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Alita Giuda
Chair, Environmental and Land Use Practice Group
Couch White LLP
Ms. Giuda is a Partner at Couch White, LLP, located in Albany, NY. She is the Chair of the Firm’s Environmental and Land Use Group and works with the Energy, Construction and Real Estate Development practice groups.
Her legal practice includes representing various commercial and industrial clients, including operators of solid waste management facilities, mining and asphalt companies, railroad operators, developers, a variety of renewable and other energy projects, governmental entities, and various businesses in a number of areas of local, state and federal land use, environmental and permitting laws, including the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program, New York’s solid waste management facility program, and other local, state and federal environmental and regulatory programs. She also represents several clients with completing due diligence and related transactional work related to environmental and land use issues for community solar, wind, and other energy projects, and provides compliance and operational advice post-acquisition.
Alita also regularly represents clients and is experienced in a wide variety of litigation matters, including both environmental litigation (Article 78 proceedings, declaratory judgments and other relief), as well as complex commercial litigation. She litigates in state and federal court at both the trial and appellate levels on a variety of issues, including contract interpretation, commercial disputes, trade secrets and others. She has successfully represented clients seeking injunctive relief to protect their leasehold via a Yellowstone injunction, as well as to protect trade secrets and confidential information. She also researches and develops litigation strategies to defend SEQRA and/or regulatory approvals, exemptions from local land use regulation, and to oppose unfavorable regulatory proposals, statutes, and other actions, and assists clients with commenting upon regulatory proposals, including any necessary legal challenges.
Ms. Giuda is a magna cum laude graduate of Colgate University, as well as the Albany Law School. She is admitted to practice law in the states of New York and Pennsylvania, is admitted in New York’s Northern and Western District Courts, and the Second Circuit.