The women attorneys of Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo, Cohn & Terrana LLP: Andrea Tsoukalas

Name: Andrea Tsoukalas Title: Associate Company/firm: Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo, Cohn & Terrana LLP Years with company/firm: 6 Years in field: 10 Andrea Tsoukalas concentrates her practice in zoning, land use, environmental and municipal law matters. Tsoukalas represents a wide variety of clients including national corporate chains, local developers and small business owners in the development of commercial and residential properties. Tsoukalas also has extensive experience in appellate practice and civil litigation. She litigates contract and real estate claims, corporate and partnership disputes, and regulatory claims arising out of building and zoning code violations. Tsoukalas is general counsel to the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association, a nationally recognized non-profit trade association with over 600 members. She also serves as counsel to the village of Kensington Board of Trustees, Zoning Board of Appeals and Architectural Review Board. She is also an associate member of the Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI). LIBI is an association of building industry professionals who are dedicated to making Long Island a better place to live and work, by creating a balance between the economy, the environment and development opportunities for all communities and residents. What advice would you give to a woman just starting a career in your field? Know your client's goals and expectations and understand the overlay of regulations that affect the property in interest. Real estate transactions have become much more complicated. In addition to standard transactional issues, real estate attorneys must have a working knowledge of zoning, environmental and land use regulations. In other words, a lawyer can't just have the client sign on the dotted line and hope for the best. In a recent example, I was retained by a client after she had purchased a vacant oversized parcel of land in a prestigious neighborhood with the intention of constructing a house. The attorney who represented her in the purchase relied on representations that the property was a building lot and the contract was not contingent on obtaining a variance and/or a building permit. Subsequent to the sale she was informed that the property was not a buildable lot and could not be used for any purpose whatsoever. The result is that my client is now engaged in a lengthy and expensive process to obtain the approvals needed to develop her property, which could have been avoided if her prior attorney had performed some basic due diligence.