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Prof. Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin, Esq. is Associate Dean, Professor of Law and Director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School, which she joined in 1990. She teaches courses in land use law, housing law and policy, NYS administrative law, current legal issues in government and government ethics. She is also on the adjunct faculty at the University at Albany in the Department of Geography and Planning where she teaches courses in planning law and planning ethics. She is a member of the faculty of the ALI-ABA Land Use Institute, and has served as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design. Prior New York government service includes the Office of Rural Affairs, the Department of State, and the State Senate.

Dean Salkin is a nationally recognized expert on land use law and zoning.  She is the author of the popular blog, Law of the Land, and her land use publications include: The 4-volume 4th edition of New York Zoning Law & Practice (1999); and the forthcoming 5-volume 5th edition of Anderson's American Law of Zoning; Land Use & Community Development, 7th ed. (Thomson West) (with Nolon and Gitelman) (2007); Land Use in a Nutshell (Thomson West) (with Nolon) (2007); Current Trends and Practical Strategies in Land Use Law and Zoning, ed., American Bar Association Press (2004); Trends in Land Use Law from A to Z: Adult Uses to Zoning, ed., American Bar Association Press (2001); the annual Zoning and Planning Law Handbook, ed. (West Group); contributing editor of the national monthly Zoning and Planning Law Report, editor of the bi-monthly New York Zoning Law and Practice Report, and zoning and planning law columnist for the quarterly Real Estate Law Journal (West). She is a frequent lecturer for statewide and national land use programs.  Many of her dozens of law review articles, book chapters and columns can be accessed at http://www.governmentlaw.org/ or on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/author=83276.

Dean Salkin is an appointed member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.  She has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Planning Federation, and has been active in land use reform efforts in New York including: membership on the Land Use Advisory Committee of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources; serving as a consultant to the State Commission on the Capital Region and its land use committee; consulting for the American Planning Association's Growing Smart initiative; and serving on a working advisory group for the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council. She is a reporter for the American Planning Association's Planning & Environmental Law and on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Urban Lawyer. In 2007, Salkin was re-appointed for a sixth term as chair of the American Planning Association's Amicus Curiae Committee. 

Dean Salkin has served on the Transition Teams for Governor Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. She has served as a consultant to a number of local governments across New York on zoning law reform and watershed planning issues, and for state agencies including the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform, assisting in the development of model zoning ordinances for economic growth for the Build Now-NY program, the New York State Office of General Services on the implementation of changes to the procurement law, and the New York State Department of State on the shared municipal services initiative. She served as a consultant to the American Institute of Certified Planners conducting an ethics assessment for the organization. Dean Salkin has also served as a consultant several times for the National Governor's Association, and recently served as a senior consultant to the National Academy for Public Administration on the intersection of environmental justice and land use planning and zoning. In 2004, Chief Judge Judith Kaye appointed Dean Salkin as Vice Chair of her Commission to Promote Public Confidence in the Judicial Elections.

Dean Salkin is an officer and member of the Executive Committee of the Municipal Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, and a founding member and Chair of the State Bar's Standing Committee on Attorneys in Public Service. She is also the Chair of the Association's Special Task Force on Eminent Domain and the Task Force on Town & Village Justice Courts, and a member of the Special Committee on Court Structure and Judicial Selection.  Dean Salkin is active in the American Bar Association, serving as Immediate Past-Chair and member of the Executive Committee for the State and Local Government Law Section, a member of the House of Delegates and the Standing Committee on Membership.

In addition to land use law, Dean Salkin's scholarship also focuses on government ethics. She served on the Steering Committee of the international Council on Government Ethics Laws, and is the editor of Ethical Standards in the Public Sector: A Guide for Government Lawyers, Clients and Public Officials (ABA Press 1999); Ethics in Government: The Public Trust A Two Way Street (with Smith) (New York State Bar Association 2002); and author of a series of law review and journal articles on government ethics. 

Among her awards and recognitions, Ms. Salkin received the 2007 Distinguished Member Award from the Capital District Women's Bar Association; the 2006 Citizen of the Year from the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce; 2004 Distinguished Alumna Award in Political Science from Rockefeller College; 2003 Community Service Award, Hudson-Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities; 2002 Award for Excellence in Public Service from the NYS Bar Association, Committee on Attorneys in Public Service; 2000 Bernard E. Harvith Award for Environmental law; 2000 Forty Under Forty Award from the Capital District Business Review; 1999 Larry Klepper Community Builder Award from the Council of Community Services of New York State; 1998 Jefferson B. Fordham Award from the American Bar Association for an attorney in state and local government whose career is on the rise; and 1997 Hugh R. Pomeroy Award from the New York Planning Federation for achievement in zoning law.
Dean Salkin is an elected Fellow of both the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association, and she was elected as a Fellow of the State Academy for Public Administration. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Capital District Women's Bar Association and the Albany County Bar Association.