JOHN W. BELSHER, Attorney at Law

John W. Belsher practices in the areas of land use regulation, municipal law, hazardous materials and business transactions. A native of San Luis Obispo, California, Mr. Belsher obtained his undergraduate B.A. degree in Economics from the University of California at Davis in 1978. He graduated from UCLA Law School in 1981, completing his legal studies at Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley.) At UCLA, Mr. Belsher was co-founder, managing editor and contributor to the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. Following Law School, he was associated with two prestigious Los Angeles law firms specializing in local government planning and real estate matters--Burke, Williams & Sorensen and Kane, Ballmer & Berkman.

In 1990, Mr. Belsher relocated to San Luis Obispo and associated with Sinsheimer, Scheibelhut and Baggett, at that time the Central Coast's largest law firm. In 1993, he formed Belsher & Becker, which later expanded to become Belsher, Becker, Roberts & Connell, a prominent firm for many years in San Luis Obispo.  

In 2016, Mr. Belsher formed Belsher Law, P.C. after forming several real estate ventures and dialing back his law practice. Mr. Belsher continues to represent a broad spectrum of businesses and real property owners, ranging from multi-national corporations to local families with substantial ranch property. Over the course of 30 years Mr. Belsher has represented a large percentage of the major development entities in San Luis Obispo County.

In his 35 years of entitlement work, Mr. Belsher has had primary involvement as an attorney and a partner in obtaining permits for numerous significant projects.

Mr. Belsher is past president of the San Luis Obispo Property Owner's Association and on the boards of numerous civic and business organizations, including past president of Sunny Acres, Inc., serving the San Luis Obispo homeless population.  He also served as President and building project manager for the Temple Ner Shalom Synagogue in San Luis Obispo.

Mr. Belsher was recruited for and appointed in 2015/2016 as part-time lecturer at the Cal Poly School of Business, where he taught a course in Real Estate Law to upper classmen.

Mr. Belsher is, and has been, for many years a principal in numerous real estate ventures on the California Central Coast, including commercial and residential developments from Camarillo to Avila Beach and Templeton, California. ​

Mr. Belsher resides on the Central Coast with his wife, dogs, and cat and cherishes his six grandchildren. An avid golfer, pickleball and sand volleyball player, Mr. Belsher also enjoys hiking and spending time in the mountains and at the beach.