Tom Abbate has more than 23 years of specialized legal experience
in the areas of land use, zoning and planning. With more than
a decade of experience serving as the attorney for various
Town and Village Boards before which he regularly appears,
he is uniquely qualified to see his client’s projects
from the municipality’s perspective, enabling him to
anticipate and solve potential legal issues before they become
problems which could delay the goals of his clients.
A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany
and St. John’s University School of Law, Tom began his
career as an Assistant Town Attorney for both the Towns of
Huntington and Smithtown. He was then selected to serve as
counsel to various municipal boards on Long Island including
both the Zoning and Planning Boards of the Village of Northport
and Special Litigation Counsel to the Town of Oyster Bay.
For 10 years, he served as the attorney for the Huntington
Zoning Board of Appeals, counseling the Board in its determination
of each and every application brought before it. Tom also
represented the Board in contested litigation, defending the
Town before trial and appellate courts.
For the past twenty years, Tom has also devoted himself to
his private practice, centrally located in Woodbury, New York,
where he specializes in the areas of zoning, planning, land
use, municipal law, leasing, real estate transactions and
litigation. He continues to appear weekly for public hearings
before zoning, planning, town and village boards throughout
Long Island.
Martindale-Hubbell – which ranks lawyers across the
nation based upon the evaluations and commentaries of fellow
attorneys – has bestowed upon Tom the highest possible
rating – AV – as a result of his “preeminent”
legal ability and highest of ethics.
With this background, Tom is a sought-after guest lecturer
at advanced and in-depth zoning/land use seminars and symposiums
presented by the National Business Institute, the Suffolk
County Bar Association and Touro Law School. His lectures
are frequently attended by judges, planning commissioners,
law school professors, zoning board members and fellow land
use attorneys, all of whom he assists in navigating the intricacies
of the multi-faceted local, regional and state laws governing
the rapidly-evolving fields of zoning and planning. [See
Lectures].
While Tom is particularly suited for handling the more complex
problems facing commercial property owners and developers
relating to expansion, subdivision and other desired uses
for which governmental approvals are required (and where the
administrative maze is particularly formidable), a significant
part of his practice is also devoted to representing his clients
in the purchase and sale of their homes, in legalizing existing
non-conforming structures on their property and in their disputes
with neighboring landowners.
He has extensive experience handling lawsuits against municipal
boards (known as Article 78 proceedings) and related contested
litigation. He regularly appears before the District and Supreme
Courts in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the Appellate Division
and our State’s highest Court, the New York State Court
of Appeals.
In addition to homeowners, his clients include major national
and international corporations, developers and retailers,
lending institutions, municipal and religious organizations,
home builders, contractors and homeowners’ associations.
Among his clients are Starbucks, Walgreens, Madison National
Bank, Scotto Brothers Enterprises, Bank of Smithtown, Sbarro
and many others. [For a sampling of projects, see Portfolio].
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