Attorneys
Roger Masuda
Mr. Masuda graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (A.B., 1969) and from the University of California, Davis School of Law (J.D., 1972). He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1972. He was also admitted to the Idaho State Bar in 1973 but he is not currently an active member of that Bar.
Mr. Masuda is a shareholder in the firm. Since 1973, Mr. Masuda has primarily advised and represented governmental and public agencies – first as an Army JAGC attorney (1973-1976) with emphasis on government contracts, administrative, and environmental law, and then in private practice as general counsel and special counsel to public agencies. He served as part-time City Attorney for the City of Livingston, his hometown, from 1977 to 1984.
He is a long-time member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Association of California Water Agencies. He has advised public agencies on the full gamut of public law issues and he has negotiated and drafted complex settlement and transactional documents for public agencies. He has served as the issuer’s counsel in numerous public agency and joint powers agency financings involving general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, notes, and certificates of participation. He farmed almonds part-time for some 25 years. He has completed formal mediation training from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine School of Law.
He is a member of the Monterey County Bar Association and the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association.
Email: rmasuda@calwaterlaw.com
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David L. Hobbs
Mr. Hobbs graduated from California State University, Stanislaus (B.A., 2001) and from the McGeorge School of Law (J.D., 2004). He was admitted to the California State Bar in January 2005.
Mr. Hobbs is a shareholder in the firm. Mr. Hobbs acts as the firm’s lead attorney on matters for the Merquin County Water District, and the Turlock Mosquito Abatement District and assists in his areas of expertise for our other public agency clients. In representing these agencies, Mr. Hobbs has advised and assisted the agencies in a number of legal matters, including, but not limited to, Proposition 218 water and sewer rate increases, landowner-voting director elections, Political Reform Act, conflicts of interest, Brown Act, employment issues, implementation of water conservation measures, responding to Public Records Act requests, LAFCO, abatement procedures and enforcement, and government contract issues. He is a member of the Legal Advisory Working Group of the California Special Districts Association. Mr. Hobbs is an experienced litigator at both the trial and appellate levels.
Prior to joining the firm on July 1, 2010, Mr. Hobbs’ primary area of practice was residential subdivision development where he was responsible for real property acquisitions, vertical construction contracts and warranty issues, Subdivision Map Act compliance, local zoning, and General Plan Amendments.
Mr. Hobbs is an experienced public law and contract litigator. He advises, represents, and assists our clients on litigation matters at the staff and board level, at trial, and on appeal if necessary. He was the lead attorney on a case involving a special district’s out-of-boundary service rules and successfully advised and represented the special district at trial and on appeal. See City of Patterson v. Turlock Irrigation Dist., (2014) 227 Cal. App. 4th 484. He also assisted in the drafting of a legislative amendment to the Cortes-Knox Hertzberg Act (LAFCO) after the decision.
More recently, Mr. Hobbs was the lead attorney and successfully represented the special district at trial and on appeal in Inzana v. Turlock Irrigation Dist. Bd. of Directors, (2019) 35 Cal. App. 5th 429, which affirmed the ordinances and Board-adopted rules and regulations special districts may enforce and use administratively to protect district property, without having to resort to expensive litigation for each violation. Specifically, the court in Inzana affirmed the use of the special district’s termination of services administrative procedure where the customer knowingly encroached within a district pipeline easement thereby endangering the integrity of the pipeline. This and other administrative remedies are now available to all water and sewer districts needing to enforce their easement rights.
Email: dhobbs@calwaterlaw.com
Sara J. Lima
Mrs. Lima graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1987) and Hasting College of the Law, University of California (J.D., 1990). She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1990 and has been with our firm since 1991. Mrs. Lima advises and represents public agency clients on Brown Act, Public Records Act, Political Reform Act, conflicts of interest, government contracts, water rights, domestic water systems, water resources, environmental, and reservoir recreation law matters.
Mrs. Lima is Chief Assistant General Counsel for the Turlock Irrigation District and is the attorney for the Don Pedro Recreation Agency and the Don Pedro Project Board of Control. She advises TID on the drinking water system for the Town of La Grange. She is TID’s lead attorney and chief draftsperson on a surface water treatment plant project to supply up to 30,000-acre feet per year of Tuolumne River surface water to the cities of Turlock and Ceres for treatment and use by their water customers.
Email: slima@calwaterlaw.com
M. Josef Polk
Mr. Polk graduated from the University of California, San Diego (B.A., 2021) and the University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law (J.D., 2024). While in law school, he interned as a law clerk with the firm for 1½ years focusing on water and public agency law matters. He was admitted to the California State Bar and became an associate attorney in the law firm in November 2024. Mr. Polk’s practice will emphasize water and public agency law, real property, estate planning, probate, business law, and civil litigation. Mr. Polk is also deeply involved in the equine industry. He helps manage his family’s horse ranch and competes in show-jumping equestrian events across the country.
Email: jpolk@calwaterlaw.com