Mr. Kidman is an AV-Preeminent™ rated attorney with forty-two years of concentrated practice representing local agency water suppliers.  He has served as general and special counsel to a variety of public and private water supply, government entities, and private landowners on a full range of water-related matters.

Governmental Law: From the beginning of his practice, Mr. Kidman has provided General Counsel services to a variety of local water agencies, including advice and representation in all aspects of local agency governance and operation, open meeting laws, public records, public official ethics and other governing body protocols.  With a particular expertise in retail water distribution, Mr. Kidman advises clients on the complex issues that arise in connection with rate setting, customer service, water infrastructure development agreements and water infrastructure financing. 

Mr. Kidman has created new public agencies through legislation and has handled numerous special district governance issues involving LAFCO, including annexations, consolidations, other changes of organization and Municipal Service Reviews.  Mr. Kidman has represented joint powers agencies as general counsel and helped to put together numerous joint agency projects for major water and waste water treatment plants and transmission mains.

Legislation: Mr. Kidman served for more than forty years on the ACWA State Legislative Committee and frequently advises clients on legislative measures.  He has prepared legislation on behalf of clients, including the Uniform Standby Charge Procedures Act (California Government Code §§ 54984 et seq.) and the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority Act (Chapter 776 of the Statutes of 1992). He has worked extensively on a variety of legislative and litigation matters involving Prop 13, Prop 218, Prop 1A, and other revenue measures impacting local governments.  He was the lead co-author on behalf of ACWA for the publication entitled: Water Supply and Land Use Approvals, A user's guide to 2001 legislation including SB 221 (Kuehl) and SB 610 (Costa).

Water Law: Mr. Kidman provides advice and litigation counsel services to cities, water districts, water companies, and private landowners on water rights matters involving both surface and groundwater resources, including groundwater storage programs. He has practiced water rights law before state and federal courts in California as well as the SWRCB and RWQCB.  His expertise includes the creation, financing, permitting and construction of complex multiagency water acquisition, transmission, treatment, storage and distribution projects.  He is familiar with the nuts and bolts of local water supply, including rate setting, pipeline rights of way, health department requirements, and water conservation programs.

Environmental Law: In addition to providing regular advice to clients on all aspects of the CEQA, Mr. Kidman has significant experience working with the federal Superfund law as it related to groundwater contamination and cleanup.  He also has worked extensively with the federal Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act and the companion California laws.

ADMITTED

1974, California and U.S. District Court, Southern, Central and Eastern Districts of California.

EDUCATION

• University of Chicago (J.D., 1974)
• Washington State University (B.A., with high honors, 1968)

PUBLISHED CASES

• City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency (2000) 23 Cal. 4th 1224, 99 Cal.Rptr. 2d 294
• Brydon v. East Bay Mun. Utility Dist. (1994) 24 Cal.App.4th 178, 29 Cal.Rptr.2d 128
• San Marcos Water Dist. v. San Marcos Unified School Dist. (1986) 42 Cal.3d 154, 720 P.2d 935; 228 Cal.Rptr. 47
• Kern County Water Agency v. Bd. of Supervisors (1979) 91 Cal.App.3d 874, 158 Cal.Rptr. 430

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

• Author, Feature Article “Win Some, Lose Some; the War Over Water in the Santa Clarita Valley,” California Water Law & Policy Reporter, April 2005, Vol.15, No. 7.
• Author, Feature Article “Groundwater Storage: Not as Easy as It Sounds,” California Water Law & Policy Reporter, May 2004, Vol. 14, No. 8.
• Author, “Another Rock...an Even Harder Place: Housing Development and Water Supply,” Western Water Law & Policy Reporter, Vol. 6, No. 2.
• Co-author, “Water Supply and Land Use Approvals, A user's guide to 2001 legislation including SB 221 (Kuehl) and SB 610 (Costa)” ACWA, 2002.
• Author, “A Rock and Hard Place: Financing Infrastructure,” California Water Law & Policy Reporter, August 2001, Vol. 11, No. 11. 
• Author, “There is No Paramount Overlying Right to Mine a Groundwater Basin” California Water Law & Policy Reporter, March 1999, Vol. 9, No. 6.
• Author, “Mojave Adjudication Judgment Ends Decades of Ground Water Basin Overdraft and Political Controversy” California Water Law & Policy Reporter, February 1996, Vol. 6, Issue 5.
• Author, "Connections Between Groundwater and Surface Water," Proceedings 20th Biennial Conference on Groundwater, University of California Water Resources Center, California Department of Water Resources and State Water Resources Control Board, September 1995.
• Author "Pros and Cons of Groundwater Management or Look Out For Some Extremely Bogus Thinking," Proceedings, 18th Biennial Conference on Groundwater, University of California Water Resources Center, California Department of Water Resources and State Water Resources Control Board, September 1991.
• Author, "San Gabriel Valley Groundwater Contamination as Cause of Water Scarcity," Proceedings, 17th Biennial Conference on Groundwater, University of California Water Resources Center, California Department of Water Resources and State Water Resources Control Board, Report No. 72, September, 1989;
• Co-Author, "The Relationship of Just Compensation to the Land Use Regulatory Power: An Analysis and Proposal," Symposium-Land Use Planning and Control, Pepperdine Law Review, 1974, Vol. 2.

ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

• Orange County Bar Association
• The State Bar of California
  - Member, Sections on: Public Law; Real Property Law
• Association of California Water Agencies
  - Member: State Legislative Committee (1975 2006; 2007; 2010-present)
  - Member: Legal Affairs Committee (1975 - present)
  - Chairman: Attorneys Conference (1976 - 1980)
• Extension Instructor in Water Law, University of California, Irvine
• Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce
  - President (1988)
• World Affairs Council of Orange County
  - President, Chairman, Nominating Committee, Executive Board (1979 - present)
•  Rotary Club of Coto de Caza
  - Charter President (1983)
• CHOC Padrinos
  - Board of Directors (1993 - 2003)