Biography
Sheryl joined Ryley Carlock & Applewhite in 1984. She practices in the areas of water law, environmental law, electric utility law and special taxing districts and is a member of the Firm's Executive Committee. She is Chair of the Water, Energy, Resources and Environment practice group at Ryley Carlock.
She has extensive experience in all aspects of Arizona water issues and represents numerous land developers, successfully securing 100-year assured water supply certificates for several major developers in the state of Arizona.
Sheryl also has represented many golf course owners and assisted in securing the necessary water rights for a variety of golf courses and lakes. She also has represented golf course owners dealing with compliance and enforcement matters.
Her practice includes all aspects of documenting, acquiring, transferring and perfecting groundwater and surface water rights in Arizona. She also has prepared hundreds of water rights claims in the two Arizona general stream adjudications.
Sheryl serves as counsel to several irrigation and electrical districts, addressing all aspects of special taxing district issues. Her practice in this area includes everything from open meeting law compliance to election law compliance to advice regarding the investment of public funds.
In addition, Sheryl has extensive experience representing both public and private electric utility interests. She acts as counsel to several entities that contract for hydroelectric power from the Western Area Power Administration and the Arizona Power Authority. She is involved in all aspects of the industry, including power supply contracting, rate setting, transmission access, and retail electric competition.
Sheryl's practice also includes environmental real estate due diligence and environmental permitting and compliance. Her experience ranges from underground storage tank cleanups, asbestos removal contracting and "community right to know" compliance to effluent reuse permitting. She has undertaken the environmental due diligence review for hundreds of properties in Arizona and elsewhere.
Sheryl has participated in a number of matters involving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act.
She also has participated in drafting and structuring many regulatory rulemakings, both at the state level and federal level, and has been actively involved in drafting legislation in all areas of her practice.
Sheryl has spoken and written on topics such as retail electric competition, effluent reuse, developments in environmental law, and underground storage tank compliance.
She is a native of Kansas and received her bachelor's degree in sociology from Kansas State University in 1980. She received her law degree from the University of Kansas in 1984. Sheryl has been listed in Best Lawyers in America® since 2007. She is named in Chambers and Partners and Super Lawyers 2007-2009, 2011, and 2012.
