Robinson+Cole Presents Annual Awards for Outstanding Contributions

On July 29, 2021, Robinson+Cole recognized 14 lawyers and staff members for their pro bono work, mentoring, community service and efforts to promote a diverse and inclusive work environment as part of the firm's annual awards. The Pro Bono Award is presented by the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and honors individuals for their outstanding commitment to Robinson+Cole’s pro bono initiative. This year’s honorees were Charles E. Janson, Choity R. Khan and paralegal Albina Yaikbaeva. The Robinson+Cole Mentor of the Year Award recognizes outstanding guidance, support, and encouragement of fellow lawyers and staff in their pursuit of professional growth. This year’s award was presented to IT Services Manager Joel M. Easley, Katherine M. Fix, Dana M. Horton and Christopher J. Hug. In addition, Linn F. Freedman, Jennifer L. Shanley and Business Center Specialist Sandra M. Strate were all recognized with the Community Service Award for their continued volunteerism. Lastly, Robinson+Cole's Diversity and Inclusion Awardees Lisa B. Andrzejewski, Dan A. Brody, Chief Marketing Officer Gina L. Carriuolo and John B. Lynch, Jr. were honored for their ongoing dedication and support of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Charlie Janson’s Pro Bono Work Helps Bring Affordable Homeownership Housing to the South End of Stamford

Through the Pro Bono Partnership, Real Estate + Development Group lawyer Charles E. Janson represented the Housing Development Fund (HDF) in conceptualizing and incorporating a non-stock nonprofit community land trust known as HDF Community Land Trust, Inc. under Connecticut’s statutory land trust scheme intended to foster affordable housing development. HDF is a non-profit organization based in Stamford dedicated to facilitating the development of affordable rental and homeownership opportunities. A groundbreaking ceremony for the HDF Community Land Trust, the first community land trust in Fairfield County, was held on April 7, 2021 and is now in construction at 287-297 Washington Boulevard in Stamford. HDF Community Land Trust will permanently own and ground lease land on which 22 single family permanently deed restricted affordable residential homes, as condominium units, will be built and sold to families. R+C alum Jeffrey Volpintesta worked with Charlie on the pro bono effort. In addition, Charlie also represented HDF on a pro bono basis for its closing on a $750,000 grant from the Department of Housing as initial financial assistance for HDF’s Washington Boulevard community land trust affordable housing project. View the virtual groundbreaking ceremony.

Robinson+Cole Supports 2018 UConn MBA Sustainability Case Competition

Robinson+Cole was the Gold Sponsor of the 2018 UConn MBA Sustainability Case Competition hosted from March 22 to March 23, 2018 at the UConn School of Business in Hartford, Connecticut. The theme of the two-day competition was sustainability, with a specific focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and related practices, such as “creating shared value” and “conscious capitalism.” Twelve pre-selected graduate business teams from the Northeast Region of the U.S. competed for three top prizes totaling $5,000. Participants were given one week to analyze a CSR-themed business case and one day to finalize and present it to a panel of judges. Real Estate + Development Group lawyer Charles E. Janson and Environmental, Energy + Telecommunications Group lawyers Jonathan H. Schaefer and Emilee Mooney Scott were among the judges. View photos from the competition.

Real Estate + Development Group Presents at APA 2017 National Planning Conference

Members of the Real Estate + Development Group presented at the American Planning Association (APA) National Planning Conference, Planning in Motion, held from May 6 to May 9, 2017, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. The conference provided an opportunity for the more than 6,000 land use professionals in attendance to examine new trends, challenges, and solutions in regional, national, and international planning.

Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP, participated in two sessions. On May 7, he was the moderator for "Taking Flight with Drones: Uses in Planning and Issues of Regulation," a session on the legal issues in using drones in planning. Click here to see his PowerPoint. On May 8, he was one of three speakers at the dinner meeting of the Small Town and Rural Planning Division of the APA. He spoke on short-term rentals. Click here to see the PowerPoint.

Evan J. Seeman, the chair-elect of the APA's Planning and Law Division, was a panelist on May 8 for "Planning and Zoning for First Amendment-Protected Land Uses," a session that focused on different types of First Amendment issues that can arise in land use regulation. Click here to see the PowerPoint.

On May 9, Brian R. Smith and Mr. Seeman were members of the four-panel team for the session "Real Estate Law for Planners," which provided  practical real estate advice to the standing room-only crowd. Click here to see their PowerPoint.    

On May 9, Charles E. Janson and Anne F. Campbell, AICP, presented "Landscape and Structure Preservation," a mobile workshop to Connecticut’s Weir Farm and The Philip Johnson Glass House. Participants were introduced to local challenges and opportunities encountered by these two historic sites in seeking long-term sustainability, protection, and public engagement. Owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Glass House is one of the nation’s greatest icons of twentieth century architecture. Weir Farm, the rural retreat of nineteenth century American impressionist J. Alden Weir, is the U.S. Park Service's only National Historic Site dedicated to American painting.

To celebrate New York City and the 2017 APA National Conference, Robinson+Cole hosted a happy hour at The Liberty in Manhattan on May 7, 2017, where fellow conference attendees had a chance to network and relax.

Robinson+Cole Lawyers Participate in IMLA Webinar

Land use lawyer Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP, co-moderated an international webinar with Daniel R. Mandelker, FAICP, professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 19, 2015. The webinar, "Hot Topics in Local Historic Preservation Law," sponsored by the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA), focused on planning and regulating for historic preservation. The speakers were Charles E. Janson, Robinson+Cole counsel in the Real Estate + Development Group, chairman of the Board of Trustees and president of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, and an advisor of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and Sara C. Bronin, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and coauthor of Historic Preservation Law (2013) and Historic Preservation Law in a Nutshell (2014). Please click here to view the PowerPoint for the session.

Charlie Janson Speaks at Celebration Marking Dahesh Museum's 20th Anniversary and New Location on Upper East Side

Charles E. Janson, real estate lawyer in the Stamford office, spoke to approximately 180 benefactors and friends of the Dahesh Museum of Art on January 20, 2015, to celebrate its 20th anniversary and new location. In his comments, Mr. Janson told the story of the museum's journey from opening to the public with its first exhibition in 1995 to recently finding a permanent exhibition space after being "homeless" and a "museum without walls" for 7 years. The museum, which showcases academic European and American art from the 19th and 20th centuries, is now housed in a 7000-square-foot townhouse at 178 E. 64th St. on the Upper East Side in New York City. A brownstone with its original façade intact and restored, the building features two Louis XV marble fireplaces, 12-foot ceilings, and a rear patio of Italian stone. Please click here to read the coverage of the museum's new residence in the ArtsBeat blog of the New York Times. 

Robinson+Cole, in representing the Dahesh Museum, closed on the purchase of the new property on January 6, 2015. Mr. Janson has represented the museum since its formation in the late 1980s and has served as a trustee on its Board of Trustees for nearly 10 years.

Robinson+Cole Lawyers Host Networking Event at 2014 ABA Annual Meeting

Robinson+Cole hosted a cocktail networking hour for clients and guests from the ABA Sections of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law; State and Local Government Law; and Litigation on August 9 during the 2014 ABA Annual Meeting in Boston. Held on Griffin's Wharf at the Boston Tea Party Museum, the event provided a unique venue for guests to mix, mingle, and explore an authentically restored tea ship, from which a R+C flag was flown to mark the occasion. The event was spearheaded by Candace M. Cunningham, with J. Michael Wirvin, Kendra L. Berardi, Thomas J. Donlon, Jerome L. Garciano, Charles E. Janson, Matthew J. Lawlor, Dwight H. Merriam, Carla M. Moynihan, Sorell E. Negro, and Emilee Mooney Scott also attending.

Stamford Lawyers Elected as Fellows of the American Bar Foundation

Land Use Practice Group leader Edward V. O'Hanlan and Real Estate Practice Group lawyer Charles E. Janson have been elected as Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of lawyers, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars selected by their peers. Limited to one-third of one percent of licensed attorneys in each jurisdiction of the United States, membership in the Fellows is based on achievements in the legal profession and community. Founded in 1952, the American Bar Foundation is considered the premier institute for social science research on law in the United States.

LandLaw Lawyers Honor the Passing of Mentor Terry Tondro

The Connecticut Law Tribune and the Hartford Courant quoted Charles E. Janson and Dwight H. Merriam, both of the LandLaw Section, in stories recognizing the passing of Hartford land use lawyer Terry J. Tondro.

Mr. Tondro wrote the book Connecticut Land Use Regulation - A Legal Guide for Lawyers, Commissioners, Consultants, and Other Users of the Land, which land use planners, judges, lawyers and developers often cited. In the Hartford Courant story, “Passion for Urban Planning, Fine Cuisine,” published on May 20, 2012, Mr. Merriam described the book as “the virtual guide book of decision-making in that area.”

In the Connecticut Law Tribune story, “Man Who Wrote The Book On Land Use Law,” published May 28, 2012, Merriam said, “You could go to a meeting and see the lawyers for the developer with the book in hand, the commissioners had the book in hand, and the angry neighbors had the book in hand. And they were all quoting from it.

"Before Terry's book, land use had been Balkanized and siloed into divisions," Mr. Merriam said. "Terry's scholarship, his book and his practice pulled these siloed practices together and broke down the walls between them, in useful ways, so people began to look more holistically at the land use practice. No one had really done that before he did that in this state."

In the Connecticut Law Tribune story Mr. Janson said, "Terry was my law professor, and he basically got me into all of the interesting things I've done in my career. That's the short story."

Charles Janson Appointed to National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Advisors

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has reappointed real estate counsel Charles E. Janson for a nine-year term to its board of advisors as a national advisor. He is one of two on the board representing Connecticut.

He is the national advisor to the National Trust for Historic Preservation from Connecticut. Mr. Janson is also a trustee and vice chairman of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and chair of the Projects Committee in charge of Vibrant Communities grants totaling $500,000 for 10 Connecticut communities, urban and rural, received from the Connecticut Department of Culture and Tourism. He is developing with the board a revolving loan fund for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation with grant initiatives received from the 1772 Foundation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded nonprofit organization providing leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to save America's diverse historic places and revitalize communities.

The board of advisors formed in 1966 to increase the National Trust’s communication with state and local constituents. The board of advisors provides the National Trust and the American preservation movement a nationwide network of more than 100 volunteer preservation leaders with two representatives from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Three Robinson & Cole Attorneys Elected James W. Cooper Fellows

Real estate counsel Charles E. Janson, Managing Partner John B. Lynch, Jr., and business litigation partner Ronald W. Zdrojeski have been elected 2011 Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows. Established 17 years ago, the James W. Cooper Fellows Program honors the leading members of the legal profession and the judiciary in Connecticut. Membership is by invitation only. The program promotes better understanding of the legal profession and the judicial system and explores ways to improve the profession and the administration of justice in Connecticut.

The Connecticut Bar Foundation serves its mission to further the rule of law in Connecticut in part by securing and administering a reliable and sufficient flow of funds to support legal services and access to justice for people of limited means.

Robinson & Cole Attorneys Deliver Presentation on Insurance Impacts of New Condominium Legislation

Real estate attorney Charles E. Janson and insurance and reinsurance attorney Gregory P. Varga delivered a presentation entitled 2009 Amendments to Connecticut Common Interest Ownership Act: The Impact on Property Claims at a meeting of the Connecticut chapter (Hartford Pond) of the Honorable Order of the Blue Goose, International on September 22, 2010. The presentation focused on the amended statutory requirements applicable to the maintenance of property insurance on common interest community property. More than 90 insurance professionals, insurance agents and contractors attended the program.

The Honorable Order of the Blue Goose, International, founded over a century ago in Wisconsin, is a fraternal organization of men and women employed in insurance related industries. Its chapters, or ponds, engage in community fellowship as well as educational and charitable work throughout the United States and Canada.

Weir Farm Art Center and National Park Service Honor Charles Janson

At the opening of the new Artist in Residence Studio at the Weir Farm National Historic Site (WFNHS) in Wilton and Ridgefield Connecticut, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Weir Farm Art Center (WFAC) recognized real estate attorney Charles E. Janson with a Certificate of Honor for providing pro-bono legal services for twelve years to their public/private partnership. Charlie's services, as a trustee of WFAC and with Robinson & Cole, resulted in the Art Center’s acquisition, with the assistance of Chuck Martin, of over 110 acres of land adjoining WFNHS. Thirty-seven acres are original historic farm lands of American artist Julian Alden Weir’s farm, home and studio. Charlie’s work more recently included funding agreements between NPS and WFAC linking private donations with public Save America’s Treasures grant monies to result in the construction of the Studio. The WFAC is a private nonprofit partner with the NPS and its WFNHS; the only national park in Connecticut, and the only national park dedicated to preserving and interpreting the life and work of an American painter. WFAC manages the artist in residence program, which has hosted 130 working artists to date. Artists from around the world are selected to spend a month living and creating art at Weir Farm. Click here to view a picture of the event.

Robinson & Cole Receives Silver CQIA Innovation Prize for SMaRT Program

Robinson & Cole recently received a silver Innovation Prize from the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership for its results directing the SMaRT Program. Click here to view photo.

Robinson & Cole Counsel Joins Connecticut Trust's Board of Trustees

Real Estate attorney Charles E. Janson recently joined the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation's Board of Trustees. Established in 1975 as a non-profit organization by Special Act of the Connecticut General Assembly, the Connecticut Trust's mission is to preserve the character and ensure the vitality of Connecticut's historically significant places. To view announcement in their newsletter, please click here.

Robinson+Cole Team Involved in “Office Deal of the Year”

A team of lawyers from Robinson+Cole are among those involved in a commercial real estate deal recognized by the New Jersey Chapter of NAIOP as Office Deal of the Year 2017 during the 30^th Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala, held at The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, New Jersey on May 11, 2017.

The Office Deal of the Year 2017 Award was presented in recognition of the work performed on the sale and leaseback of Unilever's North American Office Headquarters and industrial facility located at 700 and 800 Sylvan Avenue in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Robinson+Cole represented Unilever in a series of transactions that resulted in redevelopments at both properties.

The team involved in the deal included: April F. Condon, Steven L. Elbaum, Charles E. Janson, Michele L. Maresca, Martin A. Onorato, and Matthew R. Weilgus. Read more in the press release.

Robinson & Cole Real Estate Attorney Appointed to National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Advisors

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has appointed Robinson & Cole Real Estate Practice Group counsel Charles E. Janson to its national board of advisors. During this three-year appointment beginning October 2010, Mr. Janson will provide guidance on important preservation issues and participate in activities to support the National Trust for Historic Preservation. To read the press release issued by the National Trust, click here.