William J. Priest

Of Counsel

William J. "Jim" Priest is of counsel in the firm’s Municipal Law practice group operating out of its Ontario office. Mr. Priest currently serves as assistant city attorney for the City of Covina where, among his responsibilities, he is general counsel to the Covina Planning Commission and has served as legal advisor to the Covina Personnel Advisory Board. He also provides specialized legal services to many other client cities.

Mr. Priest has assisted the City of Covina with a variety of high-profile development projects during his tenure, including the Heritage Plaza park, the Metrolink and Civic Center Parking Structures, and the Olson Company's "Vintage Walk" and "Citrus Walk" mixed-use developments. Currently, he is assisting Covina with its first comprehensive Zoning Code update in fifty years. In recent years, he has assisted Covina with adoption of its “Town Center Specific Plan” and has also drafted major updates to its Municipal Code with respect to subdivisions, buildings/construction and street/sidewalk regulation.   Mr. Priest also served as general counsel to the City of Gardena Planning Commission from 2006 to 2009, where he assisted that city with its first comprehensive General Plan update in thirty years.   

As part of his municipal practice, Mr. Priest frequently advises clients on issues regarding the State Planning and Zoning Law, Subdivision Map Act, Brown Act, Public Records Act and similar laws. His other areas of expertise include telecommunications, public finance, public works contracting and elections. One of his current areas of focus is wireless communication facility (a.k.a. “celltower”) site leasing, access and regulation, including updating client cities’ codes in order to comply with evolving federal and state law.   Mr. Priest is experienced in local tax, assessment and fee/rate setting under Propositions 13, 218 and 26. He recently worked with the City of Arcadia on a comprehensive update to its local hotel tax ordinance, which was approved by the voters last year. 

Mr. Priest returned to Best Best & Krieger in 2006, after spending several years with Oliver, Sandifer, Murphy and Lee in Los Angeles where he served as assistant city attorney for the Cities of Gardena and Downey. During his prior tenure with Best Best & Krieger from 2000 to 2003, he served many client agencies, including the Cities of Fontana and Ontario, as well as the March Joint Powers Authority. In his earliest years of practice, Mr. Priest was a member of the Illinois Bar, serving as assistant city attorney for the Cities of Maroa and Forsyth, Illinois.

Mr. Priest currently serves on the board of directors of the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, the auxiliary organization serving the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He also serves on the Advisory Committee concerning tax legislation of prepaid wireless telecommunications services (AB 300). He is also a member of the City Attorney’s Association of Los Angeles County (CAALAC) and the Greater Inland Empire Municipal Law Association (GIEMLA). Mr. Priest regularly writes and lectures on municipal legal issues including local taxation, telecommunications, elections and public noticing guidelines for local actions.

Mr. Priest received his Juris Doctorate from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he served as lead editor of the Journal of Legal Medicine and captain of the August A. Rendigs Products Liability Moot Court team. He graduated cum laude from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Psychology. Mr. Priest is a native of the San Fernando Valley. He has been married to his wife, Mara, for twelve years and has two children, Lauren and Jimmy.

Education

• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), J.D.
• University of California, Los Angeles, B.A.

Bar Admissions

• California
• Illinois