Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Attorneys track high-speed rail proposal

By: dmc-admin//November 9, 2009//

Attorneys track high-speed rail proposal

By: dmc-admin//November 9, 2009//

Listen to this article

Image

In response to the recession, earlier this year several law firms in Wisconsin created practice groups to help clients evaluate potential benefits of the federal government’s stimulus package.

Firms assembled teams of business, tax and environmental attorneys to answer questions about where the money could be spent and when.

But during the summer, Madison firm Axley Brynelson LLP formed a five-attorney group to track the progress of a plan to develop a high-speed passenger rail line in the state.

“We started to get some questions from clients, especially municipalities, about what this kind of system would mean if it became a reality,” said attorney John C. Mitby, co-chair of the Rail and Transportation Team.

In October, Gov. Jim Doyle submitted an application to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for federal funds to develop a $651.8 million high-speed passenger rail line between Milwaukee and Madison.

The state application is for a discretionary rail grant under the Track 2 Corridor Programs of the FRA’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program. A total of $8 billion in federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are available for distribution.

If the grant is approved, Mitby anticipates a surge in real estate, contracts, government and safety regulation and land use legal work.

“We want to be ready to assist clients with legal issues that come up in the future,” he said.

The Madison branch of Foley & Lardner LLP is taking a similar approach.

Public Affairs attorney Raymond R. Carey said the firm is following Doyle’s proposal to the FRA as well as separate plan to develop a commuter rail system connecting Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.

Foley also has an attorney based in its Washington D.C. office who chairs the Surface Transport Practice Group.

Carey said the most common questions from clients have to do with procurement opportunities: “What portion of the work is likely to be contracted out and what portion is likely to be done in-house?”

According to Doyle’s proposal, the Milwaukee-Madison rail would create 13,000 new jobs in the state by 2013.

Along with those jobs would come legal work involving planning, construction, engineering and environmental preservation, suggested Carey.

If a new regional transit authority is established, especially for the KRM line, there will be additional opportunities for firms, Carey said.

“A new authority will have to manage the commuter rail system and that will spin-off a lot of potential legal questions for private parties they might be contracting with,” he said.

According to the FRA Web site, the agency plans to award its first round of stimulus money this fall.

If Wisconsin is among the states to receive funds, Mitby believes that Axley will have an advantage in offering legal services tied to the rail system.

“No question about it,” he said. “Public service is a component of it, but we also formed the team to attract new clients.”

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests