Gregory K. Wilkinson

Partner

Riverside
3750 University Avenue, Suite 400
P.O. Box 1028

TEL: (951) 826-8270
Gregory.Wilkinson@bbklaw.com

Greg Wilkinson is a Partner in the law firm of Best Best & Krieger LLP and a member of the firm’s Natural Resources Practice Group.  His practice emphasizes water rights, water quality, endangered species and environmental impact reporting issues.

Mr. Wilkinson successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court for the petitioners in Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154 (1997), a case arising under the citizen suit provision of the Endangered Species Act.  He also serves as counsel to the State Water Contractors in litigation and administrative proceedings relating to the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta Estuary.  In 2006, he argued the landmark Bay-Delta water litigation that resulted in the decision in the State Water Resources Control Board Cases, 136 Cal.App.4^th 1723.    Mr. Wilkinson also serves as litigation counsel to the Friant Water Users Authority in matters relating to the Federal Central Valley Project.  In that capacity, in 2003, he successfully argued Westlands Water District. v. United States, 337 F.3d 1092 which sets the priorities for water deliveries among federal CVP contractors.  Mr. Wilkinson also acts as counsel for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in environmental litigation relating to the Lower Colorado River.

Before joining Best Best & Krieger LLP in 1986, Mr. Wilkinson served for nine years as a deputy attorney general for the State of California specializing in water law matters and, for four years, as the Chief of Land and Water Resources Law for the Development Law Service of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy.  In 2000 and 2001 Mr. Wilkinson led a team of United Nations and World Bank experts in rewriting the water law of Namibia to eliminate apartheid era rules regarding water allocation.

Mr. Wilkinson is a 1969 graduate of Claremont McKenna College and received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1972.

In 2006, Mr. Wilkinson was voted one of “ America’s Best Lawyers” by his peers in the water and environmental law fields.

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 1972

Education

• JD, University of California Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall
• BA, Claremont McKenna College