Career
Sean has served as lead counsel on commercial real estate and development matters including, purchase and sale transactions, all types of leases, zoning and land use approvals and appeals, real estate tax matters, and real estate financing and refinancing. He is licensed to practice law in Ohio, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia.
Sean Suder is a go-to adviser to both private and public-sector clients on all legal matters
related to the development and use of real property, including, specifically, zoning,
acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, title and survey matters, and easements and licenses.
Sean is a frequent author and speaker on matters of real estate and zoning and is
regularly hired by lawyers and law firms to serve as an expert witness in zoning cases.
Sean has worked on developments in both suburban and urban settings, including
numerous urban infill and historic redevelopment projects.
He gained extensive knowledge and experience in local government by serving as Chief
Counsel for Land Use and Planning for the City of Cincinnati from 2010 to 2014. In that
role, he served as lead counsel for the city’s new zoning and land development code and
award-winning historic preservation ordinance. Sean also represented the city in all land
use, zoning and historic preservation matters, including representing and advising the
Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the Historic Conservation
Board, Board of Building Appeals, and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
In his role with ZoneCo, Sean has consulted with numerous communities throughout the U.S. on crafting modern, clear, consistent, usable and defensible zoning codes.
Experience
Sean started his career at Clark Construction in Bethesda, MD. After law school, Sean was a real estate and land use associate attorney at the law firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp (KMK) from 2004-2010. He was recruited to the serve as the Chief Counsel for Land Use and Planning for the City of Cincinnati from 2010-2014. Following his local government service, Sean was a partner in the law firm of Graydon, Head & Ritchey (now Bricker Graydon) from 2014-2016 and an equity partner in the law firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold from 2016-2020.
Sean started the law firm of Suder, LLC in November 2020.