Practice Areas
Practice Description
Gregory E. Simonian is a Director in the municipal law practice group of Woodruff & Smart, APC, where he has specialized in general municipal, public agency, and special districts law since joining the firm in 1999. Mr. Simonian serves as the city attorney for the cities of Laguna Hills and Rancho Santa Margarita. In addition to serving as city attorney, Mr. Simonian has served as deputy and assistant city attorney or associate counsel for the cities of Tustin, Garden Grove, San Juan Capistrano, Palm Springs, as well as the Orange County Fire Authority, the Regional Center of Orange County, the Orange County Sanitation District, the Tri-Cities Municipal Water District, and the Orange County Cemetery District. Mr. Simonian is a member of the firm’s executive committee.
As city attorney and general counsel to municipal corporations and public agencies, Mr. Simonian regularly advises city councils, city managers, city staff, police departments, boards and commissions, executive directors and other government agency officials on all aspects of municipal law and on legal questions relating to their respective governmental duties, powers, functions and obligations. He specializes in open government law, public records law, government tort claims law, elections law, streets and highways law, zoning, land use, and planning law, code enforcement and conflict of interest law.
Mr. Simonian regularly negotiates, drafts, and reviews a wide variety of contracts and other transactional documents on behalf of the firm’s public agency clients, including professional services agreements, telecommunications lease agreements, real property purchase and sale agreements, development agreements, leases, licenses, real property instruments, public works contracts and engineering agreements. He also regularly prepares municipal ordinances, resolutions, contracts, legal opinions, settlement agreements, and administrative regulatory procedures and policies. Mr. Simonian frequently advises public agency clients on the Ralph M. Brown Act, the Political Reform Act, the Public Records Act, the Government Tort Claims Act, the Public Contracts Code, the Elections Code, the Subdivision Map Act, as well as on business licensing and franchising, local agency formation, legislative interpretation, and a wide variety of municipal contracting and procurement matters.
Mr. Simonian received his law degree from Golden Gate University, San Francisco (J.D., 1996). He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State University, Fullerton (B.A., with honors, 1992), graduating with an emphasis in Public Administration. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1996. He began his legal career as a law clerk in the litigation department of the Office of the County Counsel, County of Orange, and previously served as an executive aide to Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez. Prior to joining the firm in 1999, he practiced as a litigation attorney in the areas of medical malpractice defense, hospital and health care law, and insurance defense after graduating from law school.
Professional Activities
Mr. Simonian is a member of the Orange County Bar Association and the Orange County City Attorneys Association.
Education
- Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco (J.D., 1996)
- California State University, Fullerton (B.A., with honors, 1992)