Stephen A. McEwen. Partner Orange County

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1 Stephen A. McEwen Partner Orange County 1851 East First Street, Suite 1550 Santa Ana, CA d t f smcewen@bwslaw.com Stephen A. McEwen joined Burke in Stephen currently serves as the City Attorney for the City of Buellton. He is also Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Hemet and Atascadero. He previously served as City Attorney for Laguna Woods and Assistant City Attorney for Stanton. In these roles, Stephen has drafted numerous ordinances and resolutions and has advised cities on a wide range of legal issues with a special emphasis on the Public Records Act, the Brown Act, and code enforcement. Stephen has also utilized his extensive constitutional law background to advise municipal clients on First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment issues. Stephen is responsible for supervising code enforcement efforts for Burke s municipal clients. In this capacity, he utilizes the full range of code enforcement tools, including informal office conferences, inspection warrants, administrative hearings, civil nuisance actions, and misdemeanor prosecutions. Although his emphasis in this area is on resolving code violations without the need for judicial intervention, he has successfully prosecuted numerous code enforcement cases to completion. Stephen obtained a guilty verdict from a jury on all counts against a property owner for maintaining multiple building code and property maintenance violations. He obtained guilty verdicts against two defendants for operating an unpermitted nightclub. He has also obtained preliminary and permanent injunctions in multiple code enforcement matters involving zoning violations, public nuisance conditions, and medical marijuana dispensaries. In addition to his code enforcement prosecution experience, Stephen has handled a broad array of litigation for the firm's municipal and governmental clients, including disputes involving eminent domain, inverse condemnation, tort liability, construction defects, construction contract disputes, CEQA, and the Federal Civil Rights Act. He served as co-counsel in a successful bench trial regarding a client's right to take property through eminent domain. Stephen successfully defended the City of East Palo Alto in a trial involving alleged Brown Act and Due Process violations. Stephen advises municipal clients throughout the state on issues related to medicinal and adult-use marijuana. He has obtained numerous preliminary injunctions against unpermitted dispensaries and successfully defended cities against an array of constitutional and state law challenges brought by dispensary operators. In 2012, he authored the League of California Cities amicus brief in City of Riverside v. Inland

2 Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, Inc., in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that local governments have zoning authority to prohibit medicinal marijuana dispensaries within their boundaries. As a result of this work, Stephen was appointed in 2014 to the League of California Cities Ad Hoc Cannabis Regulation Committee. He also served two terms as the City Attorney Department representative for the League s Public Safety Policy Committee from After law school graduation, Stephen clerked for Judge Arthur L. Alarcon on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He later served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the California Department of Justice. As a prosecutor, Stephen represented the state in two successful trial-level prosecutions, over seventy felony criminal appeals in the California Court of Appeal, and over eighty habeas corpus proceedings in federal district court and the Ninth Circuit. In November 2002, he represented the California Department of Corrections successfully in an evidentiary hearing in Federal District Court in a case involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct against the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Results East Palo Alto Merchants Association v. City of East Palo Alto Planning Commission, San Mateo County Superior Court Case No. CIV obtained a complete defense judgment in a trial involving alleged Brown Act and conflict of interest violations. People of the State of California and City of Wildomar v. Wildomar Patients Compassionate Group, Inc., et al., Riverside County Superior Court Case No. RIC obtained a preliminary and permanent injunction against the operator of an unpermitted medical marijuana dispensary and the dismissal of the dispensary operator s petition for writ of mandate against the city; successfully defended both judgments on appeal (California Court of Appeal Case No. E052788). People of the State of California and City of Stanton v. Alternative Tomatoes, Inc., et al., Orange County Superior Case No obtained a preliminary injunction against the operator of an unpermitted medical marijuana dispensary. People of the State of California v. Robert Burris, Orange County Superior Court Case No. 05WM obtained a guilty verdict in a criminal prosecution of a property owner for maintaining a converted garage, unpermitted construction, and the outside storage of junk, trash, and debris. People of the State of California and City of Industry v. DNA Properties, Inc., and Pinks Gentlemen s Club, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. KC obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing a strip club from opening at the site of a former adult business; case resulted in a settlement agreement that ensured the permanent discontinuance of any vested rights to use the property for adult business purposes. People of the State of California v. Rene Cota and Cheri Cota, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. 8JB08263 obtained guilty verdicts in a criminal prosecution against bar owners for operating a nightclub without required permits. People of the State of California and City of Richmond v. Jawad A. Dayem, et al., Contra Costa County Superior Court Case No. C obtained a preliminary injunction against the operator of an unpermitted medical marijuana dispensary. The parties subsequently stipulated to a permanent injunction

3 and Richmond recovered $50,000 in attorneys fees. Presentations Recent Developments, Defenses and Strategies in Brown Act Litigation, League of California Cities, 2017 City Attorneys Spring Conference, May 3, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Pasadena, March 1, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Riverside, February 15, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Ukiah, February 1, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Fresno, January 25, 2017 Proposition 64 and the "Adult Use of Marijuana Act" (AUMA), Authority Live! Webinar, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, January 24, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, San Gabriel Valley City Managers Association, Duarte, January 18, 2017 Leveraging Tobacco Control Laws for Marijuana Control, Tobacco Control Coalition Forum, San Diego, January 11, 2017 Proposition 64, Adult Use of Marijuana Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Webinar, October 20, 2016 Medical Marijuana: Continuing Regulatory Changes, League of California Cities Annual Conference, Long Beach Convention Center, October 6, 2016 Medical Marijuana Regulation & Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Four Points Sheraton, San Diego, February 8, 2016 Medical Marijuana Regulation & Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, City of Riverside - Mayor's Ceremonial Room, January 27, 2016 Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Burbank, January 26, 2016 A Practitioner's Approach to Implementing the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (AB 266, AB 243, and AB 643), Bay Area City Attorney's Association Annual Luncheon, January 22, 2016 Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, San Luis Obispo, December 11, 2015 Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing, Wharfinger Building, November 16, 2015 Informational Briefing on the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, San Leandro Public Library, Karp Room, November 9, 2015 Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, League of California Cities Informational Briefing Webinar, October 20, 2015

4 Publications Common Questions Under Proposition 64, The Adult Use Of Marijuana Act, December 5, 2016 California Marijuana Policy Preserving Access While Regulating Conduct in Public Libraries, August 2016 Western City Magazine Addressing Health and Safety Issues Related to Public Encampments and Vehicle Habitation, December 2015 Western City Magazine Sleeping-In-Vehicle Ordinances Face Challenges Following Ninth Circuit Decision in Desertrain v. City of Los Angeles, Summer California Municipal Law Handbook (Cal CEB 2014), 2014 Reviewer, Chapters Pacific Shores Properties, LLC v. City of Newport Beach: A Challenge for Group Home Ordinances, October 2013 Due Process in Administrative Hearings, September 2013 Northern News Marijuana Advocates Continue to Test Law, August 1, 2013 Daily Journal Medical Marijuana Update: Local Control Prevails in the Supreme Court, June 2013 Sabey v. City of Pomona: A New and Troubling Rule for Administrative Hearings, April 2013 Smith v. City of San Jose: The Application of the Public Records Act to Private Electronic Devices, March 2013 The California Homemade Food Act: Cottage Food Operations Arrive in California, January California Municipal Law Handbook (Cal CEB 2013), 2013 Reviewer, Chapters Medical Marijuana: Local Land Use Authority Versus State and Federal Law, April 11, 2012 Daily Journal Medical Marijuana Update, March 2012 City of Arlington v. Federal Communications Commission: The Fifth Circuit Upholds The FCC Shot Clock Rule, February 2012 Case Law Update: Local Regulation of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries, February 2011

5 Update on the Status of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Under California Law, January 2010 Preparing Yourself for Oral Argument, June 2002 Los Angeles Lawyer PRACTICE GROUPS Litigation Public Law EDUCATION Stanford Law School J.D., 1996 Stanford University B.A., Political Science, 1992 ADMISSIONS State Bar of California United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit United States District Court for the Central District of California United States District Court for the Eastern District of California MEMBERSHIPS & ASSOCIATIONS League of California Cities Public Safety Policy Committee, City Attorney Department Representative League of California Cities, Ad Hoc Medical Marijuana Committee Orange County Bar Association