A. Catherine Norian is a partner in Gilchrist & Rutter’s real estate department. Ms. Norian focuses on compliance with land use laws and regulations at the state and local levels, with particular emphasis on California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance and defending project approvals against litigation challenges in trial and appellate courts.Ms. Norian’s practice emphasizes counsel on entitlement strategies, including the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports and related documents, and project processing before lead agencies in a manner that enables her to protect project approvals during the inevitable litigation challenges. She has experience in all aspects of major land development, including in planning and implementing all of the steps necessary to guide Master Planned Communities from original design to completion, including litigation challenges to project approvals. She also represents real estate developers and other private parties, as well as public agencies in urban developments and, in other land use and real property litigation at the trial and appellate court levels.Ms. Norian also has extensive experience handling commercial litigation, including construction, contract and business tort, partnership and insurance litigation, at the trial and appellate court levels. She has represented clients in the real estate development, construction and management, entertainment, banking, corporate, and professional services industries, as well as private individuals. She has litigated land use entitlement issues, ground lease disputes, construction disputes, construction defects, real property purchase, leasing and sale transactions, anti-deficiency/fraud issues, inverse condemnation cases, title insurance claims and disputes with municipalities and other governmental agencies.