Patrick Krechowski
Patrick W. Krechowski is a Jacksonville Attorney, who joined Jimerson Birr in 2018 as Partner. He is currently the head of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate, Environmental and Land Use Law practice group, and serves concurrently as City Attorney for The City of Neptune Beach, Florida. Originally hailing from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Patrick grew up in a traveling Air Force family, with homes throughout childhood in Germany, Alabama, Tampa and Hawaii. He has family roots in Jacksonville including San Marco, Ortega, and the Beaches and moved up from St. Augustine in 2007.
Patrick has over 20 years of experience in governmental, environmental, land use, real estate, appeals and title insurance law. He is Board Certified in City, County & Local Government Law by The Florida Bar. His thorough local government expertise includes oversight and defense of governing bodies and related board activities and decisions, land use litigation and appeals, environmental permitting and remediation, ordinance drafting and development, code enforcement litigation, budget oversight, contract negotiation, employment and collective bargaining and general representation of city government, including staff.
In addition to governmental law, Patrick’s practice focuses on environmental permitting (including sovereign submerged lands), environmental remediation, water use permitting and planning, zoning and land use (including medical marijuana dispensaries), beach nourishment projects, coastal construction and due diligence before local governments and federal/state agencies, including associated administrative and civil litigation.
Previous to joining Jimerson Birr, Patrick was Of Counsel at GrayRobinson in the Jacksonville Office. Before that role, he served as an in-house attorney for the Fortune 500 company Fidelity National Title Group, Inc., where he directly managed multi-jurisdictional title insurance claims litigation ranging in exposure from $10,000 to in excess of $10 million, including coverage and indemnity disputes, quality assurance and insurance regulations, complex litigation, settlement/mediation and recoupment. The position required frequent analysis of complex real estate and land use issues in resolution of title disputes.
Additional experience stems from Patrick’s past service as an Assistant Attorney General (criminal appeals) and Assistant General Counsel with both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (coastal construction) and the St. Johns River Water Management District (environmental permitting and consumptive use). Further, Patrick has extensive public speaking and teaching experience and is a published contributing author to a book focused on international climate change.
Lastly, Patrick is a former adjunct professor with the Florida Coastal School of Law where he taught “Dredging & Marine Construction” and “Environmental Compliance” as part of the law school’s Logistics and Transportation LLM Program. For over 8 years Patrick taught Environmental Law, Ocean and Coastal Law and Environmental Law Practice and Procedure.
When not working at Jimerson Birr, Patrick enjoys quiet runs, relaxation and family time with his wife Jennifer, their children Maggie and Maxwell, as well as their 8 year-old Australian Shepherd. He is an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox, Florida State University Seminoles and Jacksonville Jaguars.
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