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Areas of Practice include:
Environmental
Government Grants
Land Use
Litigation
Municipal
Public Law & Policy
Public Officers
Real Estate
A former member of the New York State Legislature, Jeff Brown brings
a host of national, state and local experience to Mackenzie Hughes. He
is chair of the firm's Employment and Public Sector Law Group.
As a member of the State Assembly from 2003 to 2006, Jeff was intimately
involved in crafting and executing a wide variety of state government
initiatives.
He served on the powerful Environmental Conservation and Economic Development
Committees, which oversaw passage of historic reforms to the Brownfields
and Empire Zone programs during his tenure. He also actively fought for
continuation and expansion of the state's Power for Jobs program.
As founder of the Come Home to Syracuse Campaign, Jeff also successfully
passed legislation to expand the initiative state-wide. He then partnered
with the Metropolitan Development Association and Greater Syracuse Chamber
of Commerce to create a fund to encourage small business growth in Central
New York.
In 2006, he served on the joint Assembly-Senate budget conference committee
which oversaw all environmental and housing spending in the state. He
previously worked for two members of Congress and the U.S. House of Representatives'
Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment.
From 1997 to 2002, Jeff was the state's chief environmental enforcement
attorney in the Central New York region of the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC). He directed all environmental enforcement programs
in a nine-county region stretching from Oswego to Binghamton, and served
as liaison between the DEC and other state agencies in developing environmental
enforcement policies.
He has successfully represented some of the world's most prestigious
companies, including Fortune 500 firms such as Texaco, Mobil, Frito-Lay,
Prudential Insurance and McDonnell Douglas, in complex litigation and
regulatory matters as an attorney at Howrey Simon Arnold & White in
Washington, DC.
Jeff currently is county, town, village, planning board and zoning board
of appeals attorney, as well as litigation counsel, for dozens of municipalities
in Central New York. He also serves as general counsel to the Onondaga
County Water Authority. In addition, he has represented major Central
New York businesses in complex construction litigation, a variety of environmental
enforcement and due diligence matters, and economic development/policy
issues.
He serves on the Fayetteville-Manlius School District Board of Education
and the Syracuse Opera Board of Directors. He also serves on the executive
committee of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.
In addition, he oversees Mackenzie Hughes Strategic Grants, a proactive
initiative to secure grant funding for Central New York businesses, municipalities
and not-for-profit entities.
Jeff received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University and his law
degree from Syracuse University College of Law, where he was an editor
of the Syracuse Law Review and won the annual Mackenzie Hughes Appellate
Competition.
He subsequently served as law clerk to United States District Judge Howard
G. Munson in the Northern District of New York, and is admitted to practice
in New York State and Washington, DC. Jeff currently serves as a Major
and Chief of Public Affairs for the 174th Fighter Wing, an Air National
Guard unit which flies the MQ-9 Reaper from its base in Syracuse.
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