Counsel forthe Built Environment.
Ohio's land use and zoning counsel, with a commercial real estate practice built by former big-firm lawyers. At Suder, zoning is not just another practice area. It is the practice area.
Lawyers who have sat on every side of the table.
Our founder spent nearly four years as the City of Cincinnati's Chief Counsel for Land Use and Planning, wrote its land development code, and now rewrites zoning codes for cities across the country. Our transactional lawyers were partners at global and national firms. Our eminent domain counsel is a certified planner who has represented more than 100 property owners.
That mix of government, big-firm, and planning experience is why Chambers USA has ranked Sean Suder in Band 1 for Ohio zoning and land use every year since 2019, why Best Lawyers named him Cincinnati's Land Use and Zoning "Lawyer of the Year" for 2026, and why Am Law firms call Suder when their clients' matters land in Ohio.
Everything real property, and nothing else.
Land Use & Zoning
Rezonings, variances, PUDs, appeals, and zoning opinions. At Suder, zoning is not another practice area; it is the practice area.
ExploreReal Property Litigation & Appeals
Trial and appellate counsel in real property disputes, with published decisions in Ohio's courts of appeals.
ExploreReal Estate Transactions
Acquisitions, leasing, joint ventures, financings, and condominium structures, handled by former big-firm lawyers.
ExploreEminent Domain & Takings
More than 100 property owners represented in appropriation, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings matters.
ExploreHistoric Preservation
Certificates of appropriateness, landmark designations, and the fight to keep the buildings worth keeping.
ExploreReal Estate Taxation
Valuation challenges before boards of revision and the Board of Tax Appeals, and abatements that make projects pencil.
ExploreLocal Counsel & Co-Counsel
Ohio and Northern Kentucky local counsel for national firms, plus Texas and New York transactional counsel.
ExploreWork we are proud of.
Hyde Park Square rezoning
Lead counsel for the successful effort to rezone a portion of Hyde Park Square for a $150,000,000 mixed-use development with apartments, a boutique hotel, and underground parking. A high-profile, contested neighborhood approval.
Saving the Washington Park bell tower
Lead counsel for the successful effort to save the 150-year-old church bell tower on Washington Park, including multiple emergency court orders, personally argued and won by J.P. Burleigh, that halted demolition in the Over-the-Rhine Historic District.
Crosley Building adaptive reuse
Lead land use counsel for the $50 million conversion of the former Crosley Radio Corp. headquarters into 175 to 250 apartments, with a focus on providing units to artists.
Taxpayer standing: Cincinnati ex rel. Miller v. Cincinnati
Representing the affordable housing developer, Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, Suder defeated a taxpayer suit attacking the City ordinance that approved the project. The First District vacated the judgment and ordered the case dismissed for lack of standing.
Grocery-anchored downtown tower
Lead transactional counsel on the sale-leaseback financing for a new 18-story downtown apartment tower anchored by a new multi-level Kroger store.
W Austin Hotel & Residences condominium
Josh Bernstein prepared the condominium documents for the W Austin Hotel & Residences, the mixed-use tower combining a hotel, private residences, and commercial space, using the condominium regime to allocate ownership, control, and cost among very different uses in one building.
Peer reviewed. Consistently.
Spotlight
Lawyers and planners, under one roof.
Let's talk about your property.
Tell us what you are trying to build, buy, keep, or defend. We will tell you plainly how we can help.