Attorneys

Chuck Bell is the founding partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He has practiced political and election law exclusively since 1980. He is a nationally-recognized expert on federal and state campaign finance and election laws.

He served as general counsel to the California Republican Party from 1981 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2017. He has provided legal advice and representation to three former California Governors, two Presidential candidates, numerous California state constitutional officers, Congressional, State Senate and Assembly leaders and candidates.  He has also represented the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee in litigation and political law matters.

He is a past president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, Washington, DC, and currently serves as its general counsel. Chuck was the founding Chairman of the California Political Attorneys Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Election Law.

He has litigated cases on constitutional issues concerning campaign finance and election law in the U.S. Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court and federal and state trial and appellate courts.  He served as a national lawyers co-chairman for the Romney and McCain Presidential campaigns and state lawyers chairman for the Dole and two Bushes Presidential campaigns.  He is an officer and director of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation and the Sacramento Federal Judicial Library and Learning Center Foundation which supports the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Library and Learning Center in Sacramento, California.  He served as an advisor to political parties in the historic 1994 South African election.

He is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford Law School.

Colleen was a founding partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. She has retired after practicing political and election law in Southern California since 1989, initially with Simmons & McAndrews, which merged with Bell & Hiltachk in 1993. She served as a Commissioner on the Fair Political Practices Commission for six years following her appointment to the position by Governor Brown in 1977.

She served as a member of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford, which reported to the Congress and President Bush on election reform following the 2000 election and resulted in the Help America Vote Act of 2002. She also served as a member of California Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg’s 2001 Commission on initiative Reform and was Co-Chair of Secretary of State Bruce McPherson’s 2006 Task Force on Online Disclosure of Campaign Finance Statements. She currently serves on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Elections and the Campaign Disclosure Project Advisory Board.

Colleen is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and received her law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. She served as President of the California Political Attorneys Association, 1995-1996.

Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyers in California 2017

Tom is managing partner at Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He has practiced political and election law exclusively since 1988. Prior to that, he was an attorney with a general civil litigation firm in Sacramento. He has served as legal counsel and treasurer to statewide and local ballot measure committees, political action committees, trade associations and candidates. He has represented state ballot measure committees on a variety of issues, including tax policy, the environment, education, civil and criminal justice reform and gaming. He has served as legal counsel to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tom specializes in drafting complex tax and constitutional measures and counsels on qualification efforts for ballot measure campaigns as well as all aspects of election campaigning related to such measures. He litigates ballot and ballot pamphlet language issues and advises nonprofit corporations and associations on formation and tax exemption issues.

He served as an official U.S. election observer for the 1996 Russian Presidential election.

He is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento and the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. His academic achievements include membership in The Order of the Coif and Law Review editor and author. He Served as President of the California Political Attorneys Association, 2004 – 2005 and on the Board of the American Association of Political Consultants.

Brian Hildreth is a partner with Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP. He specializes in advising business entities, candidates, PACs, independent expenditure committees, major campaign donors and lobbyists in the areas of political law and election law.

Brian maintains a specialty practice in campaign and elections litigation, including challenges to ballot measures, voter information pamphlets and candidate ballot designations, as well as ballot access cases, election contests and anti-SLAPP matters. He also represents clients in administrative enforcement actions before the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and local enforcement agencies. Brian has prepared and argued numerous trial court and appellate level cases, and negotiated accepted settlements in numerous other legal and administrative enforcement matters.

Brian also advises candidates and committees in post-election matters, including legal validation of vote-by-mail ballots, verification of ballots cast by provisional voters and vote recounts.

Brian previously served as a special assistant in the Governor’s Office in Sacramento. He also formerly worked as government relations counsel for the Northrop Grumman Corporation at its headquarters in Los Angeles.

Brian received his law degree from the Tulane University School of Law where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, and as a senior teaching fellow for the law school’s legal writing and research program. He completed law school clerkships with the California Governor’s Office of Legal Affairs and the FPPC. Brian also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Brian is the past president of the California Political Attorneys Association (CPAA). He presently serves as a board member for the Sacramento Tactical Foundation (SacTac), which is dedicated to providing law enforcement teams (SWAT, SED, K9) with specialized equipment to further ensure the safety of deputies and officers in the line of duty.

Paul has been Of Counsel to Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP since 2002 and is based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Straw & Gough where he had a litigation and appellate practice representing clients in business, environmental, political and entertainment matters. From 1978 to 1987, Paul was the Litigation Manager for the Western Region of Mobil Oil Corporation which included California and 6 other western states. In that position he was responsible for overseeing the defense and prosecution of all Mobil Oil Corporation litigation and appeals in the entire region.

He has over 30 years of litigation experience including cases involving the Political Reform Act, initiative and referendum, voter registration, ballot arguments, and Propositions 13, 218 and 62. Paul is currently representing the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in a case pending in the Second District Court of Appeal challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 13. Paul has represented clients in numerous state and federal appeals including reported decisions involving the Political Reform Act, FOIA, CEQA and Proposition 62.

Paul is admitted to practice in California, all United States District Courts in the State of California and the Ninth Circuit. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University Law School where he was a member of the Law Review.

Sarah Lang maintains a California-exclusive practice counseling public officials and government contractors on ethics and conflict of interest provisions of Government Code section 1090 and the Political Reform Act, which also covers the review and preparation of Statements of Economic Interests (Form 700). Sarah’s practice area includes formation and ongoing maintenance of tax-exempt organizations at the state and federal levels. Sarah also advises corporations, lobbyists, candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs), major campaign donors, nonprofit organizations, and state and local ballot measure committees in the areas of political and election law.

Sarah previously served as a Political Reform Consultant with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, specializing in conflict of interest regulations, Statements of Economic Interests, and campaign reporting requirements. Her duties included providing statewide compliance training to candidates, local elections officials, lobbyists, governmental agencies, and foreign delegations.

Sarah earned her Juris Doctor degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, completing concentrations in both business law and tax law. Sarah graduated Summa cum Laude from William Jessup University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy, completing a concentration in economics and management with an academic focus on Christian theology while managing branch operations of an industry-leading bank.