Today more than ever, communities are looking for new ways to grow and avenues for savings as their traditional revenue streams are shrinking. With experience representing more than 200 municipalities and school boards as general counsel, special counsel or bond counsel, Clark Hill is uniquely positioned to help cities identify and secure new opportunities for development. It is our belief that municipal law is really about community improvement, about serving the residents and taxpayers, and about delivering cost-effective and timely results.
Our team has broad and deep expertise gained over decades of work in the public sector. And beyond that, our municipal clients have access to the significant resources of the numerous other specialties offered by our firm. Because of the depth and breadth of our services, our clients will find that we are often able to solve problems and get answers in an efficient, time-sensitive and cost-effective manner.
Clark Hill has represented numerous governmental and inter-governmental entities:
- Brownfield redevelopment authorities
- Downtown development authorities
- Economic development authorities
- Fire and other emergency services boards and authorities
- Libraries
- Local development finance authorities
- Utility, water and sanitary sewer authorities
- Tax increment financing authorities
We act as more than just legal advisers to the municipalities we serve. Under many city charters, the city attorney may also function as an officer of the city. We become part of the team, working with the city council, city officers and other city bodies to help inform them of their legally available options, the legal impacts and consequences of various situations, and helping them assess the risks of any project. Then, once the official decision has been made, we step in to help implement the project. Our attorneys identify with our clients -- we want to ensure not only that their legal needs are met, but that their policy goals and city objectives are met as well. Essentially, we understand how municipalities and their various authorities and boards work. We understand what they need in terms of ongoing community growth. And we can help our clients identify, secure and implement development projects that will help them succeed into the future.
Clark Hill has decades of experience working on effective economic development projects. The results speak for themselves, in the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of transactions, the jobs created and the new connections between the public and private spheres. Our success on behalf of our clients spans virtually all practice areas and has contributed in very real and positive ways to the communities involved.
Here is an example of the work our Economic Development Team we has done for our clients:
South University Village. The first public-private partnership between Grand Rapids-based Prime Development, who owns the building, and Wayne State University in Detroit, which owns the land. This multi-use development was Prime’s first foray into Detroit, and it has been a great success. Clark Hill provided governmental relations counsel on the original procurement with Wayne State, in addition to extensive legal and governmental relations work on tax credits, tax assessments, permitting, labor issues and licensing.