Practice Description
Gregory E. Simonian is a Director and Shareholder in Woodruff & Smart’s municipal law practice group and a member of the firm’s executive committee. He serves as City Attorney for the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and previously served for more than 20 years as City Attorney for the City of Laguna Hills (2005-2026).
Since joining the firm in 1999, Mr. Simonian has concentrated his practice on municipal, public agency, and special district law. As general counsel to municipal corporations, he regularly advises public agencies on all aspects of municipal law, with particular emphasis on planning and zoning, land use, conflicts of interest, multi-agency cooperative agreements, real property instruments, open government, elections, contracting, and procurement.
In addition to serving as city attorney, Mr. Simonian has served as deputy city attorney, assistant city attorney, or associate general counsel to the cities of Tustin, Garden Grove, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Hills, and Palm Springs, as well as to the Orange County Fire Authority, Regional Center of Orange County, Orange County Sanitation District, Tri-Cities Municipal Water District, and Orange County Cemetery District.
As city attorney and general counsel to municipal corporations and public agencies, Mr. Simonian advises city councils, city managers, city department heads, police departments, boards and commissions, and executive directors on all aspects of public law and on legal questions relating to their respective governmental duties, functions, and obligations.
A substantial part of his practice involves negotiating, drafting, and reviewing a wide variety of contracts and transactional documents for public agency clients. His experience includes advising on professional services agreements, telecommunications site lease agreements, development agreements, leases, licenses, real property instruments, public works contracts and engineering agreements. He also prepares municipal ordinances, resolutions, legal opinions, administrative regulations, and public agency policies.
He regularly advises public agency clients on the Ralph M. Brown Act, Political Reform Act and related conflict of interests regulations, Public Records Act, Government Claims Act, Public Contracts Code, Elections Code, Subdivision Map Act, Surplus Land Act, as well as on business licensing and franchising, local agency formation, and a wide variety of municipal contracting and procurement matters.
Before joining Woodruff & Smart, Mr. Simonian practiced as a civil litigation attorney, representing clients in medical malpractice defense, hospital and health care law, and insurance defense matters. He began his legal career as a law clerk in the litigation department of the Office of the Orange County Counsel and previously served as an executive aide to Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez.
Professional Activities
• Orange County Bar Association
• 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)