David Sandino served as Chief Counsel under an appointment by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and as senior staff counsel for the California Department of Water Resources. He has worked on significant water, environmental, tribal, financial, and energy issues during his thirty-year public service career with the Department. The Department operates the largest state-built water system in the United States, which delivers water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. He also served as counsel to two State boards, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the California Water Commission.
His lengthy academic career has centered on teaching professional and undergraduate natural resource courses. He currently serves as the Director of the University of California, Davis, Small Farmer Water Justice Clinic. This Clinic provides legal assistance relating to water supply and water rights to family farmers and rural water users. During his teaching career, he has taught at Santa Clara University School of Law and the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering, University of California, Davis, University of California, Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Texas Tech University School of Law, Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of San Francisco School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law, Lincoln Law School of Sacramento, University of Redlands, and Sacramento State University. He has taught a variety of courses all relating to his practice expertise, including water law, tribal water law, environmental law, environmental law in a practice setting, federal Indian law, energy resources law, renewable energy law, real property, international environmental law, and local government law.
He also created and teaches courses for water and environmental professionals, including for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education on California water law and policy, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Tribal water law and policy, and the law of California interstate rivers. He received a distinguished teaching award from the UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education for his contribution to natural science education. He received a 1999 Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Russia, where he taught international environmental law at the Moscow State Academy. He is an active member of the Fulbright Association. He spoke recently at the 46th Annual Fulbright Conference about the United States and Mexico’s collaborative water management on the Colorado River.
He served on the Board of Editors of California Environmental Law Reporter, and he has written numerous articles about natural resources issues. He is a coauthor of the groundwater quality chapter in California Environmental Law and Land Use Practice, the leading environmental law treatise in California. He has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on water, Tribal, and environmental issues at universities and conferences. He served as the 2019 David Keith Todd Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Groundwater Resources Association, lecturing on current groundwater conflicts at universities in California and Nevada. Active on professional social media, he writes frequent updates on important environmental, water, and Tribal legal developments.
He is a dedicated member of the Davis community. He served on different City of Davis commissions, including the Finance and Budget Commission, Planning Commission, and Police Advisory Commission. He is a graduate of UC Davis, Santa Clara University School of Law, and King’s College, London.
LL.M University of London, King's College
A.B., University of California, Davis