What matters to me today is Expertise, Evidence, and the Discipline of Restraint.
On the eve of a high-stakes hearing, project opponents submitted a last-minute “expert” letter—two pages, no citations, no engagement with the thousands of pages in the administrative record, and no grounding in governing law. Yet it purported to dismantle the project wholesale: water demand underestimated, aquifer reliability overstated, wastewater impacts minimized, and system design fatally flawed. The conclusion—deny the project—rested not on evidence, but assertion.
In CEQA practice, expertise is not a title; it is demonstrated through method, record, and law. Opinions must be anchored in substantial evidence, not conjecture. Credentials matter, but discipline matters more: citing the record, grappling with contrary data, and applying the correct legal standards.
That moment prompted a broader reflection. How often do we play the same role in our own lives? We render confident judgments about people we love or situations we only partially understand—untethered from the full “record,” inattentive to context, and certain in our conclusions.
The lesson is simple, and hard: slow down. Test assumptions. Seek the whole record. Give weight to qualified voices. And where uncertainty remains, choose humility over pronouncement.
In law, as in life, the cost of conclusory thinking is real. Better outcomes—projects approved, relationships preserved, decisions improved—follow from the same discipline: evidence first, judgment second.
That’s what matters to me today in 250 words or less. What matters to you? I’d really like to know.