Practice Areas

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., represents clients at all levels of State and local government, including the executive, legislative and administrative branches. We assist clients in regulatory matters, including administrative rulemaking, licensing and regulatory enforcement from the administrative hearing process to the Delaware Supreme Court.

With the passage of the Financial Center Redevelopment Act in 1981 and the Bank Insurance Powers Act in 1995, Delaware has developed and maintained a reputation for excellence in the financial services community. Our firm is noted for its bank regulatory practice, which represents clients before federal and state bank regulatory agencies. We also represent numerous financial institutions before the Delaware General Assembly.

Our attorneys represent national banks, state-chartered banks, federal and state-chartered thrifts, as well as licensed lenders such as mortgage bankers, brokers and consumer finance lenders. We help clients structure transactions and navigate the complexities of the regulatory approval process. Our attorneys offer advice to clients regarding business practices, with a particular sensitivity to compliance considerations. We also provide our financial services clients with opinions of counsel on issues involving Delaware law.

Our firm is noted for its respectful yet relentless approach to litigation of business and civil disputes in all of our State and federal courts. Our firm’s structure and multi-disciplinary attorneys and paralegals allow us to fashion a highly effective litigation team to the specific needs and intricacies of each client’s case. Clients are actively involved in each stage of their case, receiving the personal attention through legal advocacy and counsel that they deserve.

Our firm represents owners, contractors, construction managers, developers, design professionals and suppliers in all aspects of the construction process, including bidding and document preparation, contract negotiation and formation, contract performance, financing and warranty issues, mechanics and materialmen liens, and claims and dispute resolution.

The attorneys at Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., are frequently called upon to render advice and counsel in connection with the formation of, and transactions involving, Delaware corporate and business entities, captive insurance companies, special purpose vehicles and fiduciary duties of Delaware directors, officers and trustees. We advise clients on the business formation, ownership, control and dissolution of Delaware business entities. We represent clients in financing and business acquisitions, contract negotiations, corporate governance, and day to day business decisions.

Our attorneys routinely advise clients on issues involving Delaware corporate law and Delaware alternate business entities, including Delaware investment holding companies. We help structure business entities, draft organizational documents and provide counsel to our clients regarding fiduciary duties of directors and officers of Delaware corporations. We also routinely provide opinions of counsel to our clients on issues involving Delaware corporate law.

Employment law covers a complex network of laws that control how employers must treat employees, former employees and applicants for employment. Our firm, which represents employers and employees, has significant experience in interpreting and construing state and federal statutes and case law in areas such as employment discrimination, affirmative action, sexual harassment, employee benefits, whistleblower litigation, wrongful discharge, employment contracts, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Federal Employer’s Liability Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and special laws governing state and municipal employment.

Parkowski Guerke & Swayze, P.A. is the premier environmental law firm in Delaware. Our lawyers are intimately familiar with environmental statutes, regulations and relevant case law governing air pollution, surface and groundwater discharges, hazardous and solid waste, brownfields, subaqueous lands, wetlands and wild lands, and CERCLA and HSCA site remediation. Our recent environmental practice incudes:

• Delaware’s unique Coastal Zone Act that restricts industrial development in coastal areas;
• Scope of storm water discharges triggering jurisdiction under Delaware’s implementation of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) under the federal Clean Water Act;
• Federal jurisdiction under Section 404 of the CWA and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act with respect to so-called “waters of the United States.”
• NPDES point source discharges and on-site wastewater treatment and disposal regulations governing poultry processing facilities.
• Applicability of Delaware solid waste regulations to solid waste management and resource recovery activities.
• Air permitting in New Castle County’s non-attainment area for 8 hour ozone.
• Superfund and Superfund alternative sites in Delaware

Our environmental lawyers routinely advise our clients on the scope of environmental laws and regulations, assist and guide our clients in obtaining required permits, and in complying with permit conditions, regulations and auditing principles. We also represent our clients in litigation before the Environmental Appeals Board, Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board and in the courts when a violation are alleged, and we are prepared to provide defense representation in toxic tort litigation. Our firm also represents clients before the Delaware General Assembly in seeking changes to environmental laws and regulations – most recently the Coastal Zone Act.

Our firm aids clients in the estate planning process by providing wills, trusts, power of attorneys and living wills. We also administer the estate probate process.

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., has experienced family law practitioners in each county that handle the full range of family law matters including custody, visitation, divorce, alimony, property division, premarital and postmarital agreements, separation agreements, domestic violence, protection from abuse civil restraining orders, paternity, support, child protection, guardianship, adoption, child protection registry, child abuse registry, and sex offender registry. Our attorneys are well respected for their advocacy, ethics, knowledge and leadership, serving as officers in the family law section of the Delaware Bar, chairing family law committees and lecturing in Delaware and nationally on critical issues including interstate custody, interstate protective orders and child custody evaluation standards. Domestic disputes involve good people at the most stressful times of their lives. Each attorney at our firm approaches the process in a comprehensive manner that respects the client’s emotions and personal circumstances while protecting the client’s rights under this complex area of law.

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A. has a very active government relations practice, with client representation before the Delaware General Assembly and local and municipal governments in Delaware. This representation extends to assisting clients with government contracting opportunities in the State. The members of our government relations team are all practicing attorneys, so we are able to approach government relations with an expertise of both the political and legal issues affecting our clients. Our attorneys have developed relationships with elected and appointed officials throughout the state and are very knowledgeable about the legislative process and pending and trending and legislative issues. The representation is goal-oriented and has been successful legislatively and by navigating the bureaucracy that exists in all levels of government.

The health care industry faces complex challenges, including a multitude of government regulations at the federal, state and local levels. Our attorneys recognize these challenges, and we provide comprehensive health care analysis and advocacy for a of health care entities. Our firm represents health insurance trade associations, national health care organizations, large health care systems, health insurers and managed care organizations and pharmaceutical companies. We routinely advocate on their behalf before the Delaware legislature, state regulatory agencies and local governments, and our attorneys assist the firm’s health care clients in the formulation and implementation of appropriate administrative and legislative strategies.

Delaware has over 125 traditional insurance companies domiciled in the state and primarily regulated by the Delaware Department of Insurance, and hundreds more that are domiciled elsewhere but authorized to write business in Delaware. Our attorneys have years of experience representing these companies in a multitude of regulatory and transactional issues, including:

• Licensing;
• mergers and acquisitions;
• intra-holding company transactions;
• investment limitations;
• solvency and receiverships;
• form and rate filings;
• Life and P&C reinsurance transactions.

Delaware is also home to approximately 1,000 captive insurance vehicles and, in just the last ten years, has become one of the world’s leading captive domiciles. Our attorneys were on the forefront of the 2005 re-enactment of our captive insurance statutes, and our firm is represented on the board of directors of the Delaware Captive Insurance Association. Representative captive insurance clients include:

• Multiple special purpose financial captives designed to provide surplus relief to life insurers reserving under Regulation XXX and AXXX;
• A special purpose captive designed to provide specialized annuity products to private equity funds; and
• An agency captive reinsuring surety business produced by one of the state’s premier surety brokers.

We also actively represent the interests of our insurance company and insurance trade organization clients before the Delaware General Assembly.

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A. advises and provides legal representation to a variety of county and municipal governments, currently including Sussex County, Milton and Ocean View. In addition, our attorneys provide representation for other local governments on an as-needed basis. Our representation includes all manner of topics, including administrative representation of government councils, commissions and boards; human relations and employment matters; policy guidance; taxation; land use and zoning; litigation; property acquisition; contracting; elections; and monitions sales.

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., represents individuals involved in controversies alleging a wrong or damage to others person, rights, reputation or property resulting from events or activities such as motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall, defective products, infliction of emotional distress, intentional misconduct and negligence. We have been successfully involved in handling high-profile, large damage award cases.

Our firm represents commercial clients, individuals and lenders in all proceedings and transactions that deal with real property – land and the structures attached to it – including purchase and sale, construction, mortgages and foreclosures, leases, zoning, title examinations, quiet title actions and closings (both purchase and sale and refinancing).

Over the years, our firm has developed an extensive practice providing advice to utilities on regulatory and business matters in Delaware. We have represented water, natural gas, electric and independent transmission utilities before the Delaware Public Service Commission in a variety of contexts. Our attorneys have also represented non-investor owned utilities, including cooperatives and municipal electric corporations. Depending on our clients’ needs, we advise them on issues ranging from rate filings, deregulation, renewable energy standards, transmission development and regulatory compliance issues. We also represent the telecommunications industry on legislative and regulatory matters in Delaware.

Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A., has a state-wide zoning and land use practice involving both commercial and residential land use issues, transactions and disputes, rezoning, and eminent domain (condemnation. Our attorneys regularly appear before state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Office of State Planning Coordination (PLUS), and county and municipal councils, commissions and boards with regarding to zoning, land use and regulatory issues affecting real estate. Representative examples of development projects include shopping centers, malls, restaurants, brownfields redevelopment, recreational facilities, office buildings and marinas.