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Elizabeth (Libby) Silver, a founding principal, has practiced municipal law since 1975. She has served as City Attorney for the City of Dublin since 1990. Her practice emphasizes municipal revenue and tax issues, land use law and personnel and retirement law.Libby has extensive experience with municipal revenue sources, including developer impact fees, assessments and taxes. Her work has included advising a number of cities regarding the legal requirements to adopt development impact fees for transportation, park, public facilities, water, sewer and drainage improvements. She has advised the firm's clients with respect to assessments, including Landscaping and Lighting Act assessments. She has prepared ballot measures for a number of public entities to approve general or special taxes and has successfully assisted her clients in complying with Proposition 218's requirements. She has assisted four newly-incorporated cities in disputes with the counties over the amount of property tax transferred to the new city and represented another city in a dispute with the county over the amount of property tax to be transferred upon annexation. She also represented one new city in its successful challenge to the revenue neutrality condition imposed upon incorporation. Libby represented numerous cities throughout the state in litigation against counties concerning the distribution of Municipal Court revenues and in litigation concerning the validity of property tax and criminal justice administration fees.Libby's practice includes extensive land use experience. She has provided advice regarding a number of general plan amendments, adoption of specific plans, related rezonings, and the myriad of day-to-day land use issues that face developing cities. She has negotiated and drafted numerous development agreements and other land use related agreements. She has also assisted in processing a number of annexations, including two annexations of over 2,600 acres. She has also successfully tried writ of mandate actions raising general plan challenges.Her labor and personnel experience includes a number of grievance arbitrations and a lengthy interest arbitration for a charter city. In addition, Libby has represented cities in litigation involving retirement issues and served as counsel for the class representative for all cities contracting with the Public Employees Retirement System.Libby has been a speaker at various League of California Cities conferences, including the Annual Conference, the Mayor and Council Members' Executive Forum, the City Attorneys' Spring Conference, the Financial Management Seminar, the Employee Relations Institute and the City Attorneys' Continuing Education seminars. She has served as chair of the League's City Attorneys' Department Public Records Act Committee, vice chair and chair of the Legislation Committee and a member of the Nominating Committee. Libby is a former president of the Bay Area City Attorneys' Association. A 1966 graduate of Northwestern University, Libby received her J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, in 1974. | 