Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC was founded on June 1, 2015. Prior to founding the firm, Jeff Honeywell was a founding shareholder of a mid-sized regional firm, located in the Capital District. Jeff can proudly affirm that he has spent nearly thirty-five (35) years providing a broad range of legal services to school districts and municipalities. Jeff’s goal in founding Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC was, and continues to be, to provide responsive client-centered legal services to clients by bringing focused attention to each and every one. With a goal of providing clients with the upmost excellence in legal service, Jeff built Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC upon the following four fundamental tenets:

Personalized service and attention to the client

At Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC, we do not take a one service and one memo fits all approach. Our clients are more than a file number and we shape our services to a client’s specific needs and desires. We work closely with board members, officers, respective leaders and members of administration to learn the culture of the client we are serving.

We want to know:

• What is important to the client?
• What are the client’s goals?
• What motivates the client’s supervisors, officials, leaders, administrators, board members, superintendent of schools, district administrators, building administrators, employees, and the community?

We seek to understand, what challenges the client has faced in the past and how we can assist and prepare the client to conquer future challenges. We take the time to truly listen, in order to provide day-to-day and issue-by-issue legal support that is specific to and best for that client. We are attorneys and counselors at law. Accordingly, we both represent and counsel our clients in a manner that is unique to them and the specific issues they face.

Responsiveness to ensure our client’s needs are met in a timely and efficient manner

We understand that clients call our firm when they have a need (i.e., they call seeking legal advice and counsel on an issue on which they need immediate help). At Honeywell Law Firm, PLLC, it is our goal to satisfy our clients’ needs as timely and efficiently as possible. All of our clients are important, and it is central to our firm vision that all of our clients are satisfied; that all of their needs are being met on a timely basis. Clients are provided with our office phone number, as well as cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses for each attorney. It is our office policy to return all communications we receive within 24 hours, though we usually are more prompt than that. The last thing we want is for our clients to wonder, “What is going on with my issue?” Our attorneys and support staff are in constant communication with each other and collaborate as needed. The primary reason for this is to optimize responsiveness to our clients and to ensure that there is no miscommunication that could compromise our service to the clients.

Clear communication with the client

Often, legal issues are not “black and white.” We spend the majority of our time assisting our clients in the “gray areas” of the law, advising as to potential pitfalls and best practices of all the options available. Thus, clear, and concise communication is key. Our goal is to “get you to where you want to go” while still complying with the law. Our attorneys stay abreast of all recent developments affecting our clients. This allows us to preemptively advise our clients of any possible issues, place the inquiries of our clients into context, and to ask the appropriate questions to pinpoint the issue(s) or concern(s) on which our clients seek guidance. In addition, as noted above, we engage in active listening to ensure that we are clear about what our client is asking, and what our client needs in response to the query. We provide meaningful options, guidance, and advice to our clients. It is our goal to present our clients with comprehensive legal advice, which may include several options, providing insight into the pros and cons of such options and the means available to act upon our advice. We summarize our advice and guidance in such a way as to make it concise and understandable; and

Providing up-to-date legal guidance

It has been a tumultuous time for local municipalities in New York State. Local governments have come under increased scrutiny from the public and oversight from State and Federal agencies. Fiscally, municipalities have had to navigate dramatic changes (and the escalation of costs) concerning employee health insurance, increased pension costs, and operating under the “tax levy cap.” School districts have come under increased scrutiny from the public and oversight from state and federal agencies.

Fiscally, school districts have had to navigate dramatic changes (and the escalation of costs) concerning employee health insurance, increased operational costs, and operating under the “tax levy cap.” Accordingly, there has been more scrutiny on the outcomes of collective bargaining. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented issues for all of our clients. In order to provide guidance to our clients that is correct, precise, and pro-active, HLF is committed to staying on the forefront of the issues impacting municipalities.