Practice Areas & Industries: Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Our Clients

We have over a half-century of experience representing public entities that manage flood protection systems for communities located along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Our levee and drainage district clients in the Midwest provide various levels of flood protection for hundreds of thousands of acres of urban and agricultural property and manage hundreds of miles of levee on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. These clients also provide hundreds of miles of storm-water drainage channels. The land and other property protected by our clients' flood protection improvements is valued in the billions of dollars. We represent levee and drainage districts throughout Missouri, Illinois and other Midwestern states. 

Services Available

Our Experience and Political Involvement

Our history in levee and drainage law expands our practice beyond traditional legal matters. Our attorneys are familiar with the unique engineering issues of levee and drainage districts, which allows us to add value by working closely with project engineers. In addition, we recognize the important role of legislators and regulatory department officials in providing access to federal programs and managing flood protection systems. We strive to foster positive working relationships between these officials and our clients.

Transactions and Litigation

Attorneys in our Group assist our public and private clients in all aspects of flood protection management. We routinely assist them in compliance with local, state and federal laws and regulations. We represent our clients in transactional and litigation matters, including trial and appellate practice. 

Federal Levee Experience

We represent the Ste. Genevieve Joint Levee Commission in connection with the federal levee project protecting the City of Ste. Genevieve. We also represent the Monarch-Chesterfield Levee District in establishing the federal levee project for Chesterfield Valley. Through these federal projects and others like them, we work regularly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the St. Louis, Kansas City, Rock Island, Memphis and Nashville Districts. We are well acquainted with Corps personnel and have a comprehensive knowledge of Corps' regulations and procedures, and we have a detailed understanding of the laws concerning federal/local cost-share issues. 

FEMA Assistance and Certification

Because we have represented levee districts for over 50 years, we have successfully represented our clients through history-making flood events and have guided them in obtaining FEMA emergency assistance and rehabilitation assistance and re-certification. Through experience and knowledge of federal law, we assist our clients and landowners in flood protected areas to comply with FEMA regulations. This is critical in order to utilize federal programs available to maintain flood protection, to obtain flood insurance and to secure property values, which is especially valuable in urban areas.

Through many years of hands-on legal experience working on behalf of numerous levee and drainage districts, our firm is uniquely qualified to handle any legal issue in this area.