Find Lawyers in Grand Rapids, Michigan for Municipal Law
Practice Area Overview
Attorneys who practice municipal law act as a municipality’s attorney for all legal matters or special counsel for specific legal matters. Municipal attorneys also assist in ensuring that the day-to-day operations of the municipality and any matters enacted by its governing body comply with local, state, and federal laws. These laws include those that may affect any potential liability of the municipality and those elected or appointed individuals and employees involved in its operations. The practice of municipal law encompasses a wide range of issues including, but not limited to the scope of the municipality’s police power, employment, and labor issues, real estate, zoning and land use matters, economic development, imposition of taxes, public bidding and contracts, tax assessments, environmental regulations, and access to public meetings and public information.
Municipal attorneys can also act as private legal counsel, providing services for individuals, partnerships, corporations, and other entities in their encounters, both adversarial and non-adversarial, with governmental entities.
Finally, a municipal attorney may act as an advocate for municipalities and private entities before various courts, administrative agencies, and the municipality’s various boards and commissions.
James R. Brown concentrates his law practice in municipal law and real property law. He represents many townships, villages, cities and other municipal bodies throughout West Michigan and elsewhere in the state. His law practice has a particular emphasis in the representation of townships, and he serves as general counsel for a large number of townships in Kent County and in surrounding counties. Jim is also an experienced township official, having served for 25 years as chairperson of the Gr...
Ronald Bultje is a Member in Dickinson Wright's Grand Rapids office. His practice is concentrated in the areas of municipal law and labor relations. He represents numerous municipalities throughout the western half of Michigan’s lower peninsula. He has extensive experience in advising legislative bodies, planning commissions, and zoning boards of appeal. In representing municipalities, Mr. Bultje provides a full array of services, including advice on contracts, intergovernmental relatio...
Bradley A. Fowler focuses his practice on municipal law, civil litigation, real estate, and zoning/land use issues. Brad has a wide range of experience in representing large corporations, small businesses, local governments, and individuals in commercial, real estate, construction, contract, and employment related disputes in both Federal and State Courts. He also counsels local governments on a number of municipal matters including governance issues, planning and community development, Const...
Ross A. Leisman graduated with honors from Calvin College in 1984, and with honors from the University of Michigan Law School in 1988. Ross has served as chairman of the firm's Local Government Practice Group, has served on the firm's Management Committee and is a member of the Litigation Group. Ross specializes in civil litigation, bank disputes, land use and municipal law. He has served on several community boards, including the Kent County Building Authority, the Ada Township Planning Comm...
Mark E. Nettleton practices in the areas of public finance, municipal law, land use and zoning law, and real estate. In his law practice experience, Mark has assisted Michigan counties, cities, villages and townships with bond issues and financing transactions, ordinance and utility franchise issues, intergovernmental agreements, special assessment proceedings, drain proceedings, assessments and financings, and annexation matters. His practice also includes counseling public authorities such ...
Ronald M. Redick practices primarily in the areas of municipal, appellate and administrative law, with a focus on zoning litigation, land use and riparian rights litigation, and also general civil litigation. He has published articles on manufactured housing and exclusionary zoning, the Open Meetings Act and public universities, and has authored presentations for the Labor and Employment Section of the American Bar Association on the topic of due process and government employment. Ron speaks ...
Jim Scales received a bachelor of science degree from Michigan State University and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Since 1987, Jim's law practice has involved him in real estate, construction, estate planning, and property taxation matters. Jim also has extensive experience in municipal law, zoning, utilities, and related issues. He has earned the Certificate of Completion for ICLE’s Probate and Estate Planning Program, and lectures regularly on zoning, municip...
James K. White has specialized in municipal finance since his graduation from Northwestern University Law School in 1976. He has served as bond counsel for numerous Michigan townships, villages, cities, counties and public authorities. Born in Jackson, Michigan, and raised in Grand Rapids, he is a magna cum laude graduate of Albion College. Jim has assisted clients with all aspects of financing public capital improvement and infrastructure projects including public buildings, roads, sanitary ...
Matt is a member of the Environmental and Energy Practice Groups. A significant portion of Matt’s practice involves representation of municipalities and private developers in regard to water law matters, including: the permitting, operation and expansion of water supply/treatment/distribution systems and wastewater collection and treatment systems; sewer use ordinance drafting and enforcement including industrial pretreatment programs; stormwater management including ordinance drafting,...
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