jlam@agclawfirm.com  

John W. Lam is an associate attorney with AGC specializing in the areas of Municipal, Redevelopment, Real Estate, and Housing Law.  Mr. Lam counsels public entities and cities located throughout California in all areas of municipal law such as the Public Records Act, Ralph M. Brown Act (Open Meetings), conflict of interests, ethics, records retention, prevailing wages, public contracting, code enforcement, and land use and zoning. 

Mr. Lam currently serves as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Bell Gardens, City Prosecutor for the City of Pico Rivera, and serves as Planning Commission Counsel for the cities of Bell Gardens and Montebello.

Mr. Lam also advises redevelopment agencies on such legal matters as redevelopment plan adoption and amendment, affordable housing requirements, tax increment financing, pass-through obligations, Brownfield remediation, prevailing wage issues, and advises redevelopment agencies on commercial retail and affordable housing projects.  Mr. Lam serves as the Assistant Commission Counsel to the Bell Gardens Community Development Commission.

In addition to transactional matters, Mr. Lam also handles a variety of litigation matters including administrative writs and appeals, general civil litigation, and all phases of civil and criminal code enforcement.

Mr. Lam received his J.D. from Loyola Law School.  While in law school, he served as a staff member and later the Executive Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review and was a published author.  During that time, Mr. Lam also clerked for the Los Angeles office of the California Office of the Attorney General, Torts and Condemnations Department.  Prior to law school, Mr. Lam attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Political Science and History.

 PUBLICATIONS

• Prisoner's Dilemma: Reassessment of Borrero v. Aljets and the Indefinite Detention of Inadmissible Aliens, 37 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 1297 (2005).

EDUCATION

• Juris Doctor, Loyola Law School
• Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles

ADMISSIONS

• California
• United States District Court

PRACTICE AREAS

• Municipal Law
• Land Use and Environmental Law
• Real Estate Law
• Redevelopment Law
• Housing Law
• Litigation