Message from Interim Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor

Christina R. Sansone

Welcome to Volume 36, Issue No. 1 of the California Real Property Law Journal. The Journal’s Editorial Board is very excited about this issue in particular because it represents our inaugural issue under the newly-formed California Lawyers Association. If you are not familiar with CLA yet, I encourage you to become more informed at: http://www.calawyers.org/About-CLA.

A big "thank you" goes out to Eileen Chauvet, who just retired as Editor-in-Chief. Eileen has devoted many years to taking on management roles for the Journal. She has done everything from article editing to issue editing to managing editor and serving as editor-in-chief. Throughout her time on the Journal’s Editorial Board, Eileen has done an exceptional job of keeping the Journal alive and relevant especially during the somewhat chaotic separation from the State Bar to the CLA. Eileen is a stellar individual and, indeed, a hard act to follow!

As we have for many years in the past, each first issue of the year contains updates from the previous year’s legislation and case law. Robert McCormick and Michael Maurer summarize the most notable legislation of 2017 for real property practitioners. Bill Shiber and Star Lightener report on the most significant real property cases of 2017. Michael Colantuono’s article details the significance of Russell City Energy Co., LLC v. City of Hayward and how state and local governments may make enforceable agreements with private parties regarding future taxation. The Editorial Board selected Mr. Colantuono’s article to be this issue’s MCLE self-study article. See CLA’s website for further information on self-study credit. Barri Bonapart, a 30-plus year practitioner specializing in tree and neighbor dispute resolution, gives us a pep talk about how important it is to try a different approach when handing difficult neighbor disputes rather than initiating litigation at the outset. Ms. Bonapart’s practical advice from her experience in the trenches, has important things to say about the role of attorneys—gladiators? Or counselors?