Surenian, Edwards, Buzak & Nolan LLC, was founded in January of 2020, and is the successor firm to Jeffrey R. Surenian and Associates, LLC, which Mr. Surenian founded in 2005. Together, these firms earned an unparalleled reputation in the State for its competence in handling Mount Laurel matters as demonstrated by the fact that 70 municipalities have retained the current firm from every corner of the State. This, despite the fact that neither the present nor predecessor firm has paid one penny in campaign contributions or advertising. Our work product and results have served as effective advertisement. Mr. Surenian has successfully championed the right of municipalities to secure credits for housing that is not deed restricted through a concept commonly referred to as “credits without controls”. He has vindicated the right of municipalities to secure immunity from exclusionary zoning lawsuits at the trial and Appellate Division level and then our firm played a key role in persuading the Supreme Court to use that procedure in Mount Laurel IV.

 

Our firm served as co-lead counsel in the Mercer County fair share methodology trial where they persuaded Judge Jacobson to embrace a fair share formula that slashed the fair share of municipalities by roughly half from the formula that FSHC had successfully advocated. The present or former firm has brought over 50 declaratory judgment actions pursuant to Mount Laurel IV and has guided these municipalities to secure favorable settlements. The firm battles every day to protect the interests of municipalities throughout the State and to fight for principles that will help protect them in the battles that lie ahead. The longstanding emphasis in Mount Laurel jurisprudence on protecting the environment, the integration of affordable housing laws into well-settled land use laws, and the increasing role of redevelopment laws in Mount Laurel matters has resulted in the firm’s diversification of its expertise in other areas of the law. Regardless of whether a municipality finds itself in a crisis mode or just wants to make sure its Mount Laurel house is in order so that it can’t be leveraged, the team of lawyers at Surenian, Edwards & Nolan LLC is uniquely qualified to protect its interests.