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Advisory Division

Mary Jo Lanzafame

Assistant City Attorney

Mary Jo Lanzafame has been a strong Municipal Lawyer with over 21 years experience. As a Municipal Lawyer, Ms. Lanzafame's primary areas of practice include the California Environmental Quality Act/National Environmental Protection Act, California Coastal Act, Planning and Zoning, Subdivision Map Act, Conflict of Interest, Brown Act, Legislative drafting, Real Estate and Public Works. Ms. Lanzafame began her legal career in the Office of the City Attorney as a criminal prosecutor in 1987. She quickly moved into the Code Enforcement Unit where she prosecuted code enforcement cases, trained code enforcement officers and drafted legislation to broaden and strengthen the City's ability to address code violations. She then moved to the Civil Advisory Division. In 2005, Ms. Lanzafame became a Senior Deputy County Counsel for the County of San Diego. During her tenure with the Office of County Counsel, Ms. Lanzafame continued to excel in her primary areas of practice. Ms. Lanzafame is a co-author of the California Land Use Practice treatise, published by the Continuing Education of the Bar, California. In addition to her legal career, Ms. Lanzafame teaches Land Use and Environmental Law in the graduate program at San Diego State University. She received her undergraduate degree from University California of Santa Cruz and her Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law.