Donald Simon
Don primarily focuses on matters related to business and construction law, solar energy, green building, and environmental policy. He has broad experience representing public and private clients on a multitude of contract, litigation, regulatory and general business issues. He serves as outside general counsel to a host of companies focused on solar, construction, and social enterprise.
Don is a national leader and frequent speaker for the green economy and has devoted himself to creating the framework necessary for incenting business to become the engine of environmental sustainability and social responsibility. He co-chaired the effort to write and pass California’s Benefit Corporation law (AB 361), creating a new legal framework for businesses seeking to do well while doing good. Since that time, he has formed and restructured nearly a hundred companies as benefit corporations, and he is one of the nation’s foremost experts in the area.
Early in his career, Don worked with Environmental Defense Fund to develop a framework for reducing international air pollution along U.S. – Mexican border. He also represented several organizations on issues related to old-growth forest protection and logging on public lands.
Since that time, Don has co-founded the two organizations that have made California the global green building leader – the U.S. Green Building Council’s Northern California Chapter and Build It Green. Don serves as general counsel to Build It Green and the California solar industry’s trade group, the California Solar and Storage Association. Don hosted the West Coast Green conference and trade show for green innovation. On an international level, he teamed with the City of San Francisco in 2005 to organize and host the United Nations’ largest international conference of local government leaders to address urban environmental sustainability issues and helped draft the Urban Environmental Accords signed by mayors of the world’s largest cities.
After many years in the public policy arena, Don recognized the political system’s ability to address complex environmental and social issues is undermined by the corruptive influence of money in politics. Since 2012, he has served on the board of directors of the California Clean Money Campaign, where he continues to work to pass the California DISCLOSE Act which will inform voters who is really funding campaigns.
ADMISSIONS
California
Ohio
EDUCATION
J.D., The Ohio State University
B.A., The Ohio State University
AWARDS AND HONORS
International Green Industry Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014
U.S. Green Building Council’s 2012 Leadership President’s Award, 2012
California Lawyer Magazine, California Lawyer Attorney of the Year, 2012
Build It Green, Founder Recognition, 2011
B Lab, B Corp National MVP, 2011
B Lab, B Corp I’m Just A Bill, 2011
Build It Green, Green Building Visionary Award – 2nd Annual Green Building Awards, 2010
San Francisco Business Times, “Community Partnership in Sustainability” Corporate Philanthropy Award, 2010
California Real Estate Journal, Green Leaders, 2009
U.S. Green Building Council, “Green Super Hero” Special Achievement Award, 2008
East Bay Business Times, Top Attorney in the East Bay for Environmental Sustainability, 2007
East Bay Business Times, Top 40 Under 40, 2006
ARTICLES AND PRESENTATIONS
Author, “Law Firm Commits to Green Building,” San Francisco Business Times, July 2019
Author, “Wendel Rosen Focuses on More than Just the Law,” Contra Costa Lawyer, July 2019
Presenter, “Public Forum on PG&E Governance, Management and Safety Culture,” California Public Utilities Commission, April 26, 2019
PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Board Member and Contributing Author (California DISCLOSE Act), California
Clean Money Campaign
Co-Founder and General Counsel, U.S. Green Building Council, Northern California Chapter
Co-Founder, General Counsel, Former President and Former Board Member, Build It Green, Berkeley
General Counsel, California Solar & Storage Association
Member, Alameda County Bar Association