison & Foerster, 1987-1991
BAR ADMISSIONS
California
Hannah Bentley
Of Counsel
Ms. Bentley has approximately 25 years of experience litigating in state and federal court on environmental, constitutional, real estate damage, and state and local tax issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION
With another sole practitioner litigating on behalf of Greenpeace, local environmental groups, and several Indian tribes, Ms. Bentley won a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the federal Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service barring a radioactive waste dump that had been proposed for Ward Valley in the Mojave Desert on the ground that the dump would adversely modify or destroy critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise, which had yet to be designated under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. The case resulted in the designation of critical habitat for the species in the Mojave Desert.
Ms. Bentley has brought close to 30 cases under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), most resulting in settlements benefiting petitioners, and she has also represented prevailing agency respondents in litigation.
And she has drafted amicus curiae briefs for the winning side in the Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court supporting the constitutionality of state statutes regulating environmental advertising and tobacco distribution.