Morgan L. Foley | Principal

Morgan L. Foley is the City Attorney for the City of El Cajon and the former City Attorney for the Cities of Coronado and Poway. He is also General Counsel for the North County Dispatch Joint Powers Authority.

Morgan Foley

Morgan L. Foley

From 1985 to April of 1998 Morgan was in private practice in Visalia, California, specializing in municipal law. Prior to relocating his practice to El Cajon he served as the City Attorney for the City of Porterville (1990-1998) and the City of Visalia (1996-1998).

Morgan has represented municipalities and special districts in California since 1985. He represents the firm’s municipal clients, and other public agency clients in California, in municipal finance matters. He represented the City of El Cajon in one of the first cases in California applying the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”), Foothills Christian Ministries, etc. v. City of El Cajon, etc., et al., U.S.D.C. (So. Dist. Cal.) Case No. 01- CV 1197 JM (JAH). He also represented the City of Poway in Preserve Poway v. City of Poway, etc., et al., (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 560, which held that the psychological and social impacts resulting from the loss of an existing agricultural use (i.e., impacts on the existing “community character”) are not “environmental” impacts subject to CEQA review.

Morgan is active in the legal community and has presented topics relating to municipal law at the League of California Cities, the San Diego County Bar Association, and other continuing education seminars. He currently serves on the League of California Cities City Attorney Advisors group. He has also served on the League of California Cities’ Legal Advocacy Committee and the Public Records Act Committee. He twice served as President of the City Attorneys Association of San Diego County.

EDUCATION

  • University of Santa Clara, J.D., 1985
  • University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1981

AFFILIATIONS

  • California State Bar
  • San Diego County Bar Association
  • Foothills Bar Association
  • American Bar Association