At a Glance
Megan represents both government agencies and private entities relating to municipal government, real estate, land use, zoning, planning and environmental laws.
Prior to joining BB&K, Megan served as assistant and deputy city attorney for several Orange County cities.
Megan has been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Star every year from 2013 through the present.
Megan Garibaldi advises public agencies and private entities on local government law, with an emphasis on land use and entitlement, planning, zoning, affordable housing and state environmental laws. Megan also focuses on real estate and economic development work. A partner in the Municipal Law practice group of Best Best & Krieger LLP, Megan regularly counsels clients on land use decisions and project development. When her clients face legal challenges to their decisions or projects, she successfully and zealously advocates for them in court. Megan’s goal is to find practical solutions while providing her clients the best possible results.
Prior to joining BB&K, Megan was a partner at Rutan & Tucker, LLP, in both the Governmental Law and Real Estate groups. During that time, Megan served as assistant and deputy city attorney to several Orange County cities, where she advised on matters ranging from the Public Records Act and Brown Act to Proposition 218 and the Landscaping and Lighting Act to the Planning and Zoning Laws, Subdivision Map Act and Mitigation Fee Act. Throughout her career, Megan has reviewed, drafted and negotiated numerous entitlement-related documents, disposition and development agreements, other complex real estate instruments and CEQA-related documents. She has also successfully defended several real estate- and land use-related litigation matters, as well as complicated municipal finance challenges.
While in law school, Megan served as senior editor of the Southern California Law Review. Megan is an Orange County native, where she still lives today with her husband and two young daughters. She is licensed to practice law in the State of California and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Megan is based in the firm’s Irvine and Manhattan Beach offices.
Education
- University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, J.D.
- University of California, Santa Barbara, B.A., law and society, B.A., religious studies, cum laude
Memberships
- Orange County Bar Association
- Thomas House Family Shelter, Board of Directors
Honors/Awards
- Southern California Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2013-2018
- Advised government agencies and private entities regarding governmental permitting and CEQA and RHNA compliance, as well as litigation risks and resolution associated with proposed developments
- Successfully pursued litigation relating to use of existing entitlements, including conditional use permit and inverse condemnation claims
- Successfully defended multiple CEQA challenges on behalf of governmental agencies relating to proposed housing and commercial developments
- Advised municipal governments on regulatory and environmental compliance relating to distributed energy resources technology and power generation and distribution facilities
- Prevailed in numerous cases raising constitutional challenges to complex municipal financing mechanisms employed by local government agency
- Negotiated and drafted various real estate transfer documents on behalf of private entities, including, but not limited to, purchase agreements, easements, leases and assignment agreements