A longtime Ballard Spahr lawyer has taken his zoning and land use practice to Philadelphia-based regional firm Dilworth Paxson, which has been focused on growing that group in recent years.

Neil Sklaroff joined Dilworth on Feb. 1 as a partner. He had been senior counsel at Ballard Spahr but was previously a partner at the firm, where he spent 17 years.

Sklaroff will work alongside Darwin Beauvais and Meredith Ferleger, who joined Dilworth in 2017 from Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy. At the time, Dilworth Paxson CEO Ajay Raju said adding zoning and land use services to the firm's practice would allow it to capitalize on client opportunities it previously had to refer out.

“In the last few years they have developed a robust land use practice,” Sklaroff said of his new firm. “It's a great foundation with the others who practice in this area for me to work and develop my practice.”

Sklaroff said he has long seen his new colleagues practice before zoning boards and other agencies, and wanted to join them. “These two are going to be superstars,” he said.

“Anyone who's stepped outside and looked around in the past few years can see the incredibly dynamic pace and scope of development in our region,” Raju said in a statement. “Neil is recognized by all objective observers as an eminent statesman in his field, and with his energy, passion and command of the subject matter, he is the perfect addition to an already strong team guiding our real estate clients through this exciting and challenging landscape.”

Neil Sklaroff of Dilworth Paxson/courtesy photo Neil Sklaroff of Dilworth Paxson/courtesy photo

Sklaroff's client base, he said, includes major developers, institutions, large businesses and smaller entities. Many of those he has worked with in recent years have said they will continue as his clients at Dilworth, he said.

Some of his clients in the past, according to his biography on Dilworth's website, included Temple University, the American Revolution Center, and developers of high-rise luxury condominiums in Philadelphia.

Sklaroff's brother, Michael Sklaroff, is also a senior counsel at Ballard Spahr, and formerly chaired the firm's real estate practice. But Neil Sklaroff said he does not expect his brother to join him at Dilworth.

Discussing the move from Ballard to more locally focused Dilworth, Sklaroff said he does not expect much change in his own practice. His work stretches as far west as Harrisburg, he said, and recently expanded to the north, to Scranton.

“The regional nature [of Dilworth's footprint] provides the land use practice group with a lot of opportunities. They have a lot of clients that may be in need of our services,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Ballard Spahr saw Philadelphia labor and employment attorney Kelly Kindig leave for Cozen O'Connor, which she joined as a member. Her move closely followed that of Ballard Spahr colleague Daniel Johns, who joined Cozen O'Connor earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for Ballard Spahr declined to comment for this report about Sklaroff and Kindig's departures.

Ballard Spahr has also made its own recent additions in its two largest offices. In January, it hired commercial litigator Aliza Karetnick from Duane Morris in Philadelphia. And within the past two weeks it added a public finance lawyer and two consumer financial services litigators in Minneapolis.

Also, earlier in the year, the firm added a government relations team from Nossaman in Washington, D.C. But it also lost two project finance lawyers in Washington, including practice co-leader Tom Hoffman, to Foley & Lardner.

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