Rudman Winchell is pleased to offer a full range of economic development services to the public, for-profit, and non-profit entities. The Rudman Winchell team believes that “economic development” is about more than just recruiting new businesses. While successfully recruiting a new business brings a blitz of media attention, we take a more comprehensive approach to economic development and planning. Rudman Winchell works to create and utilize programs, plans, and alliances that build prosperity and improve the quality of life here in Maine.

Edmond J. Bearor – Attorney 

His practice includes municipal and administrative law; and real estate transactions, development, and litigation. Since 2007, Ed has been recognized as a Best Lawyer, including being honored as the Best Lawyer of the Year for Zoning and Land Use Law in 2012 and 2016. He has also achieved a Distinguished rating by Martindale and is recognized by SuperLawyers.

Ed served as town administrator for Newport, Maine, and is a past chair of the Municipal Law Section of the Maine State Bar Association. He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maine in the public management program, teaching local government law to upper-class undergraduates and graduate students.

Christopher J. Austin – Attorney

Chris was born in Bangor, Maine, and raised in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. He is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Maine School of Law. While attending law school, he worked in the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office prosecuting criminal cases and served in a clinic providing estate planning advice and assistance to individuals with low income.

Chris has built his practice at Rudman Winchell by representing clients in a variety of real estate and commercial transactions. He advises clients on issues involving condominiums, condominium associations, public utilities, leases, subdivisions, conservation easements, natural resources and timberlands, real estate redevelopment, road and access law, easements, title insurance, land use licenses, title matters, boundary disputes, timber trespass and access disputes, partition actions, mortgage foreclosures, and collections. He also has experience in business law, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate litigation, and contract negotiation.

Hans S. Peterson – Attorney

Hans has been recognized for several years as an up-and-coming real estate lawyer in Chambers USA. He provides a broad range of real estate, corporate, business, bankruptcy, and commercial advice to clients in all of Maine’s business and non-profit sectors including aerospace, construction, energy, healthcare, forest resources, commercial real estate development, technology, manufacturing, insurance, retail, and finance. He is regularly involved in negotiating the purchase and sale of commercial real estate, commercial finance, the purchase and sale of businesses, commercial contracts, leasing transactions, and representing creditors and debtors in bankruptcy proceedings. He is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Hans devotes a significant portion of his practice to complex commercial financing transactions, including SBA 504 loan closings, the formation, and structuring of real estate holding and leasing enterprises, advising and structuring tax-deferred like-kind exchanges for real estate and personal property, and the creation and structure of business enterprises and partnerships.