Municipal Law And Public Sector- Employers Only
Are you a municipal government facing legal issues or are you a private client seeking assistance with obtaining governmental approvals for a project? Our municipal practice assists governments and private businesses in dealing with these challenging landscapes.
Our municipal law practice involves helping developers and other parties requiring town, city and/or county approvals. We represent developers and business owners in a wide range of zoning and land use matters including use and area variances, subdivision and site plan approvals, and applications for rezoning. We assist clients in complying with New York’s State Environmental Review Act (“SEQRA”). We have ample experience in challenging decisions by municipalities in Article 78 Proceedings. We also serve as special counsel to Town Boards, Planning Boards and Zoning Boards of Appeal.
Linda Joseph, one of our founding partners, is a former Town Attorney for both the Towns of Concord and Sardinia. Ginger Schroder, another of our founding partners, also serves as a county legislator in Cattaraugus County and as a member of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency. This extensive, hands-on experience in working directly with local governments enables us to provide prompt, practical guidance to our clients on how to quickly and efficiently obtain needed local approvals for their projects.
Heather Giambra devotes much of her practice to representing municipalities, with regard to labor and employment issues and other attorneys have on-going representation of municipal governments. We regularly represent municipalities in labor and employment law matters, including representing towns, villages and counties before the Public Employment Relations Board in improper practice, certification and decertification proceedings. We negotiate collective bargaining agreements on behalf of our public sector clients and advise them regarding contract interpretation and administration. We also represent municipal clients labor arbitration proceedings. In addition, we provide compliance advice to our municipal clients in a variety of areas including with respect to the New York State Civil Service Law, as well as a variety of state and local wage and hour, employment discrimination, accommodation, and leave laws.