Alan J. Smith is a shareholder emphasizing local government,
land use, construction and real estate law. He also serves on
the firm's Management Committee. His practice includes counseling
and litigation primarily in the areas of commercial transactions,
construction, real estate transactions, real estate finance
and escrows.
Mr. Smith has tried numerous real estate actions in various
counties' Superior Courts, including actions involving fraud
claims, contract claims, specific performance and rescission
claims, title insurance claims, partition actions, and assorted
easement disputes. He has represented public and private entities
in connection with delay damage and extra work claims on construction
projects.
Mr. Smith has served as the
City Attorney for the City of Watsonville since December 1995.
Between 1996 and 1999 he served on the Community Service Policy
Committee of the League
of California Cities and was a member of the League's
City Attorney's Department Legislative Committee during 1998
and 1999.
Mr. Smith received his J.D. from the University
of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in 1979. He performed
his undergraduate work at the University of California, Los
Angeles and Chapman University. In 1979, Mr. Smith was admitted
to the California Bar and the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California. He was admitted to bar of
the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of California in 1981, the Central District in 1982 and the
Southern District in 1983.
Mr. Smith has been actively involved in leadership
roles in the community throughout his legal career. Between
1991 and 1995 he was a member of the Board of Directors of
the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and served as its president
in 1993. He has been a member of the Watsonville Rotary Club
since 1989 and served on its Board of Directors in various
positions. He was elected to the Governing Board of the Cabrillo
Community College District in 1994 and re-elected in 1998
and 2002. He served as Chair of the College's Governing Board
in 1997. He has served on the Cabrillo College Foundation
for seven years and been a member of its Finance Committee
most of that period. He served on the Board of Directors of
the Monterey
County Law Library between 1980 and 1982. He coached youth
basketball at the Watsonville YMCA.
Mr. Smith's hobbies are running, master's
swimming and cross-country skiing, especially in Yosemite
National Park. He has cross-country skied the 50 mile route
from the Owens Valley across Yosemite's Tioga pass, through
Tuolumne Meadows and down Little Yosemite Canyon to Yosemite
Valley ten times.
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