Attorneys

Thomas Jex is a partner with the firm and serves as the City Attorney for the City of Wildomar and the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Hemet.  He also provides special counsel services to the Jurupa Unified School District.

Mr. Jex focuses his practice in the areas of municipal law, local zoning and land use issues, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and the Subdivision Map Act.  He frequently represents city councils, planning commissions, and redevelopment agencies at their meetings and regularly advises public agencies and staff on a wide variety of municipal law areas, including the Brown Act, conflicts of interest under the Political Reform Act, the Public Records Act, contracts, land use, the Mitigation Fee Act, constitutional issues, and general plan updates.  Mr. Jex drafts opinions, ordinances, and resolutions as well as other development and redevelopment related agreements.

Mr. Jex also has experience providing advice to both public and private clients regarding compliance with CEQA and other environmental regulations.  Working with many public agencies, Mr. Jex deals with CEQA compliance issues almost on a daily basis.  He reviews Environmental Impact Reports, Statements of Overriding Considerations, Mitigated Negative Declarations, and Negative Declarations for legal adequacy, and counsels clients to ensure CEQA documents and notices are properly prepared.  He routinely advises clients on CEQA compliance strategies including CEQA exemptions, the appropriate level of CEQA review along with related risk assessments, responses to comments on CEQA documents, and the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32).  Mr. Jex has drafted local CEQA Guidelines for several public agencies and provides counsel regarding compliance with the Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) for public entities within Riverside County.

Mr. Jex augments his practice by serving as a member of the Brown Act Committee of the League of California Cities - City Attorney's Department.  He is an adjunct professor for the University of California Riverside Extension where he teaches courses on the Public Records Act and Redevelopment Law.  He also frequently lectures for Lorman Educational Services on CEQA and land use issues.  Additionally, Mr. Jex creates time to provide pro bono legal services and was named the volunteer lawyer of the year for the Inland Empire Latino Lawyers Association for his volunteer work.

Mr. Jex was an executive editor of the Journal of Public Law and a student member of the A. Sherman Christensen American Inn of Court I while attending J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.  Mr. Jex lived for two years in Quito, Ecuador and is proficient in Spanish.