Partner
CurrentBen Schuster is a partner at Elrod Friedman LLP. He practices in the areas of government, real estate, zoning, and land use law. He represents public and private sector clients in transactional, governance and litigation matters.Ben advises numerous municipalities and state agencies on a variety of matters, including zoning and land use, tax increment financing, environmental regulation and compliance, ordinance drafting, code enforcement, licensing and regulatory affairs, internal investigations, and First Amendment issues.Ben also focuses a significant portion of his practice advising public sector clients on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Open Meetings Act (OMA) and other governance issues. He has extensive experience representing public bodies before the Illinois Attorney General Office’s Public Access Counselor, as well as in FOIA and OMA-related litigation. He also has lectured and written extensively on FOIA and OMA matters.Ben has significant experience representing private sector clients, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small and mid-sized business on zoning matters and compliance with State and local regulations. He has assisted private sector clients in both the City of Chicago and the suburbs secure zoning, TIF financing, and other land use approvals. He also has substantial experience assisting companies to comply with regulations across the country related to the sharing economy, such as short-term rental laws.Ben is an experienced litigator in real estate and local government related litigation, including annexation, eminent domain, property ownership, and property maintenance disputes.Chambers USA 2021 placed Ben in Band 3 in Illinois.
