Ms. Jennifer P. Smith counsels clients on real estate matters ranging from redevelopment projects spanning hundreds of acres to issues impacting small business owners. She represents clients seeking site plan approval and variances from numerous planning and zoning boards in connection with restaurant, residential, retail, office, financial, medical, educational, and mixed use projects.
She also represents clients in redevelopment areas and has experience drafting and reviewing redevelopment documents, including redevelopment agreements and redevelopment plans. Ms. Smith has extensive experience in land use litigation, including both the defense of and objection to municipal land use approvals.
Concerning licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages, Ms. Smith represents purchasers of plenary retail consumption licenses and has faced a wide variety of issues, including required corporate disclosures for complex corporate structures, disclosure of past misconduct, and local ordinance restrictions on hours of operation and locations of licensed establishments. She also represents hotels seeking the issuance of new plenary retail consumption licenses.
She has experience objecting to the transfer of alcoholic beverage licenses, both before governing bodies and in appeals to the Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Ms. Smith also provides counsel on regulatory compliance, enforcement actions, minor employment permits, special event permits, BYOB, and concessionaire permits.
EDUCATION:
- Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude)
- Law Chancellor Scholar
- Recipient, Chicago Title Insurance Company Award
- Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (B.S., cum laude)
- Omicron Delta Epsilon, International Economics Honor Society
PROFESSIONAL ADMISSIONS:
- State of New Jersey
- State of New York
- United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES :
- National Association of Licensing & Compliance Professionals (NALCP)
EXPERIENCE:
- Applications for Development
- Represented a property owner in securing planning board approvals for nearly 1,000 residential units in a redevelopment area
- Represented an international restaurant chain in connection with various applications for zoning and development approvals at multiple locations in New Jersey
- Represented various retailers, financial institutions, and lenders in performing zoning reviews and prosecuting numerous applications for zoning and development approvals at numerous locations in New Jersey and New York
- Redevelopment
- Represented clients seeking designation of property as an “area in need of redevelopment” or an “area in need of rehabilitation”
- Litigation
- Represented a property owner in connection with litigation concerning the applicability and enforceability of an outdated affordable housing ordinance
- Represented interested parties in connection with challenges to redevelopment plans, redevelopment designations, and zoning and planning approvals
- Represented interested parties in connection with claims involving violations of the Open Public Meetings Act and the Open Public Records Act
- Liquor Licensing and Alcoholic Beverage Control
- Represented a franchisee of a well-known casual dining restaurant in connection with the purchase and transfer of a plenary retail consumption license
- Represented various clients in connection with enforcement proceedings involving the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control
- Represented a client in challenging the person-to-person and place-to-place transfers of a plenary retail consumption license to a neighboring business
Cost
Rate : $$$