Rachel H. Richman

Rachel H. Richman

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Rachel has proudly provided city attorney and general counsel services to public agencies throughout California for over 20 years.

Rachel serves as the City Attorney for the City of Camarillo, City of Delano, and the City of Rosemead. She is the former City Attorney to the City of Arvin (2008-2013), and former Legal Counsel to the Santa Clarita Manufactured Home Rent Control Panel (2006-2017). She also served as the Assistant City Attorney for the Cities of Alhambra and Santa Clarita for several years.

Rachel has extensive experience providing legal and practical advice to city councils, agency boards, city managers, department heads, and staff on a broad range of issues including planning and zoning, CEQA, conflicts of interest, open meeting laws, public contracting, prevailing wages,  public records, first amendment issues, code enforcement, elections, ADA and mobile home regulations.  She drafts opinions, ordinances, resolutions, and negotiates and drafts agreements.  She attends as legal counsel, city council meetings, planning commission meetings, and mobile home rent control panel meetings.

Rachel is experienced working on behalf of cities with developers on commercial, residential, and mixed use projects.  She has negotiated and drafted development agreements, exclusive negotiating agreements, owner participation and disposition and development agreements, and affordable housing agreements.  She has worked on general plan updates, specific plans and amendments, first time home buyer agreements, façade improvement agreements, and reviewing and advising on CEQA documents.

Rachel handles various aspects of labor and employment matters.  These matters include responding to DFEH complaints, discipline and grievance matters, drafting personnel policies and for labor negotiations.

Rachel regularly handles issues related to public works construction projects, including development of notices inviting bids, to reviewing bids and recommendation of award, she has dealt with challenges to the low bidder as well as advising on dealing with construction delays, stop notices, liquidated damages issues and prevailing wage issues.

Rachel also has experience in eminent domain on behalf of cities, agencies, and for the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority involving pre-condemnation activities, initiation of condemnation actions, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements.  She is also cognizant of the public concerns that exist with the use of eminent domain.

Rachel provides training on ethics, municipal governance ADA inclusion requirements and transparency laws to firm clients as well as providing presentations at various municipal conferences.  Rachel was Chair of the League’s FPPC Committee from 2016-2018.

While at law school, Rachel was a member of Loyola’s Moot Court Honors Board and received “Top Ten Brief” recognition.  She was on the National Moot Court team and winner of the Regional National Moot Court competition.  During law school she was a law clerk for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Public Works Department.

In her approach to working with legislative bodies, staff and others to achieve their goals which can often be full of challenges she ascribes to the following perspective: “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”  (Beverly Sills)

  • J.D., Loyola Law School Los Angeles, 1999
  • B.S., Political Science University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994
  • State Bar of California
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • City Attorneys Association of Los Angeles County
  • League of California Cities City Attorney's Department Fair Political Practices Commission Committee
  • League of California Cities, Fair Political Practices Committee Chair 2016-2017
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association - Government Law Section