He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Environmental Section and Co-Chair of the Land Use Committee.

Mr. Zarin taught a course at the New York University Real Estate Institute entitled Dealing with Environmental Problems in Real Estate Transactions, and was a guest lecturer at the Pace University School of Law Environmental Master’s Program. He also assisted the Chief Administrative Judge for the Ninth Judicial District in the formation of a Special Environmental Part for the District. Mr. Zarin also serves on a number of Board of Directors, including, TCI, Inc., the largest PCB decommissioning and recycling company in North America.

Mr. Zarin received his Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law in 1985, where he served as Articles Editor for the Hofstra Law Review. He also received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1976. Prior to forming Zarin & Steinmetz in 1997, he was a partner at Sive, Paget & Riesel, one of the most prominent environmental and land use law firms in the country, and manager of its White Plains office (1990-1997). He began his legal career as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in its Business Reorganization Department (1985-1987). Mr. Zarin also served as an urban development consultant and lobbyist for a Washington D.C. consulting firm, and consultant for the Wisconsin Governor’s Manpower Planning Office.

Mr. Steinmetz maintains an active practice representing numerous major developers and other clients on a wide variety of residential, commercial, mixed-use and industrial projects. He also counsels private clients, municipalities, not-for-profits and institutional entities on environmental and regulatory issues, and he supervises the firm’s real estate and transactional practice. He regularly appears before planning, zoning and legislative boards processing subdivision, site plan, special permit, rezoning and other land development applications. Mr. Steinmetz has also successfully litigated numerous complex cases in State and Federal Court, at both the trial and appellate levels.

Mr. Steinmetz received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from American University, Washington College of Law in 1985, where he received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Advocacy Award. He also received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1982. Prior to forming Zarin & Steinmetz in 1997, he was a partner at a leading Westchester County real estate and land development law firm. Mr. Steinmetz began his legal career as an associate at the New York City office of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler in its Litigation Department (1985-1987).

Mr. Steinmetz currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of a not-for-profit organization which provides rehabilitation, residential and vocational assistance to individuals who have sustained brain injuries or possess congenital abnormalities. He was also recently appointed to chair the legal committee of a leading Westchester County Country Club. Mr. Steinmetz takes pride in being active in his community, having served two terms of elective office on the Yorktown Central School District’s Board of Education, and as a member of the Yorktown Athletic Recreational Commission – both as a coach and commissioner.

Mr. Steinmetz has attained a “Pre-Eminent AV Rating” as a practitioner.

Dan counsels private and municipal clients on permitting and entitlements, the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), zoning, public-private partnerships, and the New York City Watershed Regulations. Dan regularly represents clients in administrative proceedings before State and local land use boards, including municipal legislative boards, planning boards and zoning boards of appeal. He also routinely prosecutes litigation in Federal and State Courts, including Article 78 Challenges to administrative determinations.

Mr. Richmond received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, in 1994 from Vermont Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Vermont Law Review. He also received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Williams College in 1989. Mr. Richmond was formerly a staff attorney with Riverkeeper, Inc., Assistant Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department, and an associate at Rivkin, Radler & Kremer in Uniondale, New York.

Mr. Richmond is a LEED® Accredited Professional. He also served as Co-Chair of the Transportation and Land Use Working Group of the Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan.

He regularly appears before municipal review boards processing subdivision, site plan, wetlands, zoning amendments, variances, and other land development applications. Mr. Schwartz has successfully litigated a number of land use related cases, involving matters such as SEQRA, eminent domain, and defending a “SLAPP” suit under New York’s Civil Rights Law. He has also prevailed in defending municipal approvals against challenges in Article 78 proceedings. Mr. Schwartz also negotiates and drafts instruments related to real estate development projects, such as contracts of sale, leases, easements and restrictive covenants, and access agreements.

Mr. Schwartz received his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 2001, where he served as Note Editor for the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. He received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1998. Prior to joining Zarin & Steinmetz in 2003, Mr. Schwartz was an associate in the environmental department in the New York City office of Rosenman & Colin LLP.

He frequently appears before legislative, zoning and planning boards, successfully pursuing variances, site plan approval and re-zoning applications in furtherance of residential, commercial and cultural institutional projects. Mr. Cooper represents, for example, an entity seeking to redevelop abandoned downtown properties in a Mid-Hudson Valley City with affordable housing and local commercial uses. He also counsels clients before state and federal agencies in wetland and water quality permitting and enforcement actions.

Mr. Cooper’s litigation practice includes eminent domain proceedings, zoning law enforcement hearings, land disputes and administrative law matters in front of local, state and federal courts. He recently completed a two-week condemnation trial on behalf of a Village located in Rockland County. He also handles various matters at the appellate level, including obtaining certiorari from New York’s highest court to review long-standing DEC permitting review practices. He has also presented oral arguments on multiple matters to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Prior to joining Zarin and Steinmetz, Mr. Cooper served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he was assigned to a Trial Bureau prosecuting felony level crimes from arrest to verdict.

Mr. Cooper received his Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2003, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Moot Court Honor Society. He also received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude, from Colgate University in 1998.

Mr. Cooper serves on the Board of Directors of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, a leading policy research and advocacy organization promoting regional solutions facilitating the growth and vitality of the Hudson Valley. He has also served as a Member of the Katonah-Lewisboro School Board LES Utilization Committee.

She has successfully defended municipal ordinances against exclusionary zoning challenges, as well as First Amendment challenges relating to religious and adult uses. Ms. Cross also frequently appears before local zoning, planning, and legislative boards in connection with seeking approvals for all aspects of land development. Ms. Cross received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, and a Certificate in Environmental Law in 2001 from Pace University School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Pace Environmental Law Review. She was also a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Land Use Law Center. Ms. Cross holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a concentration in Environmental Studies, from Muhlenberg College.

Ms. Cross serves on the Small-Midsize Law Firm Advisory Task Force for the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. She has previously served as an Associate Editor of the Westchester Bar Journal.

Ms. Rubin Goldstein has litigated a wide range of issues in New York State courts, including Article 78 administrative challenges, SEQRA and adverse possession, as well as contract, tort and general commercial matters. She regularly represents clients before local boards, including planning boards, zoning boards and legislative boards on various land use approvals, as well as in opposing projects for which inadequate review has occurred under SEQRA.

Prior to joining Zarin & Steinmetz, Ms. Rubin Goldstein was a litigation associate in the law firm of Kaye Scholer LLP, and an Assistant Attorney General with the New York State Department of Law (Litigation Bureau). She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1986, where she served as a Notes and Comments Editor of the Arts and Entertainment Law Journal. She also received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, magna cum laude, from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1983.

She has drafted and negotiated store, office, retail, triple net, ground, and telecommunications leases on behalf of both owners/developers and tenants, covering leased space in office buildings, malls, strip centers and residential and commercial buildings. Ms. Smith also handles commercial and residential transactions involving the purchase, sale and financing of properties and developments.

Prior to joining Zarin & Steinmetz, Ms. Smith was a litigation associate in the New York City office of Zeichner Ellman & Krause and Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C. She received her Juris Doctor, from Brooklyn Law School in 1989. She also received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in 1984.

Ms. Smith is a Member of the Town of Pound Ridge Zoning Board of Appeals.

Lee received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Cardozo Law School in 2011 where he served on the International and Comparative Law Journal. He also worked as a research assistant in prominent religious rights and religious land-use cases. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Math and English, cum laude, from Binghamton University in 2008 where he was the editor of the op/ed page of the school newspaper. After law school, Lee completed a fellowship at the New York State Supreme Court, New York County with the Honorable Doris Ling-Cohan. And before joining Zarin & Steinmetz, he worked for both national and Westchester-based firms litigating antitrust violations, commodities/securities cases, real-estate and business disputes, and regulatory cases. He has orally argued motions and appeals throughout the tri-state area, and he has briefed cases all over the country from trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Acocella received his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2014, where he served as a Notes Editor on The Georgetown Law Journal. While in law school, Mr. Acocella interned with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor and served as a judicial intern to the Hon. Rudolph Contreras, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia. Mr. Acocella received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Georgetown University in 2006.

After law school, Mr. Acocella completed a fellowship with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Major Economic Crimes Bureau. Prior to joining Zarin & Steinmetz, Mr. Acocella was an associate at a Westchester firm focusing on antitrust and securities litigation.

Ms. Brenner received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, and an advanced certificate in environmental law from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in 2019, where she was a member of the inaugural class of Haub Scholars and served as the Managing Editor of the Pace Environmental Law Review. During her time at Pace, Ms. Brenner worked as an intern and research assistant at the Land Use Law Center, interned with the Honorable Cathy Seibel, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York through Pace’s Federal Judicial Honors Program, and worked as a student attorney at the Food and Beverage Law Clinic.

Ms. Brenner also participated in the New York State Pro Bono Scholars Program, which allowed her to take the bar examination in February of her final year of law school, and then perform approximately 500 hours of pro bono work with the legal department of My Sisters’ Place, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal and other services to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Prior to law school, Ms. Brenner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Law, magna cum laude, with a minor in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University in 2016.

Mr. Mahalek received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, and an Advanced Certificate in Environmental Law from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in 2019, where he served as an Article Groups Editor at the Pace Environmental Law Review. While in law school, Mr. Mahalek worked as a Research Assistant with the Land Use Law Center and interned with the Hon. Dora L. Irizarry, Chief Judge of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York. In addition, he interned with the Corporation Counsel of the Village of Ossining, NY and with Johnson, Haslun & Hogeman, a boutique law firm specializing in land use and zoning in Greenwich, CT.

Prior to law school, Mr. Mahalek received a Master and Bachelor of Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked as a Community Development Associate for the City of Urbana, IL.

Mr. Mahalek currently serves as a Research and Writing Assistant for the Planning and Law Division of the American Planning Association.

Ms. Roberts received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Albany Law School of Union University in 2016, where she received the Dean’s Scholarship and served as the Online Journal Editor of the Government Law Review.  Ms. Roberts held internships at the New York State Attorney General’s Office in the Environmental Protection Bureau, Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP, and with the Honorable Kimberly O’Connor, Acting Supreme Court Justice of the 3^rd District.  While in law school, Ms. Roberts also served as the Student Editor for the New York Environmental Lawyer, a publication of the New York State Bar Association’s Environmental Law Section.

Ms. Roberts also participated in the Pro Bono Scholar’s Program.  This New York State program allowed her to take the bar examination in February of her final year of law school, and then perform over 250 hours of pro bono work with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York.

Prior to law school, Ms. Roberts received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Iona College in 2013.