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Law Practice John V.N. Klein is the Chairman of the Board, Chair of the Real Estate and Banking departments, and a name partner of 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. In the public finance arena, Mr. Klein represents underwriters in securing and structuring public finance transactions. 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 in Mineola 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 are over twenty years as a Director of the Long Island Association; a member of the Board of Directors of Reckson Associates Realty Corporation; a member of the Board of Directors of Pocono Hotels Corporation; and the Suffolk Country Bar Association. Additionally, Mr. Klein is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level in professional excellence and ethics. | 