Ms. Plaza?s experience includes serving as City Attorney for California Cities; as the Chief City Attorney for a major city in PA; as Chief and Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Torts Branch of the Civil Division of the U.S. Justice Department; and as a subcabinet-level Secretary of Housing in Washington D.C. Ms. Plaza has eleven years of private practice experience representing companies of all sizes. She has served as lead counsel in all aspects of municipal law with particular emphasis on land use, contracts, redevelopment and economic development, including affordable and construction litigation. Ms. Plaza has advised and represented City clients and Redevelopment housing agencies in connection with the assembly of land for reuse and redevelopment to support significant commercial, industrial or residential development. Ms. Plaza was appointed by President Clinton, and served from 1997 through 2001 as Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (?HUD?) in Washington, D.C. In that position Ms. Plaza advised the Administration on policies affecting housing and represented the federal government before state and federal governmental agencies and building and banking industry groups. Ms. Plaza also administered housing programs and established policy for the design, construction, and alteration of housing and other buildings to meet HUD?s accessibility requirements. Ms. Plaza has significant experience in mortgage lending and, in her capacity as federal regulator, evaluated the performance of state and local housing enforcement agencies and of the secondary market (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Ms. Plaza has assisted cities and non-profit entities with HUD programs and funding from CDBG, HOME and NSP programs amongst others. Prior to her service as Assistant Secretary of HUD, Ms. Plaza was appointed by President Clinton and served from 1993 to 1997 as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Plaza handled sensitive, precedent-setting litigation matters in tort law, including matters in environmental torts, medical malpractice, vaccine and radiation litigation, constitutional tort litigation (including the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents), aviation and admiralty law. Ms. Plaza also practiced law in the private sector in Washington D.C. in the nationally known law firms of Seyfarth Shaw and Arent Fox and served as trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Justice in Washington, D.C. Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department in Washington D.C. Ms. Plaza is a 1984 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where she served as Associate Editor of the California Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Harvard University in 1980, and is admitted to practice law in four jurisdictions: Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, California, and Texas (inactive).
