Best Lawyers in America for Municipal Law
Select a location from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
State
Todd Bullard is a Pittsford, New York-based attorney at Harris Beach Murtha, focusing on municipal law. He represents local entities such as counties, cities, and school districts in litigation defense and operational matters. His expertise extends to advising on commercial contracts and public and private project procurements.
Chris Reitzel is a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Project Finance and Public Finance group. He works with issuers, underwriters and financial advisors on public and project finance projects across a broad range of sectors. He serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriters’ counsel on public offerings and private placements. His diverse transactional background includes taxable and tax-exempt debt, complex variable rate products including subordinated and senior commercial...
Heather is a member of Butler Snow’s Government and Regulatory Group. She concentrates her practice on public utilities and administrative law. She works primarily with local utility authorities, school boards and municipal governments on a multitude of issues. Her secondary practice is commercial real estate where she conducts multi-million dollar closings.
Erica Garrison is known for her creative problem solving, her client-centered approach and her unique understanding of municipal and state regulatory law. She specifically focuses her practice on entitlement and land-use projects in Nashville, helping to shape the landscape by permitting and entitling numerous projects that have beneficially impacted the city’s skyline. Erica daily interfaces with agencies in Nashville and the surrounding mid-south area, and she is well-known for her en...
Ronald J. Brown is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Municipal Law. Ronald J., who practices law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Ronald J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Patrick L. W. Sefton is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Employment Law - Management and Municipal Law. Patrick L. W., who practices law in Montgomery, Alabama, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Patrick L. W. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Margaret L. Behm has earned the reputation as the go-to person in 45 years of representing clients and forging coalitions for change. After beginning her legal career in 1976 at Legal Services if Middle Tennessee, Inc., Behm and Marietta Shipley in 1980 founded Shipley and Behm, the city's first all-woman law firm. “Back then, women just weren’t taken seriously as business owners or lawyers,” Behm says. “I wanted to run my own business and demonstrate that women could ...
Randy Weber’s practice at Hamilton Weber firm concentrates on general corporate, state and local government, and commercial and public finance law matters. His corporate practice has included serving as outside general counsel for a number of corporations, with significant experience addressing employment law issues, as well as corporate formation and organizational matters involving general business and closely held corporations and including all forms of partnership and limited liabil...
Chandler is a senior attorney in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group at Bradley. His practice focuses on public finance, including serving as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel on both tax-exempt and taxable financings throughout Alabama. He has worked with numerous types of public entities, including cities, counties, school boards, utility boards and state-level authorities. He also represents governmental entities in economic development matters. Chandler also has extensi...
Stephen D. Rees, Jr. is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Land Use and Zoning Law, Municipal Law and Real Estate Law. Stephen D., who practices law in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Stephen D. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Natalie practices municipal, environmental, land use and administrative law and represents both public and private clients. Before joining the firm, she served as Associate Corporation Counsel for the City of Portland for 10 years. Natalie graduated from Bowdoin College, with departmental honors in Romance Languages. She received her law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. She has made presentations on municipal and land use issues at seminars sponsored by the Maine State Bar A...
James V. Kelsh is a partner in the Charleston office of Bowles Rice and leads the firm's Infrastructure and Public Utilities practice areas. He is involved with entities involved on all sides of broadband, utility scale solar, water, sewer, electric, telecommunications, natural gas, solid waste, local government, and motor carrier services. He focuses his practice on representing clients before the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. He also provides extensive assistance by advising c...
Tom Pitman concentrates his practice in public finance and municipal law. He has more than 30 years of experience serving as bond counsel, special tax counsel and underwriter’s counsel. Tom represents clients in a wide range of tax-exempt and taxable bond issues of governmental entities, including tax increment, utility, healthcare and private university financings; revenue and general obligation bonds; and financings on behalf of school corporations. Tom has authored numerous articles ...
Julie L. Von Spreckelsen is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation - Land Use and Zoning and Municipal Law. Julie L., who practices law in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Julie L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Gregory W. Stype is a partner in the Columbus office of Barnes & Thornburg, where he is a member of the Government Services and Finance Department. With more than 30 years of experience, Gregory devotes his practice to public and infrastructure finance and economic development. Gregory has served as counsel to state government entities, including the Ohio Public Facilities Commission, the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, and the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, as well as...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.