Overview

Ariona advises clients on the day-to-day realities of governing and operating across California.

Much of Ariona’s work sits at the intersection of legal compliance, public process, and practical decision-making. Ariona counsels public agency clients on issues including code enforcement, public records requests, open meetings law, conflicts of interest and ethics, public contracts and procurement, and revenue and tax enforcement. The work often involves helping councils, boards, and agency staff navigate difficult or high-stakes issues in real time, researching complex legal questions, drafting ordinances and policies, and turning legal requirements into workable guidance for decision-makers.

Ariona’s approach is grounded in the understanding that legal questions rarely exist in a vacuum. Public-facing entities are balancing operational demands, political realities, community expectations, and legal risk all at once. Clients value Ariona’s ability to evaluate problems within that broader context and provide advice that is practical, thoughtful, and built to hold up under public scrutiny.

Recently, that work increasingly includes helping clients navigate changes in California governance law, including the implementation of SB 707 and new Brown Act requirements related to technology disruptions during public meetings.

Before joining Meyer’s Nave, Ariona served as an Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Special Litigation Section, where she worked with state and local government agencies nationwide on investigations, compliance matters, and systemic reform efforts involving federal law and the U.S. Constitution. This experience continues to inform Ariona’s work on questions facing public agencies today, including: First Amendment limits on regulating public employee speech; the eligibility of public grant recipients; limits on imposing zoning or landmarking laws that affect religious practice; due process standards related to public takings; and compliance with federal civil-rights obligations.

It also shapes how Ariona approaches a problem. Ariona weighs legal risk against the operational, political, and community realities in which decisions get made, on the principle that just because a course of action is legally available doesn’t make it the wisest or most sustainable path forward.

Ariona’s work spans beyond general public agency governance into advising on the creation of a tourism improvement district to support a major arena development project, and assessing the governance and operational future of a regional transportation network.

Ariona also keeps current in the field. In addition to client work, Ariona contributes to the California Land Use Practice, the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) treatise (widely regarded as the state’s leading practitioner resource), by editing chapters related to code enforcement, land use regulation, and nonconforming uses.