Richard S. Schkolnick

Areas of Emphasis:

Land Use, Zoning Approvals and Permits
Land Use Litigation
Telecommunications Law
Municipal Law
Public Contracts Litigation
Administrative Law
State and Local Government Counseling
Campaign Finance and Election Law
Condemnation/Eminent Domain
Affordable Housing (COAH)

Mr. Schkolnick has extensive experience providing solutions to property owners in complex land use and zoning matters.  He has represented private entities and not-for-profits throughout the State, including office developers, gas stations and convenience store owners, indoor athletic facilities operators, single and multi-family residential developers, industrial users and houses of worship.  

Mr. Schkolnick represented one of the first churches in New Jersey to successfully invoke RLUIPA, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, to secure land use, site plan, and variance approvals.  He has led development teams that have secured entitlements for some of the largest suburban office projects in the State, coordinating the efforts of engineers, planners, architects, traffic experts and environmentalists.  

Mr. Schkolnick has also served as counsel to local government agencies with respect to land use and zoning issues.  He has a specialty in applications to construct wireless communications facilities and has represented national wireless carriers and tower owners in over 500 zoning matters, including many hotly contested applications.

Mr. Schkolnick also litigates land use cases.  In addition to handling numerous prerogative writ matters, he secured a unanimous decision from the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of the Township of West Orange in the State’s seminal condemnation case, Township of West Orange v. 769 Associates, LLC, 172 N.J. 564 (2002).  He also represents property owners in eminent domain matters.

Mr. Schkolnick served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Land Use Law Section for 2010-2011, and has been a Director of this Board since 2004.  He has lectured on a variety of land use and zoning topics.  For many years, he has served as the moderator of and a speaker at the Land Use Law Section’s “Annual Case Law Update,” the State Bar’s leading forum for discussion of developments in zoning and land use law, regulation, and legislation.  

In his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Land Use Section in 2011, Mr. Schkolnick led the Bar Association’s efforts to shape debate over reformation of  New Jersey’s affordable housing laws and proposed changes to the legislation and regulations governing Mt. Laurel housing and the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH).  

Mr. Schkolnick has successfully represented applicants in over 135 municipalities.  Here is a list of municipalities where Mr. Schkolnick has significant land use experience.

Mr. Schkolnick also provides government affairs counseling to his clients.  Drawing on over two decades of experience dealing with public sector entities, public officials and their attorneys, Mr. Schkolnick relies on a vast network of contacts to resolve permitting, land use issues and related issues.

Mr. Schkolnick has advised multiple local and Statewide political campaigns and previously served for four years as the Co-General Counsel to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.

He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.  A graduate of Haverford College (Phi Beta Kappa), Mr. Schkolnick earned his Masters of Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels of Center Government, where he was a Fels Scholar.  He earned his J.D. degree from the U.C.L.A. School of Law in 1989.  

Mr. Schkolnick is an active member of the New Jersey Wireless Association, the leading voice of the wireless industry in New Jersey, having served on its Board of Directors and as Chair of its Public Safety Committee.

Prior to joining Brown Moskowitz & Kallen, P.C., Mr. Schkolnick was associated with the Sills Cummis firm, later becoming a partner with Booker Rabinowitz Trenk, P.C. and Ramsey Berman, P.C.

New Jersey Land Use Court Appearances by Richard Schkolnick