Kara K. Ueda

Partner

Kara K. Ueda handles conflicts of interest, elections, land use and California Environmental Quality Act matters for municipal clients. As a partner in Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Municipal Law practice group, Kara regularly provides ethics training for public officials to comply with AB 1234. Kara also assists public agencies on general plan updates, Local Agency Formation Commission matters, Proposition 218 and Brown Act and Public Records Act compliance. She also negotiates and drafts a variety of agreements, including open space acquisitions and conservation easements. Kara serves as city attorney of Woodland, assistant city attorney to the cities of Davis and Winters, and as general counsel to El Dorado County LAFCO and Murphys Sanitary District.

In addition, Kara routinely litigates CEQA, land use and elections cases in state and federal courts. She has successfully defended public agencies in these types of cases, as well as in redevelopment, municipal finance and affordable housing cases.

Kara is a member of the League of California Cities City Attorneys’ Department ad hoc committee updating the League of California Cities’ Providing Conflict of Interest Advice publication. She is a senior fellow, in Class XVII of the American Leadership Forum – Mountain Valley Chapter. She previously served as a member of the LCC’s Municipal Law Handbook Committee, as liaison to the LCC’s Environmental Quality Policy Committee, as a representative from the City Attorneys’ Department to the Administrative Services Policy Committee and on the FPPC Committee of the City Attorneys’ Department. Kara is a past president and board member of the University of California, Davis School of Law Alumni Association and the past president and board member of the Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento. She is a former member of the Milton L. Schwartz/David F. Levi American Inn of Court and Women Lawyers of Sacramento. She previously worked as a staff attorney for the League of California Cities and served as a Senate fellow at the State Capitol.

She is also an adjunct professor, teaching local government law at University of California, Davis School of Law.

Education

• University of California, Davis, J.D.
• University of California, Davis, B.S.

Bar Admissions

• California

Court Admissions

• All State Courts in California
• United States District Court, Eastern District of California
• United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Awards

• Sacramento Magazine Top Lawyers, State, Local & Municipal (2015-2016)
• Lincoln High School Hall of Fame (2016)
• Super Lawyers Top Women Attorneys in Northern California (2014)
• Sacramento Business Journal Best of the Bar (2014-2015)
• Super Lawyers Northern California Rising Star (2012-2014)
• Sacramento Business Journal 40 Under 40 (2011)

Kara K. Ueda

Partner

• Author, Emails and Text Messages On Personal Devices Subject to Public Records Act,” BB&K Legal Alert, March 25, 2013
• Co-author, “FPPC Approves Amendment Clarifying Appointments to Paid Positions,” BB&K Legal Alert, March 16, 2012
• Author, “The Brown Act and the Perils of Electronic Communication,” Western City, June 2011
• Author, "Round and Round We Go…? The new ‘revolving door’ law," Public Law Journal, The State Bar of California, Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring 2007
• Co-author, "A Local Official’s Guide to Ethics Laws," published by the Institute for Local Government
• Reviewer, League of California Cities, Municipal Law Handbook

Kara K. Ueda

Partner

• "How New Laws Affect LAFCo Clerks," CALAFCO Annual Staff Workshop, March 2016
• “Performance Measures – Accountability and Transparency Certifications Through CSDA and Others,” CALAFCO Annual Staff Workshop, April 2015
• “Webinar: Best Practices in Agenda Preparation and Minutes,” CSDA, April 2015
• “Initiative and Referendum,” League of California Cities City Clerks New Laws and Election Seminar, Dec. 4, 2014
• “AB 1234 Training,” California Association of Sanitation Agencies’ 59th Annual Conference, Aug. 20, 2014
• Panelist, "A Reception for New Lawyers & Students Pursuing Public Service Careers," Public Law Section of the State Bar of California, September 2014
• “The Modern Female Shareholder: What you always wanted to know about the challenges and rewards of becoming, and being, a female shareholder,” Women Lawyers of Sacramento, March 19, 2014
• Presenter, “The Collision of Technology and Transparency: Navigating Sunshine Laws in the Digital Age,” California Association of Sanitation Agencies Attorneys Committee Meeting, November 2013
• Presenter, “CEQA Litigation and Current Issues,” Lorman Education Services, March 2012
• Co-presenter, “Dealing with Greenhouse Gas Emissions & CEQA: Practical Advice on Analysis and Mitigation,” June 2009
• Presenter, “Email and Open Government Laws – What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You,” 2005 League of California Cities Mayors and Council Members Academy.
• Presenter, “Zoning and Land Use,” Lorman Education Services, 2005.
• Presenter, “Document Management in an Internet World” and “When E-Mail and the Brown Act Collide,” Association of California Water Agencies 2005 Continuing Legal Education for Water Law Professionals.
• Presenter, Ethics Training (frequent)