Allen Matkins Further Expands Distinguished Land Use Group with New Senior Counsel Jennifer R. Jeffers

SAN FRANCISCO – October 10, 2023 – Allen Matkins announced today that Jennifer R. Jeffers has joined the firm as senior counsel in its Land Use, Environmental, and Natural Resources Group and will be based in the firm's San Francisco office.

Jennifer brings more than 13 years of land use and natural resources regulatory experience to the firm and works throughout California across all asset types on land use, zoning, permitting, and compliance issues. Jennifer counsels public, private and non-profit clients on all phases of project development, acquisition, due diligence, design, environmental review, entitlement approvals, and project construction.

Over the course of her legal career, Jennifer has played a key role in successfully guiding some of the largest and most complex projects through California’s notoriously onerous entitlement process, including Apple Inc.’s state-of-the-art headquarters campus in Cupertino, Kaiser Permanente’s hospitals and medical office facilities across the state, the Vallco Town Center in Cupertino, and Brooklyn Basin in Oakland. She counsels a wide array of residential, mixed-use, industrial, commercial, and renewable energy developers throughout California.

Jennifer’s science and policy background affords her a unique ability to strategically counsel clients on a broad range of land use and natural resources legal issues. She spearheads client entitlement strategies, oversees environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and navigates local government and regulatory agency requirements. In addition, Jennifer advises clients regarding wetland and water quality issues under the federal Clean Water Act and California state law, matters arising under state and federal Endangered Species Acts, and in permitting procedures and negotiations with state and federal agencies.

Before joining Allen Matkins, Jennifer was a partner and led the land use practice at Stice & Block LLP, an environmental, land use, and real estate firm in Oakland, CA. Prior to that, she was a senior attorney in the Environment & Energy Practice Group in Morrison & Foerster LLP’s San Francisco office.

“Jennifer’s deep experience supporting clients in real estate, land use, natural resources, and related issues as well as her understanding of the regulatory landscape are a strong complement to our quickly growing practice,” said Allen Matkins partner Emily Murray, co-chair of the firm’s Land Use, Environmental and Natural Resources group. “We’re proud to have such a broad and deep bench of nationally renowned lawyers like Jennifer that continue to increase our capabilities and provide the best possible service to clients.”

Jennifer is an active member of the Bay Planning Coalition, the Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network (CREW), the Commercial Real Estate Professionals Network, the Oakland Jobs and Housing Coalition, and the Environmental Law and Real Property Law sections of the California Lawyers Association. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Directors Emeritus Circle for the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at Berkeley Law and formerly served on the Board of Directors for TransForm.

Jennifer obtained a J.D. from the University of California Berkeley, School of Law, with a certification in environmental law. Additionally, she earned an M.S. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from the same university. During law school, she served as an executive director of the Ecology Law Quarterly and as a research assistant for the Law of the Sea Institute. She earned a B.A. in Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, with honors, from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Jennifer’s hire follows the addition of Stuart I. Block to Allen Matkins’ Land Use, Environmental, and Natural Resources Group in September as the firm continues to focus on growth and expanding its already robust team.

About Allen Matkins

Allen Matkins, a law firm with over 250 attorneys, was founded with deep roots in real estate and has leveraged that foundation to grow and build prominent litigation, corporate, tax, labor and employment, land use, and environmental practices allowing us to partner with clients across myriad industries and markets. For more than 45 years, Allen Matkins has worked with clients drawn to us by our reputation for market leading solutions, pragmatism, exemplary quality, approachability, and our unparalleled network of contacts and connections in business and government. For more information about Allen Matkins please visit www.allenmatkins.com.