Select Experience
- Bartok v. Hometown America Mgt., LLC, Case 4:21-cv-10790-LTS (D. Mass.) (ECF Doc. 83, March 30, 2022) (successfully obtained dismissal without prejudice of an early motion for class certification following limited discovery, in action challenging the rent structures at two manufactured housing communities)
- In the Matter of Brockton Power Co., LLC, OADR Docket Nos. 2011-026, File No. W207973, Brockton, MA (Mass. Dep. Env. Prot.) (on behalf of petitioner residents, successfully persuaded Commissioner of Department of Environmental Protection to issue an unprecedented second interlocutory remand decision requiring re-opening of administrative record for purposes of conducting a Health Impact Assessment study of proposed power plant’s anticipated impacts on vulnerable Environmental Justice community)
- Craw v. Hometown America, LLC, Case 1:18-cv-12149-LTS (D. Mass.) (ECF Doc. 216, Sept. 23, 2021) (order on final approval, confirming class action settlement affording injunctive relief and money damages to resolve claims about stormwater management and maintenance of permanent elements of leased home sites at an Attleboro manufactured housing community)
- Nordic Fisheries, Inc. v. City of New Bedford, 2021 WL 4471404 (Mass. Super.) (prevailed on motion to dismiss complaint against municipality and municipal port authority, thereby enabling major public port expansion project to proceed based on terms of lease agreement, notwithstanding the resulting elimination of direct water access from plaintiffs’ municipally-leased land)
- Alenci v. Hometown America Management, LLC, 2020 WL 25159872 (D. Mass.) (prevailed on motion to dismiss amended complaint brought by plaintiff for himself and a proposed class composed of similarly situated residents of a manufactured housing community, presenting an array of statutory, regulatory, and common law challenges to a longstanding residential water supply arrangement)
- In the Matter of Kevin Dwan, 2020 WL 3058249 and 2020 WL 3058254 (Mass. Dep. Env. Prot.) (following an adjudicatory hearing with expert testimony, successfully obtained final decision allowing client’s proposed construction of a pier, seasonal gangway, and seasonal floating dock off the western coast of a peninsula, based on proof of best available measures to minimize impacts on eelgrass, and lack of feasible alternative locations)
- Thomas & Betts v. New Albertson’s, Inc., 915 F.3d 39 (1st Cir. 2019) (successful appellate representation of prevailing defendant and counterclaim plaintiff in a multi-party environmental cost recovery case arising from a challenging PCB remediation, resulting in the client’s preservation of a multi-million dollar judgment on a jury verdict, a total attorneys’ fee recovery of nearly $2 million, and an appellate decision interpreting a little-used statutory liability exemption as an issue of first impression)
- Boston Taxi Owners Association, Inc. v. Baker, 2017 WL 354010 (D. Mass.) (on behalf of independent state authority, successfully moved for dismissal of federal case brought on constitutional and other grounds by taxicab medallion owners, who challenged a new state regulatory scheme for transportation network companies [e.g., Uber and Lyft] that differs from the pre-existing municipal regulation of taxicabs)
- In the Matter of NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource Energy, EFSB 14-04/DPU 14-153/14-154 (2017) (following a multi-day adjudicatory hearing with experts before the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, achieved industrial client’s goal of accomplishing the relocation of a proposed electrical substation, further away from the client’s facility, via inclusion of an unusual special condition in the Board’s final decision, which triggered the project proponent’s agreement to relocate)
- Thomas & Betts v. New Albertson’s, Inc., Case 10-CV-11947-WGY (D. Mass.) (successfully led client team through all phases of multi-party trial court litigation, including a six-week jury trial in 2015 with numerous technical experts and extensive post-trial proceedings, resulting in client’s multi-million dollar recovery of environmental response costs, a substantial attorneys’ fee award, and a confirmed finding of the client’s lack of causal responsibility for the PCB contamination at issue, which provided important collateral protections as well as a litigation victory)
- City of New Bedford / Settlement of PCB Response Cost Recovery Litigation (served as special outside environmental counsel to a large municipality on multiple hazardous waste site cleanup claims against PCB waste generators and transporters; the matters were resolved by a series of settlements including novel arrangements for contingencies, resulting in what was reported to be the largest settlement recovery in the City’s history, with payments of nearly $9 million to the City through 2017)
- City of Brockton v. Energy Facilities Siting Bd., 469 Mass. 196 (2014) (presented state environmental justice policy issue of first impression to Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of affected community residents, with support from civil rights and environmental amici curiae)
- Brockton Power Co. LLC v. Energy Facilities Siting Bd., 469 Mass. 215 (2014) (successful defense, on behalf of affected community residents, of Siting Board decision to disallow use of potable municipal water supply as source of cooling water for electricity generating facility)
- New England Forestry Foundation, Inc. v. Board of Assessors of Hawley, 468 Mass. 138 (2014) (amicus brief for conservation organization discussed at length in court’s decision, in tax appeal confirming land conservation as charitable purpose and establishing legal standard for “occupancy” of conservation land sufficient to establish tax exemption)
- Regis College v. Town of Weston, 462 Mass. 280 (2012) (successful litigation in Land Court and the Supreme Judicial Court, resulting in a landmark decision on the legal standard for determining whether an educational institution’s proposed real estate development project constitutes a land use “for educational purposes” that is exempt from zoning restrictions under the Dover Amendment)
- Ware Real Estate, LLC v. Town of Ware, 2012 WL 751739 (Mass. App. Ct. 2012) (successful pursuit of declaratory and injunctive relief against municipality that sought to revoke a special permit for operation of construction and demolition waste recycling facility, through a multi-day Superior Court bench trial and on appeal)
- President and Fellows of Harvard College v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co., 28 Mass. L. Rptr. 113 (2011) (successful pursuit of summary judgment for policyholder on CGL insurer’s duty to defend environmental response action claim arising from ownership of property first acquired by insured after expiration of pertinent policy periods)
- Bank v. Thermo Elemental, Inc., 451 Mass. 638 (2008) (successful pursuit of contractual indemnity claim and claims for environmental response costs and attorneys’ fees, through a three-week Superior Court jury trial, a related one-week bench trial, post-trial proceedings, and an appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court)
- Friends and Fishers of Edgartown Great Pond, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection, 446 Mass. 830 (2006) (successful defense of MassDEP groundwater discharge permit, for an expanded municipal wastewater treatment plant in ecologically sensitive watershed, through all stages of litigation including a multi-day adjudicatory hearing, judicial review by the Superior Court, and an appeal heard by the Supreme Judicial Court, which took the case sua sponte)
- Weston Forest and Trail Ass’n v. Fishman, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 654 (2006) (successful enforcement of conservation restriction, establishing that laches and estoppel are not available as defenses to actions by private entities to protect the public interest in conservation restrictions, through summary judgment in Land Court and on appeal)
- Emmons v. White, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 54 (2003) (successful enforcement of unrecorded release of easement, based on buyer’s actual knowledge of release agreement, through a Land Court bench trial and on appeal)
- Merit Oil of Massachusetts, Inc. v. Baer, 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 249 (2000) (successful defense of bank against claim for breach of contract for environmental response cost reimbursement, and recovery of defense attorneys’ fee award under G.L. c. 21E, § 4A(f), through a Superior Court bench trial and on appeal)
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Public Service
- Co-Chair, Racial Equity and Justice Committee of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission (2022 – present)
- Member, Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, by appointment of the Supreme Judicial Court (2020 – present)
- Member, Flaschner Judicial Institute Strategic Planning Committee (2020)
- Co-Chair, Boston Bar Association Judicial Independence Working Group, which produced a report entitled “Judicial Independence: Promoting Justice and Maintaining Democracy” (2019)
- Co-Chair, Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Bar Counsel Search Committee, by appointment of the Supreme Judicial Court (2018-2019)
- Member and Chair, Massachusetts Court Management Advisory Board (CMAB), by appointment of the Supreme Judicial Court (Member 2013-2019; Chair 2016-2019)
- Co-Chair, John and Abigail Adams Benefit for the Boston Bar Foundation (2017-2018)
- Member, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Committee to Study the Code of Judicial Conduct (2012-2015)
- Chair, Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Governor Deval L. Patrick (2007-2010)
- Member, Massachusetts DEP Wetlands Appeals Streamlining Task Force (2007)
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Community Presence
- Boston Bar Association (President, 2011-2012; President-Elect, 2010-2011; Vice-President, 2009-2010; Treasurer, 2008-2009; Executive Committee and Council Member, 2005-2012; Co-Chair, Environmental Law Section, 2002-2004)
- Boston Bar Foundation (President, 2014-2016; President-Elect, 2013-2014; Trustee, 2010-; Grants Committee, 2012-2014; Society of Fellows Committee, 2012-2014)
- CREW Boston (formerly New England Women in Real Estate) (President, 2007-2008; President-Elect, 2006-2007; Steering Committee Member, 2004-2008; Co-Chair, Programs and Seminars Committee, 2003-2006)
- American Bar Association (Member, Standing Committee on Environmental Law, 2005-2008; Co-Chair, 2007 National Law and Policy Conference on Global Warming)
- Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE) (Member, Civil Litigation Curriculum Advisory Committee, 1998-2010)
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Professional Recognition
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
- Fellow, American College of Environmental Lawyers
- Top Women of Law Honoree, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 2016
- Environmental Justice Award Recipient, Alternatives for Community & Environment, Inc. (ACE) 2014
- Leadership Award Recipient, New England Women in Real Estate, now CREW Boston, 2014
- Lelia J. Robinson Award Recipient, Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, 2010
- Named to “The Power List – Lawyers Weekly’s roster of the state’s most influential attorneys,” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, December 2009
- Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Environmental & Energy Lawyers (2021 – inaugural guide)
- Chambers USA: Environmental Law, 2003-present; Litigation: General Commercial, 2014-present
- The Best Lawyers in America (Environmental Law, Litigation-Environmental) 2006-present
- Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” (Environmental Law) 2014, 2017, 2019
- Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” (Litigation-Environmental) 2012
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers (Environmental Litigation), 2004-present; Top 10 Lawyers in Massachusetts, 2019-2021; Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts, 2007-2021; Top 100 Lawyers in New England, 2007-2020; Top 50 Female Lawyers in Massachusetts, 2004-2021; Top 50 Female Lawyers in New England, 2007-2020
- Who’s Who Legal: Environment, 2014-present
- The International Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers, 2011-2013
- Rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell
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