PRACTICE AREAS
We offer excellent service in the following areas:
Click one of the above for details.
Real Estate Development
and Land Use Planning
Since its inception, our firm has represented
real estate developers and lending institutions in all phases
of the development process, including:
· organization of
the developer entity
· acquisition agreements
· financing
· zoning
· permitting
· architectural and construction contracts
· environmental evaluations
Our representation of the developer
of Audubon Court, the building complex in which our offices are
located, is typical of the scope of this work. This project entailed
the negotiation and drafting of an intricate redevelopment agreement
among the City of New Haven, a not-for-profit corporation, and
the developer; winning planned development district zoning and
Redevelopment Agency approvals; drafting a ground lease and tenant
leases; organization of a syndicated limited partnership; creation
of a mixed-use, leasehold condominium; negotiation and documentation
of leasehold mortgage financing; and creation of cooperation agreements
between the limited partnership and the condominium.
We represent developers of low-and moderate-income multi-family housing projects utilizing U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development insurance and subsidies
and State Housing Financing Agency programs. The projects in which
we have assisted our clients total well over three-quarters of
a billion dollars of mortgage financing.
We assist clients in developing
and obtaining permits for residential and office park subdivisions,
condominiums, nursing homes, shopping centers and office buildings.
On behalf of a major regional mall developer, we negotiated an
innovative and economically viable zoning scheme with surrounding
municipalities. We represented the purchaser of a corporate headquarters
site valued at more than three hundred million dollars. One of
the first condominium declarations in the State of Connecticut
was drafted by our firm.
Our land use planning experience
guides clients through site plan approval, variance requests,
special permit applications, subdivision approvals, coastal site
plan reviews and related permitting. We also represent clients
opposing land use applications, both at the administrative and
appellate levels. With our trial attorneys, we represent developers
and municipalities in damage claims resulting from the denial
of development applications.
Our goal is to produce timely
and cost effective results by combining our extensive experience
in the business challenges facing developers with a thorough knowledge
of the legal issues which impact our clients’ real estate
transactions.
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Insurance Defense
Practice Group
The litigation
and insurance defense practice group represents clients in civil
litigation matters, with an emphasis on professional liability and
defense of municipal and commercial entities. Our primary
focus is to deliver zealous courtroom representation while abiding
by the "real world" demand for legal cost containment. As a
mid-sized firm, we eliminate the redundancies too often found in
large firms, where the client pays heavily for oversight and
review. At Susman, Duffy & Segaloff, the attorney assigned
to try the case is involved in all aspects of the case from
inception to conclusion.
We defend cases in federal and
state courts at the trial and appellate level. We represent
professionals in the legal, medical, accounting, and design
fields, as well as defending public liability claims for
municipalities throughout the State of Connecticut. In addition,
we regularly represent self-insureds and general liability
carriers and act as defense counsel for retailers, manufacturers
and sellers in product liability claims.
Recognizing that the costs of
litigation can quickly overwhelm even the winner, we offer a
reasonable hourly rate and evaluate and explore exit strategies
early on in the litigation process. Our skill in dispute
resolution extends beyond the courtroom. The group's lawyers use
mediation and arbitration when those techniques best suit the
clients' tactical and financial needs. We have successfully
resolved complex matters in mediation and appeared before
arbitration tribunals.
We promote efficiency and client
responsiveness by utilizing a team approach. Each case is assigned
a three-person primary team consisting of a partner, an associate
and a paralegal. Our litigation paralegals, Georgette Lovelace and
Cheryl Solomine, have a combined twenty-six years of litigation
experience, and have been an integral part of our litigation
practice group for six and eleven years, respectively. This
three-person team remains consistent throughout the course of each
matter, minimizing the "learning curve" and better enabling us to
manage the course of litigation and provide clients with fast and
knowledgeable responses to inquiries. At the same time, this
approach takes maximum advantage of the team's knowledge and
expertise to better effect our clients' goals.
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Commercial Lending,
Litigation
and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group
Since its founding, our firm has provided both
lenders and borrowers with a comprehensive range of sophisticated
legal advice concerning structuring, documenting and securing
commercial loan transactions of all types, including:
· mortgage loans
· development and construction financing
· revolving credit facilities
· commercial and industrial and other asset-based loans
The commercial lending and creditors’
rights practice areas are combined at Susman, Duffy & Segaloff
for a simple but compelling reason: an attorney who drafts loan
documents must have a complete and practical understanding of
the remedies provided for in those documents. In today’s
complex lending environment, it is essential that the attorney
understand the connections among the various loan documents in
order to maximize the creditors’ recovery should that become
necessary. The integration of these practice groups allows us
to provide our clients with the best possible results without
unnecessary expense or loss of time.
We have helped
our institutional lending clients structure, negotiate and close
many complex transactions, involving the development of commercial
office buildings and shopping centers, revolving and term loan
credit facilities for multi-state leasing companies,
multi-currency facilities for foreign companies, and letter of
credit and reimbursement agreements supporting the issuance of
industrial development bonds.
As counsel to
commercial borrowers, we routinely represent corporations,
partnerships and other business entities in both real estate and
asset based borrowings. We take particular pride in
our representation of borrowers in HUD-insured multifamily housing
transactions, including loans funded by GNMA securities and by the
sale of low income housing tax credits, and loans involving
Multifamily Mortgage Revenue Bonds. We were counsel to the
limited partnership borrowers that closed the first seven HUD
Preservation Loans in the country involving in excess of
$26,000,000.
Our attorneys have represented creditors
in many of the high-profile Chapter 11 bankruptcies and workouts
experienced by regional lenders in recent years. We are well-versed
in all aspects of insolvency law, including contested adversary
proceedings and cram-down issues. We have represented numerous
creditors in bankruptcies and foreclosures involving receivers,
environmental issues, and multi-jurisdictional security issues.
Our comprehensive
understanding and integrated expertise allows us to deliver prompt,
efficient and cost effective service to our commercial clients.
Our commercial litigators handle the full range
of business disputes. We try breach of contract and business
tort claims for banks and other lenders including federal
agencies, franchisors, franchisees and national and local
businesses. The firm's broad background in real estate
development makes us particularly suitable for those with
construction related litigation, including condemnations and
disputes between owners and contractors.
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Estate
Planning and Administration
The laws affecting estate planning and the
transfer of personal wealth are constantly changing. We keep our
clients abreast of changes which present valuable opportunities.
Careful consideration of both tax
and non-tax issues affecting individuals and families in the transfer
of wealth are priorities when we advise clients in matters of
estate planning. Our Estate Planning Practice Group handles all
areas of personal and tax planning, from matters as straightforward
as guardianships, to complex irrevocable trusts and family partnerships.
In advising our estate planning
clients, we draw upon our expertise in the areas of business and
family law. Different people have different needs at different
times in their lives. Therefore, we prepare a range of planning
vehicles, such as wills, insurance trusts, personal residence
trusts and family partnerships, all designed to maximize family
assets and minimize estate and succession taxes.
Estate planning issues have a far-reaching
impact upon small business owners. The owner of a closely-held
business faces the challenge of retaining an effective measure
of control within the business entity, while shifting wealth to
family members at the lowest possible tax cost.
To solve that problem for one typical
business client, we prepared a plan utilizing a family limited
partnership and an aggressive program of tax-free gifting of active
business assets. Thus, the owner could divest himself of asset
ownership at an accelerated rate, without compromising his control
of the company. Business operations have continued unchanged,
but the family will realize significant estate tax savings.
After death, efficient estate administration
is critical to the smooth dissolution of assets at minimum cost
to heirs. We provide counsel for fiduciaries in fulfilling the
responsibilities imposed on them by the probate laws and in maximizing
existing opportunities for tax savings.
Estate planning is a lifelong
process. Our goal is to identify the client’s personal and
business objectives and create techniques to fulfill them.
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Health
Care
Unlike other health care practices, where experience
is limited merely to health care law, the Health Care Group brings
our clients twenty years of experience in the business of health
care management. Drawing on this range of expertise, our health
care attorneys deliver comprehensive representation on:
· professional and
facilities licensure and regulation
· reimbursement
· medical practice management
· organizational and operational issues
· joint ventures
· managed care network formation
We have successfully negotiated
on behalf of facility owners and providers in state and federal
administrative and regulatory matters, affecting licensure, reimbursement
rates and patient care issues. Health care providers come to us
for aggressive representation in agency and court proceedings
involving licensing sanctions, administrative fines and criminal
penalties.
Health care providers once had to
use two or more firms for their legal needs — one for corporate
work and a health care "boutique" for specialized services.
Our expertise in the regulatory arena, combined with the firm’s
broad-based commercial capabilities, make it unnecessary to divide
a client’s legal matters; we can coordinate all aspects
of complex healthcare transactions in one firm. For example, we
structure:
· acquisitions and
changes of ownership
· facility expansions
· debt and equity financing
· Certificate-of-Need Applications
Our ability to track and respond
to the developments and changes in today’s health care environment
enables us to anticipate and meet the pressing needs of our clients.
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Environmental
Law
Construction projects, property ownership and
manufacturing are beset with an array of complex environmental
regulations. Our Environmental Law Practice Group provides commercial,
municipal and individual clients with the necessary legal expertise
and scientific background to steer through these regulations and
minimize the consequences of violations.
We represent clients before federal,
state and local administrative agencies and in federal and state
courts in all areas of environmental law:
· permitting processes
· superfund proceedings
· criminal and civil pollution litigation
· zoning and wetlands applications
With our Real Estate Development
and Secured Lending attorneys, we guide clients through environmental
audits, regulatory compliance reviews, and site assessments. Our
group offers broad experience representing buyers, sellers and
lenders in transferring and financing environmentally sensitive
property. We have represented clients in criminal actions under
the Federal Environmental Protection Acts and in civil actions
seeking to halt development of a regional mall.
We employ talent from throughout
our firm to meet our clients’ environmental and land use
goals with a well-tailored plan.
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Municipal Law
Our representation of municipalities links
together several practice areas of our firm. Contract negotiations,
financing techniques and litigation strategies all play a key
role in the ability to offer the wide range of legal services
which may be required by a municipality. In that role, we have
acted as bond and underwriter’s counsel, represented downtown
development authorities in various projects, and assisted municipal
authorities engaged in privatization efforts. We regularly represent
municipalities in various types of litigation matters.
We assisted water pollution control
authorities in the privatization of wastewater treatment plants,
resulting in a format which has set the national standard for
projects of this type. Our firm played a vital role in the preparation
of a Request for Qualifications, a Request for Proposals, the
negotiation and drafting of an Operations and Management Agreement,
and the implementation of the municipal approval process. Upon
implementation, a savings of $52,000,000.00 over a fifteen-year
period will accrue to the water pollution control authority.
We acted as counsel to a municipality
in its successful redevelopment of its central business core.
This representation involved extensive negotiations with a national
regional mall developer, and obtaining state and federal grants.
In our role as co-bond and underwriter’s
counsel for various Connecticut municipalities and their underwriters,
we have been instrumental in structuring and implementing general
obligation financings for the refunding of regional coliseum bonds
and the original funding for libraries and open-space projects.
We are listed in the Bond Buyer’s Redbook for municipal
finance attorneys.
We have experience in trying
the full range of municipal cases, including police abuse cases,
condemnation actions, negligence cases and municipal construction
matters. Of particular interest is our successful representation
of a locality in opposing an injunction against the demolition
of an allegedly historic structure. Equally notable is the
firm's defense of a First
Selectman in an action claiming that political criticism of the
development of a light industrial project violated the owner’s
constitutional rights.
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Susman, Duffy & Segaloff, P.C.
55 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, Connecticut 06510
Telephone: 203-624-9830
FAX: 203-562-8430
Electronic mail:
mcockey@susmanduffy.com
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