Economic Development Practice Group Overview

Alabama and the Southeast region have become a top choice for their companies seeking a combination of business-friendly incentives, a skilled, yet affordable workforce, and an attractive living environment for their employees.  Site Selection Magazine’s Top 25 State Business Climate survey ranked Alabama as having the 8th best overall business climate in the nation, and corporate real estate executives in the survey ranked the state as the 4th best.  The magazine also ranked Alabama #1 on its annual Competitiveness Award.  Alabama’s state and local tax burden was ranked among the 12 lowest in the country by a 2008 Tax Foundation Study and the state ranked 4th on the 2006 Small Business Survival Index measuring a state’s policy environment for entrepreneurship.

Bradley Arant uses a cross-discipline team approach to help businesses explore and pursue opportunities for locating or expanding operations in Alabama and the surrounding states.   Attorneys across the firm work closely together, sharing information and expertise as needed. This team approach ensures that the lawyer best suited for each aspect of the project is involved.

Our Economic Development Practice Group understands the complexities of every aspect of the business location process. It combines a thorough working knowledge of economic development incentives, land use and site selection procedures at the state and local level with strong relationships built over many years with key governmental, economic development and civic leaders.

We represent new and expanding businesses in Alabama, state and local government entities, and clients who are United States-based companies as well as foreign-based companies.  Members of the practice group are ready to assist businesses from across the country and around the world to identify and capitalize on the best opportunities in Alabama and the surrounding states.

TAX INCENTIVES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The state of Alabama has developed one of the most aggressive tax incentives programs in the nation for new and expanding industries. Alabama tax incentives are created and administered under the Alabama Constitution and the Code of Alabama. This statutory and constitutional basis for Alabama tax incentives gives industry a stable framework for long-term investment.  Members of our group have been involved in drafting or reviewing many of our tax incentives laws.

Bradley Arant assists companies considering locating or expanding in Alabama to anticipate and address the legal, economic, and political issues the company must evaluate in making its decision. The firm is committed to providing a fully-staffed team for this process, as well as quick access, timely, and thorough responses. We assist our clients by combining the strength of experienced professionals to provide the required combination of legal counsel and expert business advisers.

We work extensively with the Alabama Department of Revenue, the Alabama Development Office, and other state and local officials involved in interpreting statutory incentives and are familiar with the administrative policies that determine whether or not such incentives can be obtained. 

Our attorneys are experienced in negotiating a variety of economic incentives packages with state and local governments and possess substantive experience in the complete process a company undertakes when locating or expanding in Alabama.  Because of our extensive involvement, we are versed in what incentives local governments have offered and how to structure incentives transactions to maximize the benefits to our clients. 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
The Governmental Affairs Practice Group at Bradley Arant provides advice and representation for public and private clients on regulatory and legislative matters at the federal, state, and local levels.  We are a bipartisan team that has extensive experience in assisting clients with state and federal governmental affairs issues, including the federal appropriations process.  In a 2006 article entitled “Hiring Federal Lobbyists, Towns Learn Money Talks,” The New York Times wrote, “Bradley Arant Rose & White dominates Alabama, its home state.”

Our lawyers include former members of the staffs of various members of Congress and the executive branch. In addition to the attorneys who have worked in government, a number of Bradley Arant alumni attorneys and staff members currently work for the State of Alabama or the federal government.  We have other attorneys who have worked in Washington, DC or who have worked closely with members of Congress. 

REAL ESTATE AND SITE SELECTION
Bradley Arant works closely with site selection consultants, early in the selection process, to help ensure that a company makes its business decisions based on complete and reliable information. The firm’s Real Estate Practice Group regularly represents purchasers and developers of real property, particularly in matters involving the acquisition and development of industrial properties and the obtaining of related tax incentives and abatements.

Our experience includes all aspects of contract negotiation, coordination of due diligence, title and survey review, and the closing of the acquisition, including the negotiation and closing of mortgage financing. The firm’s attorneys also have substantial experience in counseling clients about compliance with governmental land use regulations, such as municipal annexations, environmental permitting, re-zonings, conditional use approvals, variances and re-subdivisions, including the drafting of special amendments to municipal zoning ordinances for the provision of special categories of permitted land use designed to accommodate unique and innovative developments.

ENVIRONMENTAL
Bradley Arant has substantial experience helping companies operating in or locating to Alabama to obtain the necessary environmental permits. This experience ranges from arranging for all the permitting of a state-of-the-art steel manufacturing facility to the ongoing needs of established Alabama industries. In addition, our attorneys have experience assisting clients to obtain PSD permits (which are needed before construction begins), NPDES water discharge permits, and successfully defending the issuance of these permits in administrative proceedings against third party challengers.
Through the ongoing representation of numerous industrial and municipal clients, we have substantial experience working with regulators from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Bradley Arant also has experience in obtaining incidental take permits (ITPs) from the federal Fish & Wildlife Service should the location of a facility affect endangered species.

CONSTRUCTION
Bradley Arant has a large group of attorneys who devote their practices to construction and procurement.  This group enjoys a substantial international practice, representing owners and general contractors of facilities throughout the world. The group's lawyers also work with members of the Public Finance Practice Group, assisting clients seeking a site in Alabama through the use of various project finance techniques.

Members of the practice group have been involved in numerous contract negotiations regarding industrial development board contracts entered into on behalf of the prospective owner and various contractors. In combination with the firm's project finance and environmental lawyers, our construction and procurement attorneys can provide a comprehensive pre-planning, permitting, and contract negotiation framework.

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
The firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group represents employers in all issues arising under state and federal labor, employment, and occupational health and safety laws. Our lawyers represent employers in mediation and arbitration as an alternative to litigation, but also have substantial litigation experience in defending major class actions, as well as complex employee compensation and selection issues, retention discharge claims, and sexual harassment claims.  The team also counsels clients in how to avoid potential problems through planning and proactive management of employment issues.  Our lawyers have broad experience in developing effective employer-employee policies, including comprehensive employee handbooks, anti-harassment policies and mandatory arbitration programs. 

INTERNATIONAL
Lawyers across the firm’s multiple offices have considerable experience and ability in matters involving international law.  For example, members of the firm negotiated the construction agreements for King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, one of the largest international fixed priced construction contracts in recent history.  Because of our depth of experience, we are frequently called upon to advise international companies locating or expanding operations in Alabama. The firm's lawyers routinely negotiate international joint ventures, draft cross-border licensing agreements, establish and advise foreign and domestic subsidiaries, and participate in international arbitration proceedings. The firm also is active in international business and cultural groups, such as the Japan-America Society and the Alabama-Germany Partnership.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
With  the largest group of patent attorneys in Alabama and one of the largest intellectual property practices in the Southeast, our attorneys are experienced in virtually all technology disciplines, including: biochemistry; electrical engineering; design engineering; computer science; chemical engineering; environmental engineering; civil engineering; mechanical engineering; physics; and nuclear engineering matters.

Bradley Arant is active in formulating public policy affecting the development of industries linked to intellectual property. The firm took the lead in establishing the Biotechnology Association of Alabama and some of the firm’s attorneys have served as officers in that organization. The firm also participated in the establishment of the Alabama Information Technology Association and TechBirmingham, and continues to be active in these organizations.  Two of our attorneys have served as Chairman of TechBirmingham and both continue to serve on its Board of Directors and Executive Committee.