Practice Summary

Steven Graham Pacifico is a partner based out of Cole Huber’s Ontario office whose practice focuses on municipal law. He currently serves as the City Attorney for the Cities of Canyon Lake, Hemet, Indio, and Yucaipa. He also serves as General Counsel to Idyllwild Fire Protection District.

He has dedicated his entire career to serving local governments beginning with his tenure as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Bernardino during a period of dramatic transformation. Joining shortly after the city declared bankruptcy in 2012, Steven worked for over six years on some of the most challenging and complex legal issues encountered by local government, including franchising their solid waste services, annexing into the County of San Bernardino fire protection district, and environmental litigation involving water and wastewater services. When Steven joined Cole Huber, he was assigned as the Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Ontario and Oakley where he continued working on complex development and environmental matters.

A collaborative attorney that works with city staff and special counsel to find creative solutions, Steven has advised multiple cities on topics ranging from local cannabis regulations to employee investigations to updating general plans. Steven assists clients by providing advice on the wide array of municipal legal issues faced by cities requiring expertise in land use, real estate, contracts, construction, public utilities, public finance, information technology, transportation, CEQA, Proposition 218, and labor.

General municipal law issues related to the Brown Act, Public Records Act, and First Amendment are some of Steven’s favorites to advise on. Steven regularly writes for the Daily Journal and our firm’s municipal law blog.