About
Neil T. Erwin
Attorney at Law
Neil Erwin’s law practice has focused for over 30 years on creative smart growth solutions for government and business. He assists a growing number of local governments, as well as private developers and citizen groups, in resolving a variety of significant contested projects and decisions.
He has a wide range of experience in local government administration and local-state relations. This started with Neil’s legislative affairs duties during law school for the City of Shreveport and continued during his subsequent appointment as assistant Shreveport city attorney (including representing the metropolitan planning commission and city council) prior to his entering private practice in 1979. He is admitted in both Louisiana and Texas state and federal courts and the U. S. Supreme Court.
His practice at Neil Erwin Law, LLC, includes extensive zoning and land use regulation legal services for local governments on a regular and comprehensive outsourced basis, typically coordinated with the principal municipal or parish attorney. This encompasses drafting, staff and citizen commission administration assistance, legal interpretation, and any necessary judicial enforcement. Services often involve the initial crafting or redrafting of zoning, subdivision, planned unit development, conditional use, variance, or similar ordinances customized to the individual needs of each community. Neil Erwin Law offers statutorily-required training for members of planning and zoning commissions and boards of adjustment.
The services of Neil Erwin Law also cover developing future land use plans mandated by law as well as inclusive master planning to guide decision-making and the investment of public resources. Implementation can incorporate public-private partnerships and cooperative endeavor agreements to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
Neil’s regulatory practice has included experience in representing governments, large businesses (including Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway, and Rite-Aid), and neighborhood associations, resulting in a unique perspective and understanding of the aims and concerns of different sides. This often has aided in achieving the speedier adoption of a desired strategy.
He also is an experienced litigator in a broad range of complex governmental and commercial legal matters, from contractual enforcement to the defense of personal injury claims and the actions and decisions of local governments. This has included contested cases in the areas of zoning and land use, public records, sexually oriented business regulation, lease rights, and boundary adjustment.
Education
LSU Law Center
J.D., 1977
- Editor, Louisiana Municipal Law Journal
- Attended Washington University (St. Louis) School of Law, 1974-75
Southern Methodist University
B.F.A., Political Communications, 1974
Professional Memberships
Louisiana City Attorney’s Association (member of executive board), American Planning Association (Planning & Law Division), Louisiana State Bar Association (former chair of Committee on Public Information), State Bar of Texas, Shreveport Bar Association (former member of executive committee), Congress for the New Urbanism.
Selected Community and Pro Bono Activities
Regional director, Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL); former chair, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities; former member, Metropolitan Shreveport Zoning Board of Appeals; former chair, City of Shreveport Riverfront Advisory Committee; former president, United Way of Northwest Louisiana; former chair, Red River Public Radio Advisory Board. Chaired Economic Development Cabinet of Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. Graduate of Leadership Louisiana and former chair of Leadership Shreveport-Bossier alumni.
Pro bono legal advisor for various nonprofit organizations, including Alzheimer’s Association of Shreveport-Bossier, and pro bono appointed defense counsel in juvenile and district court.
Selected Presentation Topics
Chair, Annual Upstate Louisiana Land Use Planning and Real Estate Development Conference, 2007 & 2008 (LSU-Shreveport). Presentations: “Hot Topics in Land Use and Real Estate Development Law,” “Basic Training for Members of Planning Commissions and Boards of Adjustment – the Future Land Use Plan, Master Plan, and Transportation Plan.”
Seminar chair or co-chair, Zoning and Land Use in Louisiana, 2003-2006, Shreveport, Bossier City, Baton Rouge, Lafayette (Lorman). Selected presentations: “Land Use Litigation,” “Rezoning – Application through Litigation from the Viewpoints of both Developers and Local Government,” “Land Use Problem Areas,” “Tips for Negotiating Zoning and other Development Issues.”
Seminar chair, Advanced Zoning and Land Use in Louisiana, 2004 & 2005, Baton Rouge (Lorman). Presentations: “Use of Zoning Overlay Districts,” “Communicating to Persuade in the Land Use Arena.”
“Environmental Risk Assessment,” Environmental Law Institute, 1997 (LSU Law Center).
Publications
Chapter author: “Sandra Day O’Connor, Tall in the Saddle.” Leaders of the Pack: Great Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court (William D. Pederson, Editor; Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2003).
Chapter co-author: “Inactive and Abandoned Sites.” Louisiana Environmental Handbook (Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, Rochester, 1997 & 1998).