David
Paget
Principal
David
Paget
Principal
David Paget has been long and widely recognized as one of this country’s leading practitioners of environmental law and litigation. He has been principally responsible for overseeing the preparation of environmental impact statements and assessment for an imposing number of major public and private development and infrastructure projects. In that capacity he has also had the responsibility for securing approvals and permits for those projects under a myriad of federal and state laws and regulations, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act and their state counterparts. As an accomplished litigator, he has been responsible for defending lawsuits contesting those projects. The clearest measure of his success in that regard is that he has never had a project blocked by litigation.
David began litigating and managing environmental cases in the early 1970s following his service as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and as associate at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler. Among his current engagements, David is serving as the legal consultant to an international and national array of experts, retained by the City of New York to assess and advise it of measures to address climate change adaptation and coastal flood protection.
Queens West Development Corporation
Atlantic Yards – Barclays Center
Hudson River Park
From its inception, SPR has served as environmental and litigation counsel to the Hudson River Park Trust on major proposed projects in Hudson River Park, most recently Little Island, Pier 57, and Gansevoort Peninsula. Little Island is a distinctive pier offering world-class recreation and performing arts events, with the support of a donation from the Diller/von Furstenberg Family Foundation – the largest gift to a public park in the history of New York State. Little Island was the subject of litigation in state and federal court for over two years, during which SPR successfully overcame a challenge to the Trust’s environmental review and a challenge to the permit issued by the DEC (as co-counsel with the State). SPR also helped the Trust obtain new permits after the donor terminated and then restarted the Project. Pier 57 was transformed from its original maritime use to an indoor/outdoor public space and food hall. SPR advised the Trust with respect to the preparation of an environmental impact statement for Pier 57 as well as obtaining environmental permits. The Gansevoort Peninsula is a public beach and passive recreation space that replaces a former sanitation facility. SPR advised on environmental permitting and represented the Trust in litigation challenging the Gansevoort Peninsula project.
Javits Convention Center
SPR represents Empire State Development Corporation (“ESD”) and has represented both the Jacob Javits Development and Operating Corporations in the environmental review of the proposed expansion of the Convention Center. This representation included the review of the preparation of the Hudson Yards EIS, which analyzed the Convention Center expansion, extension of the number 7 subway line and the rezoning of the Hudson Yards. The Firm also represented ESD and the Javits Development Corporation in assessing the need for a supplemental EIS when changes were made in the proposed expansion design and successfully defended in litigation the determination not to prepare a supplemental EIS.
The Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge
Yankee Stadium
SPR represented the New York Yankees in connection with the development of the new Yankee stadium in the Bronx. The project also included the construction of additional parking facilities, and the creation of new parkland and recreational facilities at and in the immediate vicinity of the existing stadium, as well as along the Harlem River waterfront. The firm successfully defended the New York Yankees in the lawsuit that challenged the environmental review and parkland aspect of this project.
Arthur Kill Terminal
Battery Park City Authority – Resiliency Projects
Financial District Seaport Resiliency
BQE Central Project
Equinor Wind – Empire Wind Offshore Wind Projects
American Museum of Natural History
Lenox Hill Hospital
Victoria Theatre Redevelopment
City Point
Indian Hill Park Conservancy
Silvercup West Studios
“Trial Advocacy and Environmental Law,” Lecturer
For: Columbia Law School, New York University School of Law, Fordham Law School, Pace University School of Law and seminars sponsored by the American Planning Association
Appellate Division Dismisses SEQRA Challenge to Capital Region Multi-Use Development, Unanimously Reversing Lower Court
Appellate Division Confirms That Brooklyn Heights Library Redevelopment May Proceed
Appellate Division Affirms Dismissal of Challenge to the American Museum of Natural History’s Gilder Center Project
New York University School of Law, L.L.B., 1964, Order of the Coif and Law Review Editor
City College of New York , A.B., 1961
New York, 1964
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
United States Supreme Court, 1969
Long-standing co-chairman of the annual ABA/ELI program on the National Environmental Policy Act and State Environmental Review Acts
Has served on the faculty for the ABA/ELI Environmental Litigation program and for the Practicing Law Institute’s program on Historic Preservation
Has co-chaired programs on Resource Recovery Facilities for the United States Conference of Mayors
Co-chairman of the Practicing Law Institute’s program on Retail Property Development and a participant in its program on Negotiating the Sophisticated Real Estate Sale Transaction