Brunini has a diverse and sophisticated estate planning practice. This work includes tax planning as well as the structure and preparation of wills, trusts, family partnerships and other arrangements designed to facilitate clients’ goals of protecting, managing, and transferring assets. The Firm has an active probate practice, assisting clients throughout Mississippi with the administration of estates. We assist many non-resident estates with the administration of their Mississippi property as well. Several of the attorneys focused in this area have been recognized by Best Lawyers® in America and Mid-South Super Lawyers in the areas of Trusts and Estates and Tax. One of the Firm’s attorneys is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
Estate Planning, Trusts & Estates, Probate
ERISA, Employee Benefits, and Executive Compensation
The Firm has significant experience in providing advice to clients regarding qualified retirement plans, compensation, and employee benefits. The Firm’s attorneys have designed and implemented numerous types of executive compensation programs, including stock option plans, bonus arrangements, and other forms of equity participation. The Firm also advises employers and executives regarding deferred compensation and supplemental retirement programs and negotiates employment and termination agreements. In addition, the Firm represents clients in ERISA insurance defense matters.
Environmental Litigation
The Firm has a breadth of experience in defending multi-plaintiff and class action lawsuits alleging harm from releases of hazardous substances, hazardous waste, and petroleum products. The Firm’s litigators have defended a number of lawsuits involving claims for personal injuries and property damages arising from releases of creosote, dioxins, petroleum products, PCPs, and wastes from poultry operations. In the past our litigators have also handled the defense of mass tort lawsuits arising from releases of PCB, nitric acid, dinitrogentetroxide, petroleum products, NORM, dioxin and byproducts of oil and natural gas drilling and production operations. In addition, the Firm has handled litigation among private parties concerning environmental liabilities under CERCLA, contracts and common law.
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Labor and Employment
The firm’s labor and employment attorneys represent employers’ interests in a broad array of state and federal administrative settings. The firm’s traditional labor law practice includes negotiating collective bargaining agreements, providing legal advice relating to defeating union organization attempts, winning certification and decertification elections, and providing supervisory training in union avoidance techniques. In addition, the firm has defended employers in arbitration proceedings, provided legal advice and strategy throughout the grievance process, responded to unfair labor practice charges, and counseled its clients on other similar administrative charges. They also litigate employment disputes in state and federal courts, including disputes involving all forms of discrimination arising under federal statutes and regulations, and disputes arising under state law involving alleged wrongful discharge and breach of employment contracts and non-competition agreements. The firm has successfully defended numerous single-plaintiff cases as well as class actions. In addition, the firm’s employment attorneys advise and assist employers in the development and enforcement of personnel policies, drug- and alcohol-testing plans, alternative dispute resolution agreements, and a variety of other employment issues.
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Construction
The Firm’s construction litigation section includes attorneys experienced in prosecuting and defending construction claims on behalf of owners, designers, prime contractors, sureties, subcontractors, and material suppliers. The Firm’s construction practice is diverse and includes litigation, arbitration and mediation of multimillion-dollar claims on highway and bridge projects; airport runways; railroads and railroad tunnels; water treatment plants; other federal and state projects (including Corps of Engineers, NASA, Veterans Administration, etc.); power plants; steel mills; shopping centers; hotels; casinos; condominiums; automobile manufacturing plants; and other large public and private commercial projects. The Firm’s construction attorneys have handled cases before the United States Court of Federal Claims, various federal boards (Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals, VA Board of Contract Appeals, etc.) and other federal and state courts at the trial and appellate levels. Attorneys in this section are active members of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry, have authored ABA publications on construction law and have been speakers at programs sponsored by the American Bar Association and by for-profit sponsors. Attorneys in the construction litigation section are also actively involved in Associated Builders and Contractors of Mississippi, Mississippi Associated General Contractors, Mississippi Roadbuilders Association and other professional associations.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The Firm’s attorneys have broad experience in the representation of clients in alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration. Several of the Firm’s attorneys are certified as arbitrators by the American Arbitration Association. The Firm’s attorneys have also served as mediators for AAA.
Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights
The Firm’s bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorneys provide secured and unsecured creditors with a broad range of legal services, including pre-bankruptcy debt collection, loan restructuring and workouts, general bankruptcy practice, and lender liability litigation. The bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice group consists of attorneys from the commercial and litigation departments in the Firm.
Environmental Law
The Firm’s environmental practice group is acknowledged as a statewide leader. Our attorneys have broad experience in both environmental litigation and regulatory proceedings and have defended numerous enforcement actions instituted by the United States Department of Justice, Region IV of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality, including actions brought under TSCA, RCRA, CERCLA, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Mississippi Air and Water Pollution Control Law, the Mississippi Solid and Hazardous Waste Law, and the Mississippi Underground Storage Tank Act. The firm has also obtained numerous environmental permits for its clients in proceedings before the Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Public Utilities
The Firm practices frequently before the Mississippi Public Service Commission, representing one of the largest gas utilities, as well as, a number of intrastate and interstate pipeline companies, telecommunication companies, and water and sewer companies. The Firm is Mississippi counsel for the only electric regional transmission organization in Mississippi. Brunini attorneys have served as counsel in administrative proceedings and litigation regarding rates and service and application for certificates of public convenience and necessity for the construction of electric generation facilities, natural gas transmission and distribution facilities, and underground natural gas storage facilities.
Publications
- Co-author of Public Utilities section, West’s Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law
Healthcare
The Brunini Firm has a comprehensive healthcare practice, representing hospitals, physicians, physician groups, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers. The Firm has broad experience in administrative proceedings and litigation concerning Certificates of Need, Medicaid fraud, nursing home care, fraud and abuse, Stark II, EMTALA, HIPAA, Hi-Tech, Affordable Care Act and other legal issues facing the healthcare industry. In addition, and as covered under general litigation, the Firm represents various providers, hospitals and nursing homes in medical malpractice actions.
Publications
- Navigating HIPAA & Recent Healthcare Reform: What You Need to Know
- Brunini Insurance Tax and Penalty Summary
- Cheri Green and Lane Staines, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, As Reconciled: A Survey of the Insurance Slice
- Cheri Green and Lane Staines, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, As Reconciled: A Timeline of Key Dates for Insurance Reform
- Taylor McNeel, Highway Infrastructure Funding and Environmental Funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Jonathan Werne, Incentives for Adoption of Electronic Health Records Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Cheri Green, Incentives for Adoption of Electronic Health Records Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Cheri Green and Lane Staines, What Health Care Entities Need to Know about HIPAA and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Cheri Green, COBRA Premium Assistance Subsidy Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Cheri Green & Lane Staines, What Healthcare Entities Need to Know about HIPAA, Miss. Business Journal, A Guide to Mississippi Stimulus Spending, July 27-Aug. 2, 2009, at 18.
- Richard Cirilli & Lane Staines, Implementing the Second Phase of Stark IV: A Glimpse of What’s Ahead, Miss. Med. News, July 2009, at 5.
- “Arbitration Agreements Emerging Trend in Mississippi,” 10 Mississippi Business Journal (December 11-17, 2006)