Nicole's practice focuses on government and public agency law. Nicole serves as General Counsel to West County Wastewater District and as Deputy General Counsel to Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, Menlo Park Fire Protection District, and San Joaquin Regional Transit District. She assists the firm's public agency clients with various legal issues such as public contracts and procurements, establishing fees, adopting taxes, governance laws, and ethics issues, including conflict of interest analyses. Nicole regularly attends client Board meetings and advises on the preparation of Board agendas, staff reports, resolutions, ordinances, and meeting minutes.
Nicole has particular expertise in public contracting, including assisting transit clients in developing contract templates for federally funded procurements and providing guidance and advice in responding to FTA audits. Nicole also assists clients with complex procurements and infrastructure projects, including complex design-build agreements. Nicole helps clients, both public and private, navigate unique project delivery challenges in the public contracting arena. She drafts and advises clients on contracts in areas including public works, the purchase of goods and services, funding agreements, and real property.
Nicole also provides client trainings on government ethics laws, Brown Act, and Public Records Act compliance.
Publications
"Chapter 7: Public Contracting," reviewer, Municipal Law Handbook (2016)
"California Legislature Sends Six Drone Bills to the Governor’s Desk," co-author, HB Drone Law Blog (September 2016)
"The Wild West of Commercial Drones–Why 2015 Could Be a Pivotal Year in California," co-author, Public Law Journal (May 2015)
See All Publications
Blog Posts
"Privacy Rights And Public Perception – What Didn't Change In COVID," Drone Law (March 2021)
"Remote Identification: The FAA Proposed Rule and Privacy," Drone Law (February 2020)
"Remote Identification: First Step in Expanded Drone Operations?," Drone Law (February 2020)
"Remote Identification: What’s Next for Local Government Owners/Operators of Critical Infrastructure?," Drone Law (February 2020)
"Remote Identification: Why is the FAA’s Rulemaking a Potential Game Changer?," Drone Law (February 2020)
"Mysterious Droves of Drones" Drone Law (January 2020)
"New Year: New Rulemaking" Drone Law (January 2020)
"Why Didn't Amazon Deliver My New Shoes Using a Drone?" Drone Law (November 2019)
"249 Grams—the Magic Number?," Drone Law (November 2019)
"Update on the (Slowly) Developing Preemption Landscape," Drone Law (September 2019)
"Further Delay of the FAA’s Remote Identification Rulemaking," Drone Law (September 2019)
"Anti-Drone Technologies," Drone Law (September 2019)
"Hoverlaw Returns- Update from Marin County," Drone Law (September 2019)
"Update on California Drone Bills," co-author, HB Drone Law Blog (June 2016)
"Micro-Drone Report Released," co-author, HB Drone Law Blog (April 2016)
"California Legislative Update," HB Drone Law Blog (January 2016)
"Local Drone Regulations and Possible Federal Preemption," co-author, HB Drone Law Blog (December 2015)
"FAA Names Members of UAS Registration Task Force and Seeks Public Input on Proposed UAS Registration Framework," co-author, HB Drone Law Blog (October 2015)
"Legislative Update: California Drone Legislation," HB Drone Law Blog (April 2015)
"FAA Sued Over Failure To Propose Privacy Rules Related To Commercial Drone Use," HB Drone Law Blog (April 2015)
"Legislators Ask, Is California Law Ready For Drones?" HB Drone Law Blog (March 2015)
"New FAA Proposed Rule Does Not Slow California Lawmakers' Efforts To Regulate Drone Use," HB Drone Law Blog (February 2015)
See All Blog Posts
Presentations
"Cities and Drones: What City Leaders Need to Know about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," National League of Cities City Summit (November 2016)
"Federal and State Law: Use and Regulation of Drones by Counties," Rural Counties Representatives of California Annual Meeting (September 2016)
See All Presentations