Congratulations to Attorney Rachel Matteo-Boehm of the law firm Holme Roberts & Owen, San Francisco for being named a Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine. The magazine singled out work on behalf of FAC in two important government transparency cases: CFAC v. Santa Clara and and CFAC& Maplight.org v. Office of Legislative Counsel in Sacramento.
“Rachel’s dedication to government transparency extends beyond winning the decisions in these two important cases.” FAC Executive Director Peter Scheer said in response to California Lawyer’s honoring Matteo-Boehm work. “Going forward, state agencies will understand that failure to comply with laws protecting the public’s right will not go undefended, and the cost of losing may be very high,”
California Lawyer 2010 Attorneys of the Year March 2010
by the editors of California Lawyer
The California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year Awards recognize lawyers throughout the state whose legal work made a profound impact in 2009….
Public Interest Attorney
Rachel E. Matteo-Boehm
Holme Roberts & Owen, San Francisco
Matteo-Boehm won two significant public records cases for the San Rafael–based California First Amendment Coalition to increase government transparency. In one, Matteo-Boehm led a Holme Roberts & Owen team in obtaining a detailed planning map from Santa Clara County, which the county had argued would pose a national security risk. The Sixth District Court of Appeal disagreed, ordering the release of the map and the largest-ever recovery award for a case enforcing the California Public Records Act (CPRA)-$500,000 in attorneys fees. Peter Scheer, executive director of the coalition, says, “This litigation raises the stakes considerably on state agencies that violate the act.” In the second CPRA case, Matteo-Boehm represented both the coalition and Berkeley–based MAPLight.org, a nonprofit research organization that reports on the connection between money and politics. She settled a lawsuit originally filed in 2008 against California’s Office of Legislative Counsel after gaining machine-readable databases of how state lawmakers vote. The June settlement agreement also stipulates a recovery of $65,000 toward attorneys fees.
copyright 2010 Californa Lawyer Magazine
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Congratulation to Attorney Rachel Matteo-Boehm!!
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