Contact

Victor P. Filippini, Jr.
victor.filippini@filippinilawfirm.com
Direct: 312.300.6549

Filippini Law Firm, LLP
1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 510
Evanston, Illinois 60201
Office: 312.300.6554
Fax:  312.324.0668

Victor P. Filippini has decades of experience practicing principally in the areas of state and local government law, as well as land use and development law. Throughout his career, he has provided special counseling and litigation representation for many public sector and private sector clients.

Mr. Filippini is fully conversant in the daily operations and legal needs of local governments and those who must interact with them. His experience in land use and development matters is also quite extensive, from drafting comprehensive and special zoning regulations, annexation and development agreements, intergovernmental land management agreements, and various types of economic incentive agreements, to developing special service areas, tax increment financing districts, local business district plans, and local and regional sewage disposal systems and water systems. For private and public sector clients alike, he has handled real estate sales, acquisitions, leasing, public and private financing matters, asset purchases/sales, grant applications, and obtained various environmental approvals from regional, state, and federal authorities.

Mr. Filippini’s litigation experience is also quite broad, having prosecuted and defended claims involving zoning, subdivision, annexation, condemnation, inverse condemnation, first amendment, second amendment, civil rights, antitrust, contract, tort, employment discrimination, construction, consumer protection, environmental, and other issues. He has appeared before various federal and state trial and appellate courts and administrative agencies in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Florida. He won the Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association’s Litigation Award in 2016.

Mr. Filippini has authored or co-authored various articles in law journals and publications. He is a featured author on municipal law issues in Illinois Jurisprudence, and he has lectured on a wide range of land use and government topics for various educational organizations. Mr. Filippini is also a grant recipient from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics. He taught in the Michigan Law School Writing and Advocacy Program and served on the editorial board of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Currently, Mr. Filippini is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law teaching state and local government and land use law. Mr. Filippini has been approved by the USDOJ to provide court-ordered RLUIPA training

Honors & Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America guide, Land Use & Zoning Law; Real Estate Law
• Illinois Super Lawyers magazine
• Leading Land Use & Zoning Lawyer in Illinois, Leading Lawyers Network
• Chambers USA – America’s Leading Business Lawyers guide, Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use
• Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association, 2016 Litigation Award
• The City of Lake Forest, Recognition of Achievement in Local Government Litigation, May 2016
• ALM’s Legal Leaders Top Rated Lawyer in Real Estate

Recent Publications 

• Wireless Triage: What to Do If a “Small Cell” Antenna Requests to Locate in a Right-of-Way in Your Town, DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference on Small Wireless Facilities, August 2016
• Illinois Appellate Court Narrows Attorney General’s FOIA Opinion on Communications on Elected Officials’ Private Devices, Holland & Knight Alert, July 24, 2013
• Local Government: Many Changes in the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Acts for 2012, Holland & Knight Alert, January 9, 2012
• Modifications to the Illinois Open Meetings Act That Affect All Public Bodies, Holland & Knight Alert, February 11, 2011
• Dealing with Locally Unwanted Land Uses (LULUs): A municipal Perspective, The Practical Lawyer, March 2010
• Local Government: What Is Proper Notice for Rezonings? Illinois Supreme Court Holds Newspaper Notice Unconstitutional – Passalino et al v. City of Zion, Holland & Knight Alert, December 29, 2009
• Illinois Land Use and Economic Development: Getting More Bang for Your Buck, Holland & Knight Newsletter, First Quarter 2007
• Illinois Land Use and Economic Development: Getting More Bang for Your Buck, Holland & Knight Newsletter, Fourth Quarter 2006
• Recent Changes in Zoning Law: Klaeren and SB 94 — What Was, What Recently Has Been, and What Will Be, Illinois State Bar Association Local Government Law Newsletter, 43:4, November 2006 

Recent Speaking Engagements

• Keynote Speaker, “A Modern Day Battle of Jericho: Gurba v. District 155,” Illinois Local Government Lawyers Association Annual Conference, February 2016.
• Land Use and Local Government Issues, The Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy’s Sixth Annual Symposium, 2013
• Ethical Practices in Government and the Law, Current Key Issues in Government, Tax & Property, Illinois Continuing Legal Education, February 24, 2012
• Property and Financial Issues for Local Government, Ethical Practices in Government and the Law, Illinois Continuing Legal Education Program, January 26, 2012
• American Bar Association’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Annual Meeting, LULUs (Locally Unwanted Land Uses), July 31, 2009
• Land Use Law: Development and Zoning in the City of Chicago and the Chicago Suburbs, CLE International, September 11, 2008 

Memberships

• Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, Board of Directors; Secretary
• American Bar Association
• Illinois State Bar Association

Education

• University of Michigan Law School, J.D., cum laude
• Harvard College, A.B., magna cum laude
• Northwestern University, School of Professional Studies, Mediation Certification