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Q&A with Isra Shah, Class of 2012
Partner at Best Best & Krieger LLP
Isra Shah, a graduate of UC Irvine Law's inaugural class, is a partner in Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Municipal Law practice group, focusing exclusively on representing public agencies. Isra draws on her years of experience working for municipalities in both “in house” and private practice settings to advise clients on a wide range of governmental law issues, including land use laws, open government and ethics laws, contract, ordinance, and regulation drafting, and compliance. Isra currently serves as City Attorney to the City of Palm Desert and Planning Counsel to the City of Ontario.
Prior to joining Best Best & Krieger, Isra served as Senior Deputy City Attorney for the City of Huntington Beach. In private practice, she advised a variety of city, special district, and JPA clients, including as Interim City Attorney for the City of Buena Park. In addition, Isra clerked for two years for the Honorable Catherine E. Bauer at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
Isra’s leadership accomplishments include serving as president of the Orange County City Attorneys’ Association, where she also served as a board member for several years. She has also served on the Board and as President of the UCI Law Alumni Association, and has been honored as a California Super Lawyers Rising Star in State, Local, and Municipal Law.
1. How did UC Irvine Law prepare you for your legal practice?
I remember that before the Law School officially opened, the University and faculty were frequently asked what would make UCI different. The answer was to relentlessly focus on developing analytical skills and offering experiential learning. No curriculum can fully encompass the broad range of work that lawyers do (my own practice area is an area of law I encountered only after graduation), but there are so many times that the skills I learned through one of my legal internships or writing seminars provided the foundation for completing my task.
2. What do you like best about your work?
The connection to civic life. My work as a public law attorney involves supporting communities as they build housing, hold elections, construct libraries and parks, or create programs to stimulate economic growth. It is a neat thing to sit in a council chambers where residents, developers, businesses, people who care, come to participate in government processes that impact them up close, in their neighborhoods.
3. What was the best part about being a student at UC Irvine Law?
Being able to learn in such a warm community. There are so many uncertainties when you are a law student: where to apply for a job, whether to do a clerkship, how to select a specialty. We were fortunate to have a faculty that welcomed us in to their offices really at any time, as well as the support of the local Orange County legal community as a whole.
4. How do you stay involved with the UC Irvine Law community?
I served on the Alumni Board for several years, and helped supervise students through the Law School’s externship program as well. These days, I love an excuse to attend a Law School event. My daydream is to teach a municipal law seminar one day!
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