PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Scott S. Slater has more than twenty years’ experience in representing clients in complex water matters throughout the western United States. An experienced litigator, Mr. Slater's legal practice now emphasizes negotiation and strategic planning for clients seeking to secure new supplies or responsibly manage available resources to meet their needs.

Mr. Slater serves as special water counsel to municipalities, investor-owned utilities, private corporations, special districts, cities and large landowners. His experience includes, but is not limited to, transactional counseling, negotiating and drafting proposed legislation in addition to representation in groundwater litigation, stream adjudication, water resource and water quality cases before the State Water Resources Control Board, the Public Utilities Commission, and state and federal courts.

An accomplished author and public speaker, Mr. Slater is frequently called upon to present at national water and environmental conferences. He is the author of a two-volume treatise entitled California Water Law and Policy published by Matthew Bender and he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pepperdine School of Law (1996-2002), a visiting lecturer at the University of Western Australia and at various universities in the People's Republic of China.

SELECTED TRANSACTIONS
Cooperation Agreement (2005). Negotiated an agreement for the joint use of the Upper American River Project (“UARP”) for the benefit of El Dorado County, an area of origin community at the headwaters of the American River. The agreement provided access to the UARP and the right to divert and store up to 40,000 acre feet of water annually.
Quantification Settlement Agreement (2003). Negotiated a series of complex agreements between State and Federal agencies for the settlement of disputes and the lining of the All-American Canal and the transfer of 77,700 acre feet of water to San Diego County for the next 110 years.
Chino Basin Desalter Authority (2001). Facilitator and mediator in the formation of the Chino Basin Desalter Authority and $350 million water supply contracts.
Peace Agreement - Chino Basin (2000). Facilitator and mediator as general counsel for the Chino Basin Watermaster for execution of a 400 million dollar Optimum Basin Management Program and Peace Agreement for the Chino Basin.
Agreement for the Sale of Santa Clarita Water Company (1999). Lead negotiator in 63 million dollar sale of an investor-owned utility to the Castaic Lake Water Agency.
Agreement for Treatment of Wastewater at Hyperion (1999). Negotiated thirty-year wastewater agreement for the City of Beverly Hills, City of Burbank and Universal Studios with the City of Los Angeles for use of the largest wastewater facility in the Western United States.
Agreement for the Exchange of Colorado River Water (1998). Lead negotiator of a $1 billion 30-year water exchange agreement for the San Diego County Water Authority.
Agreement for the Seventy-Five Year Lease of Conserved Water by the San Diego County Water Authority From the Imperial Irrigation District (1998). Negotiated a several billion dollar, seventy-five year lease of 200,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water for the San Diego County Water Authority.
Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Oxnard Conduit. (1996). Negotiated $8.2 million lease and sale of unused capacity in the Oxnard Conduit to the Calleguas Municipal Water District.
Acquisition of Santa Paula Water Works for the City of Santa Paula. (1995). Counsel of record for the City of Santa Paula in the $18 million acquisition of Santa Paula Water Works, the utility retail water purveyor to residents within the City of Santa Paula and the surrounding unincorporated area.
Water Supply Agreement for the Delivery of Water Through the Hueneme Pipeline. (1995) Lead negotiator for the City of Oxnard in acquiring a forty-year water supply from the United Water Conservation District in Ventura County.

ADJUDICATION/WATER LITIGATION
Chino Basin Municipal Water District v. City of Chino, et al. (2000-). Continuing representation of Watermaster under a 1978 Judgment adjudicating all rights to groundwater and storage for a basin of approximately 6 million acre feet of usable storage.
SDCWA/IID Petition for Transfer (2002), Order WRO 2002-0013 (October 28, 2002), Revised Pursuant to Order WRO 2002-0016. Amended Joint Petition for Approval of a Long-Term Transfer of Conserved Water from IID to SDCWA, and to Change the Point of Diversion, Place of Use, and Purpose of Use under Permit 7643 (Application 7482).
The Hartwell Corporation et al., v. Superior Court of Ventura County (2002) 27 Cal.4th 256, Representation on Respondent and Prevailing Party.
In re Petition for Extension of Time for Salinas Reservoir (2000) WR 2013. Lead counsel and successful petitioner to approve Expansion of Salinas Reservoir for City of San Luis Obispo.
City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency (2000) 23 Cal.4th 1224. Amicus curie on behalf of California Water Association before the California Supreme Court.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California v. All Persons Interested in the Matter (1998) (San Francisco Superior Court) Defended against validation action brought by the Metropolitan Water District concerning its water wheeling rates. Lead counsel for the defendant and prevailing party, the San Diego County Water Authority.
Southern California Water Company v. City of La Verne (1997). Lead counsel for Southern California Water Company in the adjudication of the Six Basins Area of Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. Stipulated judgment.
United Water Conservation District v. City of San Buenaventura (1996) (Ventura County Superior Court) Santa Paula Basin, Ventura County. Lead counsel for intervenors the Santa Paula Basin Pumpers Association, which was comprised of 98% of the total groundwater use within the Basin. Stipulated judgment.
Los Osos Valley Associates v. City of San Luis Obispo (1994) 30 Cal.App.4th 1670 [36 Cal.Rptr.2d 758] on appeal for the City of San Luis Obispo. Lead counsel on appeal from an adverse trial court judgment on behalf of City of San Luis Obispo.
Santa Clarita Water Company v. Castaic Lake Water Agency (1994) (Los Angeles Superior Court) Los Angeles County. Lead counsel for plaintiff Santa Clarita Water Company in action to enforce contractual rights to water. Case settled for $500,000.
Santa Clarita Water Company v. Newhall Land & Farming, et. al. (1991) (Los Angeles Superior Court) Santa Clara River Basin, Los Angeles County. Lead counsel for plaintiff and prevailing party Santa Clarita Water Company invalidating an agreement purporting to restrict the utilities right to extract groundwater.
Kern Island Association v. City of Bakersfield (1991) 40 P.U.C. 2d 65, Kern County. Lead counsel for defendant and prevailing party in action brought to restrict the distribution of water under a purchase agreement.
WR 88-14 (SWRCB) San Simeon Creek, San Luis Obispo County (1989). Lead counsel for plaintiff and prevailing party San Simeon Creek Ranch in action to enforce priority of riparian rights and enjoin well interference.
Wright v. Goleta Water District (1985) 174 Cal.App.3d 70 [219 Cal.Rptr. 743] on appeal, retrial and subsequent appeal. Counsel of record on appeal, retrial and subsequent appeal in action to assert overlying owner priority to groundwater in the North Central Sub-basin of the Goleta Groundwater Basin.

PUBLICATIONS
Author, California Water Law and Policy (1994) Matthew Bender. Researched and wrote the leading California resource on California Water law. Updated annually.
State Water Resource Administration in the Free Trade Agreement Era: As Strong as Ever, Michigan Law Review (2007).
A Prescription for Fulfilling the Promise of a Robust Water Market, 36 McGeorge Law.Rev. 253 (2005).
California Groundwater Management: A Resource for Future Generations (1997, 2005) Groundwater Resources Association (GRA). Co-Written with K. Neese, S. Bachman, C. Hauge, R. McGlothlin, T. Parker and A. Saracino.
The Surreptitious Geophysical Survey, An Interference with Prospective Advantage. 15 Pac.L.J. 381 (1983-1984).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
California Super Lawyer. Confidential peer review surveys conducted by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine.
AV Martindale Hubbell. Highest rating of professional competency.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Ground Water Trust, Board Member 2000-present - Chairperson (2003)
California Groundwater Resources Association, Board Member, Chair, Legislative Committee 1999-2003.
Natural Resources Subsection of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of California, Chair 2001-2004.

FACULTY POSITIONS
University of Pepperdine School of Law (1996–2002)
   Adjunct Professor of Water Law: Semester Course on Water Law
University of Western Australia, Perth Australia (Fall 2000, Spring 1997)
   Visiting Lecturer on Water and Environmental Law.
   Taught Semester Course on Water and Environmental Law for Masters of Laws Program.
   Provided comparative law reviews to the Coalition of Australian Governments and
   consulted with the water law reform effort in Western Australia involving the
   Waters and Rivers Commission, the Water Corporation and the Office of Water Regulation. United States Information Agency Lectures (Winter 1999)
Peoples’ Republic of China: Guest Lecturer at Tsinghua University, Hohai University,
   Tongji University, Shandong University and Ministry of Water Resources
University Of California, Santa Barbara (1989–1997)
   Adjunct Professor of Water Rights and Water Policy: Graduate course on Western Water
   Law and Policy.

APPOINTMENTS AND EXPERT WITNESS
Board of Directors, Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency, appointed to Board of Directors for a special act agency with responsibility for managing groundwater in Ojai, California, 1994-1996.
Expert Witness on water, water rights and attorney “standard of care” in administrative and civil proceedings.
Mojave Water Adjudication Attorney’s Fees, 57 CPUC 2d580 (1994)
851 Approval of American States Six Basins Adjudication, CPUC, 1999 Cal.PUC Lexis 647 (1999)
Approval of Aerojet Settlement, 2005 WL 1798330 Cal.PUC 2nd (2005)
851 Approval of Folsom Lease, CPUC, 2004 Cal.PUC Lexis 95 (2004)

EDUCATION
University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, J.D. (with distinction), 1984
   Order of the Coif
   Upper 10 percent
   Editor Pacific Law JournalCorpus Juris Secundum Award: Most significant contribution
   to legal scholarship class of 1984
   Traynor Honor Society
University of Redlands, B.A., Political Science and Geology (with distinction), 1980
   Upper 10 percent
   Coro Fellow
   Highest Grade Point Average Among Graduating Seniors in Earth Sciences
   Political Philosophy Distinguished Graduate

ADMISSIONS
State Bar of California United States Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit