Real Estate Law Attorneys - Melville, Long Island, N.Y.

John V.N. Klein

Law Practice
John V.N. Klein is the Chairman of the Board, and Chair of the Real Estate practice at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. Mr. Klein concentrates his practice on counseling individuals and corporations during all stages of business growth and development. He advises clients on a full range of real property transactions and all matters relating to banking and financial institutions. His law practice includes real estate purchases, sales, condemnation, and tax-free exchanges and financings, including Industrial Development agency transactions of commercial and industrial properties, land use-rezonings, special exceptions, site plans, variances, environmental reviews, transfer of development rights, conservation and scenic assessments, as well as agricultural preservation transactions. He serves as corporate general counsel to commercial and industrial enterprises engaged in local, national and international transactions, and to major industrial trade organizations. He also provides general advice and counsel to municipalities, including negotiations and the drafting of inter-municipal agreements. He is a recognized deal-maker in the Long Island business community and a trusted advisor to senior executives in every industry and at all levels of government.

Professional Profile
A dedicated Long Islander, Mr. Klein was born and grew up in Smithtown. After receiving his law degree, Mr. Klein began a career-long practice of land use, environmental and real estate law. His professional dossier includes Town Attorney and then Supervisor of the Town of Smithtown from the mid-fifties until the end of the 1960s. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Suffolk County, New York.

In the 1970’s, Mr. Klein went on to serve two notable terms as Suffolk County Executive. As County Executive, one of his top priorities was resisting over-development and the preservation of farmland. When Mr. Klein was featured as a “Long Islander of the Century” by Newsday in March of 2000, he recalled taking a helicopter ride during his County Executive days over the East End in late November. As he looked down from his aerial perch, he viewed a beautiful scene of winter rye grass, and thought, “This stuff will disappear just like it did in Nassau and Western Suffolk.” He subsequently began a County program to buy development rights to farmland on the East End keeping thousands of acres from being developed.

Professional Affiliations
Among Mr. Klein’s many current memberships, which includes the Suffolk County Bar Association, Mr. Klein also served for over thirty years as a Director of the Long Island Association; a member of the Board of Directors of Reckson Associates Realty Corporation; and a member of the Board of Directors of Pocono Hotels Corporation. Additionally, Mr. Klein is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level in professional excellence, and was recognized by L.I. Pulse Magazine in 2010 and 2011 as of of the region's "Top Legal Eagles".

Admissions

Mr. Klein is admitted to practice law in New York State.