Emily Simons is a land use and transactional real estate lawyer with over twenty five years of public and private sector experience. She was a staff attorney in the Counsel’s office of the New York City Department of City Planning for thirteen years. Since 2000, she has been in private practice, primarily as a zoning and land user attorney and has appeared before the New York City Planning Commission, the Board of Standards and Appeals, the Department of Buildings, the Landmarks Commission and the City Council, as well as engaging in transactional real estate financing and conveyances. She began her career in the public interest sector, working on community development and low-income owner sponsored cooperative and condominium projects and not-for-profit issues.
Ms. Simons served on the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Land Use, Planning and Zoning for six years. Ms. Simons was a member of the New York New Visions, a coalition for the rebuilding of lower Manhattan after 9/11, and has been a New York metro Super Lawyer from 2014 – 2017.Ms. Simons received her JD from Fordham Law School and her BA in criminal justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).