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Litigation and Appellate LawAlthough we believe that the City's legal counsel should strive in its representation ofthe City to avoid litigation/ this is not always possible and the City's legal counsel will inevitablyneed to represent the City in administrative proceedings and litigation in federal and statecourt. These judicial proceedings will involve public ethics and open meetings/ public records,land use, commercial litigation, eminent domain, employment litigation, personal injurydefense/ discrimination claims/ and finance and tax matters.NG&N has an active litigation and appellate practice and represents governmentalentities on a wide variety of issues. The primary areas of focus are litigation relating to tax andfinance issues, labor and employment law, Sunshine and ethics law, and land use and realestate matters.These include claims in state and federal courts and before various state administrativeforums involving wrongful termination, violation of collective bargaining agreements, claimsrelating to discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We have alsobeen involved in litigation dealing with alleged violations of various employment-relatedconstitutional rights. Several attorneys who will be assigned responsibility for representation ofthe City have extensive experience in all phases of representation.Attorneys in the firm have lectured extensively on issues such as employment at will,the Family and Medical Leave Act, age discrimination/ the Americans With Disabilities Act, TitleVII and other discrimination laws, and minority contracting and set-asides. Additionally,NG&N's Litigation and Appellate Law Section has successfully defended various localgovernmental entities in Sunshine Law litigation. For example, firm lawyers defended NassauCounty's Commissioners in Hoshall v. Nassau County, et al., Case No. 98-974-CA (4 JudicialCircuit), a suit claiming that Sunshine Law violations should negate a contract entered by thecounty to design and build its new courthouse annex and force Commissioners to repay moneysalready expended for that structure. Through NG&N/s efforts, the county prevailed, both at trialand on appeal.As described above/ NG&N has been at the forefront in developing and defendingalternative government revenue sources. NG&N has represented local governmentsthroughout the State of Florida in disputes over the validity of impact fees, special assessmentsand the implementation and funding of a variety of services and improvements throughmunicipal services taxing and benefit units. We have also been actively involved in therepresentation of local governments relating to redevelopment areas and the use of incrementfinancing. As a firm that has been engaged in local government litigation for almost fortyyears, we have tried cases ranging from impact fee challenges to ad valorem tax disputes tolocal government suits against the State to alleged Sunshine Law violations to contract claims toconstruction-related matters to personnel issues—it literally runs the entire gamut of localgovernment issues. While we don't keep a specific tally of wins versus losses (some cases areResponse to the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida RFP No. 19-02-01 Page I 13