John L. Maier

John L. Maier, Jr. is the Retired President of Sweet & Maier, S.C., having practiced primarily in the areas of zoning and land use law, business and estate planning law, planned community development and community association law in both Wisconsin and Illinois.

John graduated from Marquette University in 1971 with a double major in Political Science and History.  In December, 1973, John received his Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he served as an Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review.  John actively practiced law in both Wisconsin and Illinois for the past 35 years.  He is admitted to before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, and the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

John has extensive municipal law experience, having served for over 10 years as a Village Attorney, and as a Town Attorney.  He acted as Special Corporation Counsel in zoning matters to Walworth County, Wisconsin, and also as Special Counsel to the Cities of East St. Louis and Freeport in Illinois.  His experience includes the formation of Inland Lake Renewal Districts, representation of sanitary districts, housing authorities and industrial development corporations.

He also worked extensively in the area of private land use and development including the utilization of creative financing techniques, such as tax increment financing (TIF) and business improvement (BID) districts, construction of large and small scale subdivision and condominium projects, annexation, environmental, and zoning compliance. John lectured frequently on these and other topics for the Wisconsin Bar Association, Wisconsin Association of Law Office Administrators, Walworth County Bar Association, Walworth County Estate Planning Council, the College of Community Association Lawyers and the Wisconsin Condominium Association.

John was responsible for the legal work associated with the origination of some of the largest planned communities in southern Wisconsin, including The Abbey Resort Communities, the Interlaken Resort communities, and the Geneva National community, which is a 2,000-acre condominium complex ultimately involving $500 million in new mixed-use construction centered around three signature golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino.