Stephanie Hastings

Santa Barbara

Water Law

Stephanie Hastings arrived in Lake Tahoe in December 1992 at the tail end of a five-year drought that had prompted 32 California counties to declare emergencies. Within days, the Sierra Nevada received more than 150 inches of snow at the higher elevations -- and by season's end, approximately 500 inches. That dramatic reversal introduced her to what she calls California's "water whiplash," and it set the course for a 30-year career in water law.

Now a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, Hastings represents wholesale and retail water suppliers and businesses with water supply demands across a range of transactional and litigation matters. Her recent work reflects the scope of that practice.

In December 2025, Hastings led the legal team that secured the California Department of Water Resources' approval of a transfer of the State Water Project Contract for Santa Barbara County from the county to the Central Coast Water Authority, a joint powers agency representing eight cities and water districts. The State Water Project delivers water to 29 counties and serves 27 million Californians and roughly 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland. The transfer was made possible by the settlement of litigation Hastings filed in 2021 on behalf of CCWA and its member agencies to enforce contract rights the authority had pursued for decades. Hastings served as lead counsel to CCWA and liaison counsel to all plaintiffs -- 10 public agencies, each with independent councils and boards.

"CCWA had pursued direct control of the contract for decades," Hastings said. "Achieving that goal was a significant milestone in the client's history and a particularly meaningful outcome for me given my role in the effort."

On the appellate side, Hastings represented the city of Burbank in successfully reversing a trial court judgment that had compromised the city's ability to manage treated wastewater supplies and recycled water projects. Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. State Water Resources Control Board, et al.; City of Burbank, Real Party in Interest (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 230.

The published decision includes interpretation of Article X, Section 2 of the California Constitution, which prohibits the waste and unreasonable use of the state's water supplies.

Hastings is also currently lead counsel for a coalition of more than 50 landowners in the pending adjudication of the Cuyama Groundwater Basin, one of the first proceedings under the Comprehensive Streamlined Adjudication Act. The litigation involves hundreds of landowners and local, state and federal governments across four counties.

In 2017, Hastings co-founded the H2O Women Conference, the first gathering of its kind for women in leadership roles in the water industry. "That experience directly shaped how I approach the business of law: developing teams, identifying emerging leaders and creating structures that strengthen both the legal services we provide to our clients and the firm over time," she said.

Hastings also serves on Brownstein's Executive Committee and as co-chair of the firm's Women's Leadership Initiative.