Innovation in design and building construction require innovation in legal representation.
In keeping with this tenet, Hoagland Longo has created a unique practice group to address legal issues in the ever-evolving area of green building and sustainable design. Select attorneys from our Construction, Real Estate & Transactional and Environmental & Toxic Tort practice groups have joined forces to form our Green Building Practices Group. Together, these attorneys offer experience-based knowledge in their individual practice areas, with a particular emphasis on emerging green legal issues.
As green building and sustainable design become commonplace in site development, energy performance and building design, architects, engineers, contractors and owners will be faced with newly developed legal obligations, standards of care, and potential liabilities. Our goal is to provide innovative legal support to our clients faced with these ever-evolving green legal issues, which include implementation of nationally accepted green building rating systems and guidelines into project programs; statutory and regulatory green building requirements in New Jersey; local zoning and municipal land use compliance and “green” master planning; site remediation, Brownsfield redevelopments, and Green Acres; national, state, and local green building tax incentives; “green” products liability issues; insurance and coverage issues arising from green building obligations; development of local “green building” ordinances; risk management and litigation avoidance; and project support.
Our Green Building attorneys include those who are LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED AP), have actual “hands-on” experience in the construction industry, backgrounds and licenses in professional engineering, and active membership in the United States Green Building Counsel – New Jersey Chapter (USGBC-NJ) and the Construction Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Our partner-in-charge serves as counsel to the New Jersey chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-New Jersey) and the American Society of Landscape Architects (NJ-ASLA), as well as the New Jersey Society of Professional Engineers (NJSPE). We regularly lecture on green building topics and actively participate in the development of this unique area of the law with state agencies and professional and construction trade organizations. Our strong dedication to the building construction industry and the ever-changing green environment guides our approach to this new area of the law.