Attorneys

Robert L. Sweeney is Senior Counsel in the law firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP and a member of the Firm’s Real Estate Development, Zoning and Land Use, Municipal, Environmental, Real Estate and Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation Practice Groups. His practice also includes a broad range of environmental matters, substantial commercial litigation, and industrial development agency representation.

Mr. Sweeney was a founding partner of the law firm of Shanley, Sweeney, Reilly & Allen, P.C. and for 20+ years led that firm in his practice areas. In 2006 Shanley, Sweeney, Reilly & Allen, P.C. merged with the pre-eminent Capital District law firm, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, to form the largest, most diverse law firm in the region. Mr. Sweeney continues in his established practice areas at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna.

• Represented a busy suburban town industrial development agency with respect to all forms of General Municipal Law Article 18-A project activities and related financial assistance techniques for economic development initiatives coming before the agency.
• Represented owners/developers in numerous, large scale, often-controversial retail/shopping center/big box developments; including land acquisition, financing, SEQRA-compliance, federal, state and local approvals, leasing and related litigation matters.
• Represented owners/developers in numerous, large scale residential/mixed use/resort developments including land acquisition, financing, SEQRA-compliance, federal, state and local approvals, all areas of transactional finance, and litigation.
• Litigation counsel on a significant Clean Water Act Federal Court lawsuit against alleged private party polluters in a complex and precedent-setting litigation context.
• Litigation counsel in a precedent-setting and controversial First Amendment lawsuit against private property/retail shopping center owners and municipal defendants.
• Acts as co-counsel for a large scale resort/mixed-use development including a ski mountain, marina/waterfront, and multiple residential development forms including single family, townhouse, condominium, and interval ownership. Mr. Sweeney’s representation and responsibilities include extensive State and local permitting, public and private financing responsibilities, and NYS Attorney General acceptance of multiple homeowners association, condominium, and interval ownership offering plans.

Mr. Sweeney is admitted to practice in New York State and the State of Massachusetts and a member of the State Bar Associations in those jurisdictions. He is admitted to practice in the Federal Courts for the Northern District of New York, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has presented a number of continuing legal education seminars for lawyers in his practice areas.

Mr. Sweeney is a graduate of the State University of New York and Albany Law School, and he has written several articles for the Syracuse Law Review.