Instructors in the Land Use Academy are recognized and credentialed professionals in their respective fields. The current roster of instructors includes:
860-345-5229
Bruce Hyde is an AICP certified planner who has worked in the planning field for over 30 years. He has served in a wide variety of positions including city planner, regional planner, private sector consultant and local planning commissioner.
Partner, Halloran & Sage, LLP
Member, Planning and Zoning Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association
860-297-4695
Richard Roberts represents municipalities in the full range of their legal needs. He provides legal counsel to them in real estate acquisitions and sales, land use, charter revisions, drafting and review of ordinances, and property tax issues. He also provides legal counsel to individuals, partnerships, limited-liability companies and corporations in real estate acquisitions and sales, financing transactions, general business affairs and contracts and agreements. He represents lending institutions and borrowers in secured, unsecured, asset-based and non-traditional financing transactions as well as in various state and federal regulatory matters, including securities, banking and land use and zoning matters.
Mr. Roberts regularly presents seminars to attorneys, bankers, accountants and other professionals on topics that include commercial lending, limited liability companies and other forms of business entities, real estate and land title law. He is a member of the Connecticut Association of Municipal Attorneys. He has served as Republican Town Chairman in Wethersfield since 1995 and has been a member of the Wethersfield Planning and Zoning Commission since 1991.
Partner, Halloran & Sage, LLP
Member, Planning and Zoning Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association
860-297-4662
Kenneth Slater practices primarily in the areas of land use and environmental law. Mr. Slater has extensive experience in land use matters, and he is frequently consulted to prosecute and defend administrative appeals to the Superior Court regarding the issuance or denial of zoning, planning and wetland permit approvals and enforcement matters. He also regularly serves as counsel to municipalities in land use matters. He is also experienced in complex land use matters involving constitutional and environmental claims and statutory remedies.
He also has significant experience in environmental law matters. He routinely represents current and former owners of real property regarding legal issues relating to transfer or remediation of contaminated properties and in the prosecution and defense of environmental cost recovery actions. He advises businesses, property owners, municipalities and individuals regarding environmental regulation, permitting and enforcement. He appears regularly before federal and state environmental regulatory and siting agencies and federal and state courts regarding environmental matters. He served as lead counsel in several appeals to the Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Courts involving important issues in land use law. He also lectures on a variety of environmental and land use law topics.
Partner, Robinson & Cole, LLP
Chair-elect of the Section of State & Local Government of the American Bar Association
860-275-8228
Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson & Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President and of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a former Director of the American Planning Association, Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute National Advisory Board, a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, and a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He teaches land use law at the Vermont Law School and has published seven books and over 200 articles. Dwight has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers list in the area of Land Use Law since 2006 and is in the Top 100 New England Super Lawyers (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.). He received his B.A (cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts, his Masters of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina and his J.D. from Yale. He is a featured speaker at many land use seminars, and presents monthly audio land use seminars for the International Municipal Lawyers Association.
Attorney at Law, Branse, Willis & Knapp, LLC
860-659-3735
Mark K. Branse is an Attorney practicing law in Glastonbury.
Mr. Branse is a former Planning Director holding a Masters Degree in government from the
Fels Institute of Local and State Government, Wharton Graduate School, University of
Pennsylvania. He is also a former member of the Glastonbury Town Plan and Zoning
Commission and a former member of the Glastonbury Redevelopment Agency.
Mr. Branse provides, or has provided, representation and/or legal consultation to land use
agencies in more than two dozen municipalities and has represented applicants and
neighborhood associations in more than 70 towns. He is currently Town Attorney of
Griswold, and Scotland, as well as Special Land Use or Planning Counsel of Andover,
Bridgewater, Canterbury, Eastford, East Haddam, Marlborough, Middlefield, New Hartford,
Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Sherman, Westbrook and Willington.
Mr. Branse is a past Chairman and Secretary of the Planning & Zoning Section of the
Connecticut Bar Association and is a current member of the Executive Committee. He has
conducted seminars under the auspices of the Connecticut Bar Association, the
Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Connecticut Association
of Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commissions, the Connecticut Association of
Wetland Scientists, the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, the Windham
Council of Governments, the Council of Governments of Central Naugatuck Valley, the
Connecticut Association of Zoning Enforcement Officers, and the Land Use Education
Partnership, among others. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Land Use
Academy.
Attorney at Law, Shipman, Sosensky & Marks, LLC
860-606-1706
Robin Messier Pearson, Esq. practices land use law, including zoning and environmental matters. She is a frequent lecturer on various land use topics and is a prior Editor of the Connecticut Real Estate Law Journal.
She is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut (B.A., with Honors, 1973) and the University of Connecticut (J.D., 1980). She joined the firm of Levy & Droney, P.C. in 1981 becoming a principal in 1986. Ms. Pearson is currently a partner at Shipman, Sosensky & Marks, LLC.
Ms. Pearson is a past Chairperson (1991-1994) and current member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Planning and Zoning Section. She served on the 1999/2000 State of Connecticut Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Affordable Housing. She is a past President of The Real Estate Exchange, a statewide membership organization of professionals within the commercial real estate industry. She was admitted as a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers in 2006 and has been rated one of the best land use attorneys in Connecticut by New York Magazine, Connecticut Super Lawyers® Magazine and the Best Lawyers in America.
Ms. Pearson has been active in several civic and charitable organizations. She served on the Board of Directors of the Hartford Ballet (1985-1997) and as President from 1993-1995. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce from 1985-1995, serving as legal counsel from 1992-1995. She was president of the West Hartford Women’s Soccer League from 1996-1998.
She resides in East Hartford. Ms. Pearson is admitted to the Connecticut bar and the United States District Court, District of Connecticut. Ms. Pearson is a member of the Hartford County, Connecticut and American Bar Associations. Ms. Pearson is “AV” Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® Law Directory.
