Channel Law Group, LLP

03/21/2026

CLG is seeking a Summer Associate to join us in June 2026. If you're interested in environmental and land use law, please send a (1) Cover Letter; (2) Resume; and (3) Two Writing Samples to [email protected]. We'll start meeting with candidates at the end of April.

07/28/2025

You may have heard that significant changes to the California Environment Quality Act were recently signed into law. What does this new CEQA legislation mean for you? Jamie T. Hall, managing partner of Channel Law Group LLP, will be presenting an overview of the new legislation so that environmental advocates understand the implications. Join our webinar this July 29th at 12:00 PM and find out.

Please RSVP at https://lnkd.in/gPAEkkY6

05/20/2023

Excited that we won a big environmental case this week. This project would have caused the death of countless rare, threatened and endangered species that call the Ballona Wetlands home - all in the name of “restoration.” The court invalidated the Environmental Impact Report and issued an injunction preventing any activity until a new environmental report is prepared.

Environmental activists win case against proposed restoration plan that would bulldoze areas of the wetlands and relocate over 2 million cubic yards of soil

03/31/2023

Trees get their day in court! Judge Issues TRO

Yesterday I went into court to get a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the City of Beverly Hills from removing the remaining 36 mature ficus trees on Robertson Blvd. The City already cut down 42 of these trees. The City did ZERO environmental review and didn’t even notice residents before they voted to remove the trees in December 2022.

I’m happy to report the TRO was GRANTED!

Even the LA Times Editorial Board thinks this is a horrible idea!

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-02-17/if-trees-have-to-come-down-in-beverly-hills-nix-the-palms-for-something-shady

03/21/2023

We recently won a case challenging the City’s approval of a TOC Project. The issue in this case was whether a proposed apartment complex was eligible for "Tier 3" Incentives under the City's Transit Oriented Community ("TOC") Guidelines due to its proximity to a "Major Transit Stop." Judge Maurice Leiter ruled that the City of Los Angeles abused its discretion when it determined that it could combine bus routes in order to conclude that a Project was within 1500 feet of a "Major Transit Stop." In this case it was clear that there were two rapid bus lines that intersected, but only one of those rapid buses met the 15 minute headway requirement.

The City argued that staff had discretion to combine different bus routes in order to conclude that the 15 minute headway requirement was satisfied. But, we noted that is not stated in the TOC Guidelines or Appendix A to the Guidelines (which has a sample calculation). Further, that is not stated in the staff report to the CPC that accompanied the Guidelines when they were adopted.

Bottom line - public agencies can’t just make up rules/regulations that they wished existed.

The opinion is available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/gwbuio57dljpxgm/Hi%20Point%20v.%20City%20of%20LA%20Ruling.pdf?dl=0

03/10/2023

Happy to celebrate the purchase of a 10 acre parcel to add to Griffith Park! CLG Managing Partner Jamie Hall worked pro-Bono for the LA Parks Foundation on this one and helped secure a large portion of the funding for the acquisition. Congratulations to all involved.

12/03/2020

The Bakersfield City Council has placed a temporary restraining order on its recent urban hen ordinance, preventing homeowners from raising chickens in their backyards.

12/03/2020

The Promenade 2035 project will replace a shuttered shopping mall in Warner Center with a new "downtown district" featuring a supermarket, public plazas, high-density housing and a 10,000-seat sports and entertainment venue.

08/20/2019

Unanimous decision about 2014 law may limit local government discretion across California

08/19/2019

We won our California Supreme Court case!

https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S238563.PDF

08/17/2019

Our big California Supreme Court case is finally going to be decided. The Court will release the opinion on Monday at 10 am. It’s going to be a nerve racking weekend! We have been on this legal journey for over five years!