Take my lawyer, please.

Facing an environmental review by a state agency, developer Bruce Ratner recommended that the agency hire his law firm for the state’s assessment of his Atlantic Yards mega-project.

Ratner suggested the firm of Sive, Paget Riesel in a letter that also guaranteed the Empire State Development Corporation that he would pay all the legal and consulting costs incurred during their environmental review of his $3.5-billion arena, residential and commercial project.

David Paget, a partner in the firm, was working as Ratner’s lawyer when the developer’s company wrote the recommendation in February, 2004. He stopped working for the developer shortly before he began counseling the ESDC in September, according to the New York Observer, which obtained the document through a Freedom of Information request.

A coalition of block associations and landowners spearheaded by Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) sued the ESDC and Ratner last week, claiming Paget’s role tainted a decision made earlier this year to allow the developer to tear down six buildings in his project’s footprint before the project has been formally approved.

The ESDC refused to comment on the litigation.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead refused to grant a temporary restraining order stopping Ratner from beginning his demolitions — although the developer has said his wrecking balls will remain out of sight until at least the next hearing, scheduled for Feb. 14.

©2006 Community Newspaper Group