Practice Areas

Municipal law, including eminent domain, land use, redevelopment, environmental, and labor law, as well as civil rights litigation, contracts, open meeting laws, conflicts of interests, business improvement district laws and general municipal litigation.

Background and Experience

José Sandoval is a Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Santa Ana in charge of the General Counsel Services Division within the office. He has handled a variety of litigation matters in both state and federal courts in the defense of the City. More recently, he has been charged with overseeing legal matters for the City Clerk’s Office, Parks and Recreation, Finance, Public Works, Personnel Services, Library, Police and Fire Departments.

Prior to joining the City Attorney’s Office, Mr. Sandoval work for the historic 8th Floor Law Departments of the Central Los Angeles Superior Court as a Supervising Research Attorney in the Writs and Receivers Department. There, Mr. Sandoval performed legal research and analyzed a wide range of civil litigation matters to provide tentative rulings for judges. He assisted judges in preparing decisions on various matters including preliminary injunctions, writs of mandate and appointment of receivers.

Mr. Sandoval’s almost twenty year practice has focused exclusively on municipal law. In addition to his representation of the City of Santa Ana, Mr. Sandoval has represented the cities of Montebello, Monrovia, Lynwood, Adelanto, Perris, and Indio while in private practice.

Professional Affiliations

Mr. Sandoval has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hispanic Bar Association and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Orange County Bar Association. Mr. Sandoval is admitted to practice law in California and before the United States District Court of the Central District. Mr. Sandoval has been a member of the California State Bar since December 1987.

Education Mr. Sandoval received his Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1987. While in law school, Mr. Sandoval was a member of the UCLA Moot Court Honors Program, Director of Publication Opportunities for the Chicano Law Review and Chairman of UCLA La Raza Law Students Association Admissions Committee, 1986-87. Mr. Sandoval obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1984.