Anne Studholme is a litigator with over 20 years of experience in trial and appellate courts at all levels, state and federal. Her practice emphasizes complex matters: subdivisions and site plans, redevelopment, eminent domain, COAH/Mt. Laurel, disability rights, Fair Housing Act matters, RLUIPA (religious land use cases), class actions, environmental contamination disputes, commercial transactions, civil RICO, fraud, and consumer fraud cases.
Anne has worked as an archaeological draftsman, as a cabinetmaker, and as a door-to-door welfare-rights canvasser, and has run a small business. A Real-Estate-NJ Top Real Estate Attorney with substantial experience in affordable housing, COAH, and Mt. Laurel litigation, Anne serves as Chairman of the Land Use Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and on the Advisory Committee of the Urban Land Institute of Northern New Jersey. She represented a nationwide consortium of disability-rights organizations as amici curiae in an appellate case of first impression, Betancourt v. Trinitas Hospital.
“It was the door-to-door work that first got me interested in land development,” Anne says. “I grew up in Rhode Island, and our canvass covered all kinds of neighborhoods, in every town and city of that very small state. By then, I was old enough to appreciate that the built environment doesn’t just happen, it always starts with envisioning, and visual thinking is key. Land use is also a civil rights discipline. From that aspect, I became involved in the rights of medical patients, particularly disabled people. Land use naturally draws on my litigation skills, and I find both specialties intensely rewarding.”
Whether the matter is complex or simple our attorneys can handle all aspects of the land use process. Moreover, the firm’s attorneys can add value to the process by making optimal use of statutes that permit payments in lieu of real estate taxes.
