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Proven Expertise, Proven Results
You’re gaining a partner with a track record of success. Our expertise has helped countless clients achieve the outcomes they deserve. Let’s work together to achieve yours.
Legal battles can be stressful, but you don’t have to face them alone. Our compassionate team is here to support you, offering not just legal advice, but also emotional support throughout your journey.
Meet the team
With JustLaws, you’re not just hiring a lawyer—
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Zoning and Development
To successfully navigate the development landscape in Philadelphia, you need more than a zoning attorney for your project. With the JustLaws Edge, you’ll have a seasoned zoning law firm with the inside connections and community engagement experience to get the job done right the first time.
How we can help?
- Appearing before zoning boards and planning commissions
- Guiding clients through local land use and business permit application processes
- Negotiating zoning approvals, variances, special exceptions and conditional uses
- Advocating for rezoning on clients’ behalf
- Obtaining land use approvals and special use permits
- Negotiating community benefit agreements
- Representing clients facing code enforcement violations at both the agency and court levels
- Obtaining site plan and subdivision approvals
- Addressing grading, floodplain, stormwater management and other environmental issues
- Addressing highway occupancy and traffic considerations
- Representing clients in land use, zoning, boundary line and easement litigation
- Drafting zoning legislation
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For 12 years, Steve served as a Philadelphia City Council lawyer where he focused on zoning and licensing issues, specifically as Council President Anna Verna’s zoning lawyer. Steve pioneered the use of community benefit agreements, created nuisance business task forces, and helped broker settlements between the City, neighborhood groups, and property owners. And when settlements couldn’t be reached, Steve went to court to win decisive legal victories, even going all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. With his unparalleled experience in navigating complex land use and permitting issues, Steve understands who to talk to, how to build consensus, and what all parties will need. From the outset, Steve is ready for any roadblocks that may arise and creates a plan for avoiding them. Where other firms get stuck, JustLaws excels.
Steve’s zoning practice assists developers and small businesses who want to incorporate public engagement as a competitive advantage and empowers community groups to both stop destructive development and maximize community benefits agreements.
Code enforcement violation?
In need of a variance?
Reach out to our office to schedule a zoom consultation. Have an intake meeting with Steve and Courtney!
Developers of a new brewpub in Fairmount hired a big law firm to help them with L&I permits. When they couldn’t get the job done, the client realized they needed the JustLaws Edge: Steve successfully persuaded L&I to not only reverse its interpretation of brewpubs for his client, but across the board. Without Steve’s relationships and in-depth knowledge of the Zoning Code, his client would have faced the expense, delay and uncertainty of an appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Aware of Steve’s success for brewpubs, the first microwinery in Philadelphia called JustLaws right away. Steve was able to communicate directly with leadership at L&I to resolve questions about what kind of permit was necessary and provided this documentation when they went to apply.
This allowed the client to get a permit over the counter, saving them thousands of dollars. When elected officials want to improve the zoning code, they call on Steve. Councilwoman Cherelle Parker turned to JustLaws to draft legislation requiring a project information form for most new developments in the City. Steve’s expertise with the code and his history building support among key stakeholders led to a win/win for developers and the community.
After a developer won a bid to help revitalize a West Philly commercial corridor, a local mosque and its affiliated CDC reached out to Steve about grave concerns with the project. Steve stepped in and represented the mosque and CDC before the Zoning Board, helping these West Philly institutions take their rightful place as the lead CDC on the project, and returning land parcels which were wrongly assigned to the developer, allowing the mosque to expand their capacity to provide more social services to the surrounding community.
Aware of Steve’s success for brewpubs, the first microwinery in Philadelphia called JustLaws right away. Steve was able to communicate directly with leadership at L&I to resolve questions about what kind of permit was necessary and provided this documentation when they went to apply.
This allowed the client to get a permit over the counter, saving them thousands of dollars. When elected officials want to improve the zoning code, they call on Steve. Councilwoman Cherelle Parker turned to JustLaws to draft legislation requiring a project information form for most new developments in the City. Steve’s expertise with the code and his history building support among key stakeholders led to a win/win for developers and the community.
After a developer won a bid to help revitalize a West Philly commercial corridor, a local mosque and its affiliated CDC reached out to Steve about grave concerns with the project. Steve stepped in and represented the mosque and CDC before the Zoning Board, helping these West Philly institutions take their rightful place as the lead CDC on the project, and returning land parcels which were wrongly assigned to the developer, allowing the mosque to expand their capacity to provide more social services to the surrounding community.
Winning Record!
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Government Relations
All government relations firms promise relationships and results. With JustLaws, you get our unique track record of winning issue campaigns from both the inside and outside. A social impact law firm, JustLaws understands how to mobilize powerful coalitions to maximize your power and advance your mission.
How we can help?
- Legislative and policy lobbying
- Drafting and passing legislation
- Providing access to key decision makers
- Coalition building
- Grassroots and grasstops lobbying
- State and city appropriations
- Legislative and regulatory tracking
- Testifying before legislative committees and regulatory hearings
- Serving on government and industry advisory committees
- Earning media coverage for clients and their campaigns
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Let us be your fierce advocates and lobby for you, your organization or legislative agenda.
Prior to starting JustLaws, Steve spent over a decade in City Council, where he developed legislation that shaped Philadelphia as a City today, including the nation’s strictest anti-predatory lending law; landmark labor rights legislation, including extending prevailing wage to service
employees; and numerous pathbreaking bills to promote sustainability and energy conservation.
Steve’s government relations and local government practice leverages his deep relationships with elected officials and the administration to help small businesses, unions and nonprofits overcome their challenges with the city. In addition to his practice before local agencies and the court of common pleas, Steve has an active appellate practice arguing administrative agency and election law appeals before the Commonwealth Court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Reach out to our office to schedule a zoom consultation. Have an intake meeting with Steve and Courtney!
When Comcast, the largest private corporation in Philadelphia, tried to stop a public media and advocacy organization from seeking public benefits during a cable franchise renewal, JustLaws used its influence to convince City Council to give our client a seat at the negotiating table. This win, and subsequent negotiation strategy developed by JustLaws, led to a national model for expanded public access programming and funding.
While chair of the Advocacy Committee for the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, Steve conceived, drafted, and led its “Good Economy Challenge,” which brought the triple-bottom-line business agenda into the 2015 Mayoral and City Council elections, led to the expansion of the Sustainable Business Tax Credit, and wrote the original draft of the Business Owners Bill of Rights which was enacted by the Philadelphia City Council in 2019.
A veto-proof majority in Council meant that a scrappy non-profit advocacy group was out of ideas on how to stop the passage of recent legislation. They called on JustLaws to develop an innovative strategy which involved bringing in state regulatory agencies to threaten to withhold federal dollars to the City if the legislation were enacted. Despite passing City Council by a veto proof majority, Steve’s strategic jiujitsu convinced both the Mayor to veto the legislation and the Council sponsor to abandon any attempt to override the veto, leading to a stunning victory for the client.
While chair of the Advocacy Committee for the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, Steve conceived, drafted, and led its “Good Economy Challenge,” which brought the triple-bottom-line business agenda into the 2015 Mayoral and City Council elections, led to the expansion of the Sustainable Business Tax Credit, and wrote the original draft of the Business Owners Bill of Rights which was enacted by the Philadelphia City Council in 2019.
A veto-proof majority in Council meant that a scrappy non-profit advocacy group was out of ideas on how to stop the passage of recent legislation. They called on JustLaws to develop an innovative strategy which involved bringing in state regulatory agencies to threaten to withhold federal dollars to the City if the legislation were enacted. Despite passing City Council by a veto proof majority, Steve’s strategic jiujitsu convinced both the Mayor to veto the legislation and the Council sponsor to abandon any attempt to override the veto, leading to a stunning victory for the client.
Winning Record!
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Campaign and Election Law
Election laws, ballot issue campaigns, disclosure requirements and lobbying regulations all vary between cities and states and can often feel like a web of confusing legal jargon. With the JustLaws Edge, candidates and PACs have an expert on their team who not only has experience navigating these complicated requirements, but even helped legalize placing referenda on Philadelphia’s ballots.
How we can help?
- Clearing campaign contributions, fundraising activities and other political activities for businesses, trade associations, nonprofit organizations and individuals
- Representing local, state and federal candidates and political parties by setting up campaign and officeholder committees, maintaining bank accounts, filing campaign reports and reviewing nomination papers
- Advising ballot measure committees and drafting initiatives and referenda petitions
- Setting up and operating state, local and federal PACs, “independent expenditure” committees and 527 organizations
- Counseling candidate and ballot measure campaigns about the post-election vote count process and recounts
- Representing candidates, parties and ballot measure committees in lawsuits
- Representing elected officials and candidates in disputes over eligibility
- Bringing lawsuits challenging campaign finance laws and regulations
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Our clients range from campaigns for elected office on the local, state and federal levels to statewide PACs and national organizations with chapters and affiliates in Pennsylvania. With our diverse experience, we are well positioned to see evolving trends in campaign law and provide strategic guidance to our clients on structuring their operations.
Steve’s political law practice assists progressive candidates, PACs and nonprofits with election, campaign finance and lobbying disclosure legal compliance.
Have questions about the latest rules for reporting campaign expenditures? Not sure what you need to disclose? Confused about when and where you need to file your campaign finance reports?
We’ve got you covered! Just reach out to our office to schedule an intake meeting with Steve and Courtney!
Steve has served as outside counsel for numerous candidates at the local, state and federal levels. As general counsel to the Pennsylvania Working Families Party, Steve was co-counsel for the party’s lawsuit to reform PA’s election code to allow candidates to be nominated by more than one political party.
Steve has also helped create and guide many of the leading progressive Philadelphia political action committees with compliance issues, including Reclaim Philadelphia, 215 People’s Alliance, Neighborhood Networks, PA Stands Up, Democratic Jewish Outreach PA, PA Blue Victory Fund, Food and Water Action and One Pennsylvania. When issues arise during an election, Steve has sued to ensure the integrity of our democratic process.
Steve co-counseled litigation for the Democratic Party defending PA’s sore loser law from a challenge by a Democratic primary candidate who withdrew weeks before the election and then sought to run as an independent candidate. The case resulted in a 5-2 PA Supreme Court decision upholding the sore loser provisions.
Steve serves as the Pennsylvania legal subject matter expert for the Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Project and has co-authored Bolder Advocacy’s training materials on compliance with PA’s lobbying and campaign finance laws.
Steve has also helped create and guide many of the leading progressive Philadelphia political action committees with compliance issues, including Reclaim Philadelphia, 215 People’s Alliance, Neighborhood Networks, PA Stands Up, Democratic Jewish Outreach PA, PA Blue Victory Fund, Food and Water Action and One Pennsylvania. When issues arise during an election, Steve has sued to ensure the integrity of our democratic process.
Steve co-counseled litigation for the Democratic Party defending PA’s sore loser law from a challenge by a Democratic primary candidate who withdrew weeks before the election and then sought to run as an independent candidate. The case resulted in a 5-2 PA Supreme Court decision upholding the sore loser provisions.
Steve serves as the Pennsylvania legal subject matter expert for the Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy Project and has co-authored Bolder Advocacy’s training materials on compliance with PA’s lobbying and campaign finance laws.
Winning Record!
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Small Business and Nonprofit Guidance
Steve Masters grew up in a family with multiple generations of small business owners, so from a very young age, he learned about the joys and challenges that face small businesses and Nonprofits.
How we can help?
- Advise businesses on choice of entity and create LLCs and S corporations
- Secure all necessary approvals and permits to ensure that all health, zoning, building, and environmental codes have been met.
- Draft contracts, leases and other documents essential for your business
- Resolve code enforcement actions brought by government agencies
- Appeal tax assessments and appear before the Tax Review Board
- Represent your business in court when a government agency sues you
- Setting up non-profit organizations, including 501 c(3), 501 c(4), and 501 c(6)
- Drafting Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
- Obtaining Federal and State Tax-exempt Status
- Providing compliance guidance to keep nonprofits compliant with all legal requirements related to issue advocacy.
- Guide nonprofits on permissible involvement in the political and legislative process.
- Winning Record
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Steve Masters brings a wealth of experience to both small businesses and nonprofit organizations. As a former government regulator, Steve played a key role in crafting legislation that impacts businesses of all sizes, including pioneering the nation’s only sustainable business tax credit.
Since founding JustLaws in 2012, he has become a leading small business advocate, serving as past board chair of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and creating initiatives like the Green Economy Challenge, which led to the Business Owner’s Bill of Rights in Philadelphia. He’s also deeply involved in nonprofit work, having created and led local and national nonprofits.
This dual perspective allows Steve to provide strategic guidance and creative problem-solving to nonprofits as they navigate legal and regulatory systems. JustLaws represents nonprofits on issues like formation, governance, compliance, and coalition-building. Steve’s leadership extends to the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for America, where he continues to shape policy at the state level.
Do you require assistance setting up your non-profit or need compliance guidance?
Reach out to our office to schedule a zoom consultation. Have an intake meeting with Steve and Courtney!
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"Brilliant"
"Steve is an outstanding litigator. If you're lucky, you get a lawyer who is a sharp researcher and can identify the right cases and precedents; or you get someone who is really good at bringing together evidence and presenting a strong written case to the judge. Or you get someone who is good on their feet in the courtroom, quick and smart in presenting your case but also in responding to opposing arguments and judge's questions. Steve is brilliant at all three: research, writing, and speaking. He is truly a triple threat. He kept us informed throughout and was good at answering questions (via email or in meetings) with us. Oh, and he won the case."
- Valérie, August 8, 2023
"Hands on Attorney."
"Steve Masters is the kind of attorney you want on your side. He has represented my development company several times and won all of our zoning cases. We gladly refer Steve to our tenants and he has done a nice job representing their interests. Because he understands both sides of zoning matters, Steve is a more effective attorney. I recommend him highly!"
- Ken, September 26, 2022
"Excellent election campaign and political law expertise."
"Steve has provided great service to our organization over the years, helping to navigate questions about campaign finance and political law. If you are looking for expertise on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and federal questions, Steve will be an excellent resource."
- Bryan, September 26, 2022
"Great on Government Relations."
"Steve's vast experience and expertise in working with public officials helped our nonprofit organization navigate complex relationships with Philadelphia City Council. With the help of his guidance, we designed a presentation for all members of Council that spoke to their interests and captured their attention. Steve helped us advocate for important programs and secure a positive outcome in all of our meetings. He possesses a keen understanding of local government and how to best advocate for your interests. It has been a pleasure to work with Steve."
- Anonymous, August 11, 2022
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