Overview

Gina Herrera partners with California cities, counties, transportation agencies, special districts, school districts, and other public entities to address the wide-ranging legal challenges that arise in delivering public services, developing infrastructure, managing public resources, and complying with evolving regulatory requirements.

Gina is an experienced attorney with a broad-based public agency practice that includes eminent domain, negotiated real estate transactions, environmental compliance and land use, groundwater rights, public contracting, and complex litigation. Gina helps clients successfully implement public projects, manage legal risk, and make informed decisions in high-profile and often complex public settings.

Her practice spans real property and infrastructure development, public works projects, maritime and coastal law, water law, public finance, elections and governance, and day-to-day agency operations. She is known for her ability to guide government entities through legally intricate, politically sensitive, and operationally critical challenges with a practical and solutions-oriented approach.

As Assistant City Attorney for the City of Carlsbad, she advised both the Public Works Branch and the Municipal Water District on the full spectrum of issues that arise in delivering complex public infrastructure and providing safe drinking water. In that role, she led the resolution of construction disputes, Proposition 218 compliance, and helping the City and Water District safeguard public funds while keeping critical capital projects on track.

Prior to law, Gina was as a commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard, serving as a Contingency Planner and Command Duty Officer at Sector Los Angeles–Long Beach responsible for maritime safety across 320 miles of coastline, and as an Assistant Engineer Officer aboard a high-endurance cutter homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii. Gina’s operational background informs her approach to legal counsel: structured, decisive, and grounded in real-world execution.