Moira O’Neill

Moira O’Neill is a public law and urban planning scholar focused on land use, climate, resilience, and equity. Her research blends legal research with planning research methods and supports state and local government efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change while also addressing inequality. O’Neill is an associate research scientist at the College of Environmental Design's (CED) Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) and an affiliated scholar of UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. She also holds faculty appointments at the University of Virginia’s School of Law and School of Architecture.

For several years, O’Neill has led the Comprehensive Assessment of Land Use Entitlements Study (CALES), a collaborative study that brings together legal and planning scholars and students to understand how land use regulations influence residential development patterns. CALES contributes novel data to housing policy debates about which regulations promote housing affordability, integration and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In California, CALES data and findings supported the 2018 Housing Accountability Act amendments, the development and implementation of California’s ten year housing data strategy (codified in section 65940.1 to the California Government Code), the California Air Resources Board’s 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality (that implements the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act), and most recently the Department of Housing and Community Development’s first ever Housing Policy and Practice Review of San Francisco. O’Neill, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is also collaborating with UCLA scholars to explore fair housing questions.

O'Neill’s research on sustainable public school meal reform initiatives has supported district-level and state policy implementation of sustainable school meal improvements to promote healthy eating and a circular food system. O’Neill’s work continues to support the Oakland Unified School District’s efforts to improve school meals. She is also collaborating with the Virginia Department of Education on Virginia Food for Virginia Kids.

O’Neill contributes to research on local regulation of nonmedical outdoor cannabis cultivation. This study examines whether current regulation is advancing state policy to bring cultivation out of the illegal market to protect public health and the environment.

O’Neill previously held appointments as an associate research scholar and adjunct faculty member of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Prior to that, O’Neill was an assistant professor of teaching in CED's Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) and at Berkeley Law.

O'Neill’s professional and legal experience involved representing public entities and universities in California for over a decade. In her legal practice, she represented public entities in appellate matters, writ proceedings, and complex litigation. Her professional consulting supported local public entities through public policy analysis and the design and implementation of participatory processes for land development.

O’Neill received her J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco in 2006. She graduated law school with academic honors and awards, including recognition through membership in the Thurston Society. She also served as the executive managing editor for the Hastings Law Journal and worked as a teaching assistant in the Legal Educational Opportunity Program for first-year civil procedure, property, and environmental law courses. Prior to law school, O’Neill completed her bachelor’s degree in political science and legal studies (magna cum laude) at Golden Gate University at night while working full-time during the day.

After graduating law school, O’Neill clerked for Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. During law school she externed for Associate Justice Martin J. Jenkins of the California Supreme Court, then of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

O’Neill teaches land use law, local and state government law, and community development planning courses.

O’Neill is a member of the State Bar of California.