A New Approach

After years of practicing environmental law in a large law firm setting, Susan Franzetti founded Franzetti Law Firm in 2004 to provide quality legal work at reasonable cost. In 2008, Jennifer Nijman joined her to form Nijman•Franzetti LLP. The strain of increasing hourly rates and growing conflicts threatened to severely limit the amount of personal attention and hands-on lawyering Ms. Franzetti and Ms. Nijman could devote to clients, so they left their respective Chicago law firms of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and Winston & Strawn to form this firm. Nijman•Franzetti LLP has the benefit of a following of clients that make their dream of superb and affordable client service a reality. We remain greatly appreciative of our clients’ loyalty that allows the dream to live on.

What We Do

We handle environmental legal projects in the areas of water, land and air with a focus of staying within the client’s budgetary constraints. We handle all aspects of environmental litigation defense and enforcement including administrative and civil agency enforcement matters, private party actions for property contamination, and toxic tort cases. We have broad experience before the Illinois pollution control board seeking variances and adjusted standards and represent clients at permit and siting hearings. We provide the targeted legal reviews of permit applications, prepare and file regulatory submissions, negotiate and submit environmental plans, oversee due diligence and Phase I property reports, and handle day-to-day environmental counseling. We represent companies in Superfund matters and property remediation projects pursued under state cleanup programs. We also partner with in-house attorneys to counsel on environmental legal issues that are part of larger projects or where limited in-house legal staffing does not provide the depth of environmental expertise needed for a particular project.

Client Satisfaction

We have succeeded in providing high quality legal services at reasonable costs. Our clients continue to return to us with their environmental legal needs and questions. We believe the loyalty of our clients is the best evidence of the quality of our legal services.

Technical Knowledge

With our combined forty years of environmental experience, we know how to communicate with technical personnel at both client and regulatory offices. We understand the technical concepts and ask the right questions. One of our particular skills is working with technical personnel and consultants to develop legal positions on complex matters that are then conveyed in persuasive and cogent oral and written submissions to regulators.

Experience and Staffing

We don’t do our training on the client’s dime. We only accept matters where we have the necessary experience to do the work without first educating ourselves about the fundamental legal principles involved. If we don’t have the experience you need, we’ll tell you and help you find another lawyer who does.

When projects warrant additional resources, we work with experienced environmental attorneys on a contract basis and/or co-counsel with other firms. We work seamlessly with attorneys of the client’s choosing or with attorneys we know and trust based on our combined forty years of practice within the legal community. Ms. Franzetti is “Of Counsel” to the Chicago law firm of Figliulo & Silverman to provide additional legal resources to clients as the need arises. We’ll always discuss staffing arrangements with you first and it is subject to your prior approval. We forge cooperative legal relationships with other law firms to provide quality service without duplication of effort. That said, our resources are devoted first to existing clients. If we can’t meet your project’s needs and deadlines, we’ll tell you and offer you alternatives. We don’t have high billable hour requirements to keep our firm going and we don’t want to disappoint you.

We have sophisticated technology that allows us to provide electronic billing, computer legal research at no cost to you, and databases for document and file handling. We are committed to high quality work and meeting the standards our clients have come to expect.