Claudia M. Newman, Partner


newman@bnd-law.com

Areas of Practice
Environmental, land use, and Green Building


Representative Experience
Extensive litigation experience in the fields of state and federal environmental and land use law and has represented environmental organizations, developers, citizens groups, individuals, and local governments in a wide variety of administrative and judicial forums. She has assisted clients with matters involving green building, smart growth, new urbanism, comprehensive planning, environmental review, and site-specific development proposals. She has represented clients in a variety of federal matters that involved the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other federal environmental laws. She has litigated issues involving Native American law involving land use, sovereign immunity, jurisdictional issues, gaming, and administrative law with considerable experience appearing in Tribal court.

Ms. Newman's experience has ranged from complex litigation with statewide implications involving over a dozen state agencies, several federal agencies, and numerous local jurisdictions across the state to litigation involving single sites within a single jurisdiction. She has appeared before a number of different administrative bodies, including the Growth Management Hearings Boards, the Shorelines Hearings Boards, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, and numerous local government hearing examiners and legislative bodies. She has appeared before the Washington State Superior Court, Western District of Washington Federal Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Newman is a regular Lecturer at land use law and green building CLEs and presented to and trained organizations and individuals on a wide variety of topics including land use laws and green building.

She formed Bricklin Newman, LLP partnership with emphasis in land use and environmental law in 2002 (partnership name changed to Bricklin & Newman, LLP in 2009) after working as an associate at Bricklin and Gendler since 1994.

Law Clerk, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Summer 1993.

Law Clerk, Professor Richard Lazarus, 1991-1993

Publications
Co-author of the Washington Law and Practice Manual''s Land Use Chapter: Part I (Growth Management Act) and Part 15 (Skills for Administrative Hearings) 2008 Update

Claudia M. Newman & Richard J. Lazarus, City of Chicago v. Environmental Defense Fund: Searching for Plain Meaning in Unambiguous Ambiguity, 4 N.Y.U. Envtl. L. J. (1995)

Bar and Civic Activities

  • Washington State Bar Association
  • Missouri State Bar Association
  • United States District Court, Western District of Washington
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Licensed to practice in Tulalip Tribal Court
  • Board of Directors, Washington Environmental Council, 2008 to present.
  • Board of Directors, Cascadia Green Building Council, 2007 to present.
  • Member, ASHRAE Standard Project Committee 189, authoring Standard for the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, 2006 to 2008.
  • Co-Chair, Board of Directors, Washington Conservation Voters -- King County Chapter, April, 1997-April, 1999, member April, 1996 to June, 2003.
  • Speaker on CLEs in environmental and land use fields
  • Member, Joint Legislative Task Force on Energy Facility Siting, 2000
  • Member, Code Enforcement Task Force for King County Council, 1997
  • Referendum 48/No on "164" Legal Committee, 1995

    • Education
  • J.D., Washington University School of Law (1994) - Order of the Barrister
  • B.A., Majors: Mathematics and Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison (1988)