Practice

One of Nielsen Merksamer’s leading specialties for more than 40 years has been advising public agencies—states, counties, cities, school districts, and special districts, on the complex web of federal and state laws governing voting rights and redistricting. We also have experience advising independent redistricting commissions.

Our practice provides a unique combination of knowledge of redistricting law along with knowledge of and facility with the GIS systems and databases fundamental to redistricting and voting rights analysis.
Just in the last decade alone, the firm has advised well over 100 public entities on all aspects of the redistricting process, state and federal voting rights law, including potential liability under the Federal and California Voting Rights Acts (“FVRA” and “CVRA”), on the process of transitioning from at-large voting to district-based elections, and on the substantive legal considerations regarding the drawing of the lines, including compliance with California’s recently-enacted FAIR MAPS Act. Our level of experience in these matters is, we believe, unparalleled in California.

And while no redistricting plan adopted by a public entity while advised by this firm has ever been successfully challenged in court, we also have long experience litigating under these laws on behalf of public agencies.