(916) 898-9890
hstroud@chwlaw.us
Heather is Senior Counsel in Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley’s advisory and litigationpractice groups, resident in the Sacramento office. Before joining CHW, Heather served as the in-house city attorney for South Lake Tahoe and as a deputy city attorney for San Diego and Carlsbad. She has advised public agencies on a wide range of matters including open meetings, public records, ethics, elections, public works and utilities, land use and housing, short-term rentals, cannabis regulation, and code enforcement. Heather has provided training to elected officials and agency staff on AB 1234, public records, and contracting.
Heather has litigated a variety of cases for municipal clients, including cases involving land use, CEQA, citizen initiatives, and dangerous condition of public property. She is admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Heather obtained a published California Court of Appeal decision affirming local authority to ban short-term rentals in South Lake Tahoe Property Owners Group v. City of South Lake Tahoe (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 735. Heather also obtained two favorable published opinions for San Diego in CEQA cases: an opinion holding CEQA review is not required for the ministerial act of reviewing redevelopment project plans for consistency with prior approvals in San Diego Navy Broadway Complex Coalition v. City of San Diego (2010) 185 Cal.App.4th 924; and an opinion clarifying the requirements for exhaustion of remedies in Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development v. City of San Diego (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th 515.
Heather been active in the League of California Cities, serving on the Legal Advocacy Committee and Executive Committee (2021-2023 and 2025–2027), Ad-Hoc Emergency Response Committee (Chair) (2024–2026), Charter City Ad-Hoc Committee (2024-2026), Ad Hoc Committee on Enhancing Inclusion and Participation (2024-2025), Nominating Committee (2020), and Municipal Law Handbook Committee (2018-2021). She also serves as a volunteer mediator for the Superior Court for El Dorado County, and is on the volunteer mediator panel for the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.
Heather was admitted to the Colorado Bar in 2006 (now inactive) and the California Bar in 2009. Heather graduated from University of Colorado Law School in 2006, where she was the Case Note Editor for the Colorado Law Review and admitted to Order of the Coif. Heather served as a post-graduate law clerk for Justice Michael L. Bender (retired) of the Colorado Supreme Court.Before law school, Heather worked as a land use planner. Heather graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a B.A. degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy in 1998, and was the captain of the varsity cross country team. She lives in South Lake Tahoe with her family.