Michael G. Colantuono is managing shareholder of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, a municipal law firm with offices around California. He is an experienced expert witness on public agency matters and an experienced local government lawyer. Chief Justice Ronald M. George presented him with the 2010 Public Lawyer of the Year award on behalf of the California State Bar. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him one of “California’s Top Municipal Lawyers.” The California Supreme Court appointed him Chair of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California; he was previously Bar President. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. The State Bar has certified Michael as an Appellate Specialist and he is Past President of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a prestigious association of about 125 of California’s most distinguished appellate advocates. He serves on the Judicial Council’s Appellate Advisory Committee, which advises the governing body of California’s judicial branch on rules, policies, and issues affecting our appellate courts.
Michael is one of California’s leading experts on municipal revenues and has appeared in all six Courts of Appeal in California. In addition, he has argued more than a dozen public law cases in the California Supreme Court since 2004 — perhaps more than any other lawyer in private practice in recent years.
Michael is City Attorney of Grass Valley and general counsel of LAFCOs and special districts and previously served seven other cities and many special districts. He serves as special counsel to counties, cities and special districts around California.
Michael served as President of the City Attorneys Department of the League of California Cities in 2003–2004 and established its first Ethics Committee. He was a Director of Cal Cities in 2021–2023.
He served on the Commission on Local Governance in the 21st Century, the recommendations of which led to substantial revisions of the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act.
Michael graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Government and received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law where he graduated first in his class.
He frequently posts comments on local government and municipal finance topics to Threads (colantuono michael) and LinkedIn (Michael Colantuono).
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