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Governmental

Berliner Cohen provides clients with a full range of land use, entitlement, environmental, ordinance, and subdivision services that business owners and real estate developers need to ensure that their projects are completed as smoothly and expeditiously as possible.


Governmental

Our land use lawyers’ understanding of development, real estate and the political and administrative process, as well as their commanding legal knowledge and relationships with city staffers, help business owners and developers successfully steer through the complex landscape of local rules, regulations and laws that govern many land use projects.

Berliner Cohen employs a former City Planner as well as serves currently as City Attorney for cities as well as Counsel for agencies throughout Northern California. Berliner Cohen focuses on representing clients both as the public agency as well as individual and business owners before all agencies, departments and officials of municipal and county governments, as well as special districts throughout California. 

Our attorneys are experienced in all types of litigation and other proceedings, including bid protests, claims, appeals, subcontractor disputes, audits and investigations, fraud proceedings, suspensions and debarments, and Freedom of Information Act and Trade Secrets Act actions.  We have had substantial success achieving our client’s objectives using Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques.  We also advise our clients on compliance matters across the full range of statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements, including cost allowability, cost accounting and contract pricing, as well as in connection with changes, subcontracting, and acquisitions. 

Our attorneys have successfully represented individuals and public entities in appeals of landmark decisions, are consistently invited to speak before the League of California Cities and are considers leaders in the industry. 

We have the skills and contacts to represent private and public landholders and developers before city councils, county boards, state planning commissions and other local, state and federal administrative bodies. We assist clients on both the private and public side with:

  • Applications for Development Projects, including timing 
  • Development incentives
  • Environmental Impact Reports (EIR)
  • Variances and conditional use permits
  • Historic preservation
  • Project permits and entitlements
  • Takings, eminent domain and inverse condemnation
  • The California Environmental Quality and National Environmental Policy Acts
  • Zoning and planning
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