Biography
David H. Blackwell is a partner in the firm's Walnut Creek office where he practices real estate law with an emphasis on land use entitlements and litigation. David's experience includes representing landowners, developers, businesses, and governmental entities before administrative agencies and state and federal courts.
David's practice involves all areas of land use law, including state and local planning and zoning law, the California Environmental Quality Act, the Subdivision Map Act, initiatives and referenda, development agreements, affordable housing, and density bonus law, traditional and sustainable energy projects, wetlands regulation, eminent domain and inverse condemnation, and the Williamson Act. He advises purchasers, developers, investors, and lenders regarding existing entitlements on real property, identifying potential land use issues, and developing a strategy for obtaining entitlements if existing entitlements are insufficient. David also litigates these issues in state and federal courts, both at the trial court and appellate court levels.
David is co-author of Ballot Box Navigator: A Practical and Tactical Guide to Land Use Initiatives and Referenda in California (Solano Press Books, 2003).
Memberships
- State Bar of California, Litigation Section
- State Bar of California, Real Property Section, former Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee
- National Association of Home Builders
- National Association of Industrial & Office Properties, San Francisco (NAIOP-SF)
- California Building Industry Association
- Urban Land Institute-San Francisco (ULI San Francisco), Policy & Practice Committee Member
- Building Industry Association of the Bay Area (BIA Bay Area)
- Contra Costa County Bar Association
- Contra Costa Council
Accolades
- Selected for inclusion in Northern California
Super Lawyers (2005, 2010, 2011) - Martindale-Hubbell A-V rating
Education
David received his LL.M. in European Law, with merit, from London School of Economics and Political Science in 1991. He received his J.D. from University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law in 1990. He received his B.A. in English, with honors, from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1986.
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California