Paul Kominers

Paul represents clients involved in administrative, land use, and development disputes, and assists public clients with all aspects of their work. He approaches matters with a blend of creativity, acuity, and pragmatism to spot key issues early on and simplify complex problems while keeping an eye on the big picture.

Representative work includes:

• Administrative litigation: Paul has won a wide variety of administrative disputes for his clients, including an attempt to invalidate the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s grant of a casino license, an agency’s appeal from an adverse decision by one of its hearing officers, and a Department of Transportation “rocket docket” complaint.  He also sits as an administrative hearing officer for a state agency.
• Other public litigation: Paul has successfully defended airports in constitutional and regulatory litigation, and municipalities from Open Meeting Law, procurement, and firearm licensing lawsuits.  He also volunteers as a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Law Association’s Amicus Committee.
• Land use and development litigation: Paul has represented municipal and private clients including developers of affordable housing in permitting appeals and other disputes involving land use and development.  He has tried cases in both Land Court and Superior Court.
• State and local government counseling: Paul helps municipalities navigate a wide range of issues, and works extensively with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on regulatory matters.  Most recently, he helped the Commission develop and implement a new licensing and regulatory scheme after the Legislature authorized sports wagering in 2022.

Paul maintains an active pro bono practice focused on the sealing and expungement of criminal records.  He has won relief for individual clients in trial courts and the Appeals Court; authored amicus briefs in important record-sealing cases; and provided litigation support for a legal aid organization.  At its 2024 Access to Justice Celebration, the Massachusetts Bar Association recognized him as a “Rising Star” for his pro bono work.  He has also authorized amicus briefs and assisted with litigation in cases implicating public health, environmental justice, and similar issues.

Paul previously clerked for the Honorable James R. Milkey of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and to the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  A former member of the MIT Corporation, he currently serves on the Board of the MIT Alumni Association and has held many other volunteer leadership roles at MIT.

• Litigation
• Public Law
• Airports

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D. 2018, cum laude

President and Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal on Legislation

MIT, S.B., 2012

Admissions

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Massachusetts

U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Clerkship

Honorable James R. Milkey, Massachusetts Appeals Court

Honorable Michael M. Baylson, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Massachusetts Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2024

Massachusetts Bar Association Access to Justice Rising Star Award, 2024

Best Lawyers – Municipal Law, 2024-2025

SJC Pro Bono High Honor Roll, 2023

SJC Pro Bono High Honor Roll, 2022

SJC Pro Bono Honor Roll, 2021

MIT Alumni Association Margaret L.A. MacVicar ’65, ScD ’67 Award, 2018

Rappaport Fellows Program in Law and Public Policy, 2016, Fellow

Karl Taylor Compton Prize, 2012

• Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association, Amicus Committee, Member, 2022-present
• Appeals Court Law Clerk Society, Board Member, 2021-2025
• MIT
  • MIT Alumni Association, Board Member-at-Large, 2024-2025
  • MIT Alumni Association, Program Committee, Member, 2023-2024
  • MIT Alumni Association, Annual Giving Board, Member, 2021-2024
  • East Campus Renovation Advisory Committee, Member, 2021-2024
  • MIT Club of Boston, Clerk and Assistant Vice President for Finance, 2021-present
  • Friends of the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center, Founding Member, 2020-present; Lead, Membership Committee, 2022-present
  • MIT Alumni Association, Corporation Nominating Committee, Member, 2017-2020
  • MIT Corporation, Member, 2013-2018

• Prevailed on summary judgment in major preemption case in federal court in California on behalf of large public-sector client.
• Successfully defended the Massachusetts Gaming Commission against claim that Open Meeting Law violations invalidated the Commission’s award of a casino license to Wynn Resorts.
• Assisted the Massachusetts Gaming Commission with drafting regulations following the legalization of sports wagering in the Commonwealth.
• Fended off emergency ten-taxpayer lawsuit meant to block town’s land procurement.
• As trial counsel, tried and won land use enforcement case on behalf of homeowner against City of Boston and neighbors in Suffolk Superior Court.
• Successfully defended town against Open Meeting Law lawsuit.
• Sat as administrative hearing officer for Massachusetts State Lottery Commission in sales agent licensing appeal.
• Won firearm licensing appeal in District Court after evidentiary hearing.
• Won motions to dismiss in three different firearm licensing appeals in Concord District Court.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction, upheld on appeal, against car-sharing company Turo, Inc.’s operations at Logan Airport.
• Defended the Commonwealth Ports Authority from a complaint asking the Department of Transportation to initiate expedited (“rocket docket”) administrative proceedings.
• Defended town and agency clients against overbroad third-party discovery in various matters.
• In pro bono matter, won an appeal vacating a motion judge’s decision denying expungement of criminal records.
• In pro bono matter, filed amicus brief explaining the importance of automatic record sealing to prevent data brokers from collecting and disseminating criminal records ending in a finding of not guilty, in support of the successful petitioner in Commonwealth v. J.F., SJC-13334.
• In pro bono matter, filed amicus brief explaining the racially disparate impacts of youthful offender records in support of the successful petitioner in Impounded Case, SJC-13465.
• In pro bono matters, won CORI sealing and expungement orders for clients in Boston Municipal Court and District Court.
• On behalf of Cambridge Bicycle Safety, filed amicus brief cited favorably by court during dispute over Cambridge’s installation of bike lanes.
• In pro bono matter, filed amicus brief in Reid v. Doe Run Resources Corp.,110 F.4th 1049 (2024) on behalf of law professor experts on international comity in support of allowing Peruvian citizens’ claims concerning environmental contamination to be heard in a U.S. court; Peruvian citizens were successful on appeal.
• Represented airport in administrative and judicial appeals of FAA Part 77 Determinations of Hazard for on-airport construction that led to settlement and issuance of Determinations of No Hazard.

News

• Eighteen Anderson & Kreiger Attorneys Named to Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
• Paul M. Kominers receives Access to Justice Award: Rising Star from the Mass Bar Association
• Paul M. Kominers recognized in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Pro Bono Spotlight
• A&K Attorneys Co-author BBA Article
• A&K Attorneys Co-Author Municipal Law Chapter in MCLE's MA Handbook of Legal Research

Publications

• Knotweed Case Breaks New Ground, THE PUNCH LIST, November 1, 2023
• Legislative Privilege Recognized in Massachusetts, PUBLIC LAW, August 5, 2022
• A Little Notice Goes a Long Way, PUBLIC LAW, July 27, 2022
• Trouble Brewing in Marblehead, PUBLIC LAW, April 19, 2022
• Continued Pandemic-Era Flexibility for Town Meetings, PUBLIC LAW, February 15, 2022
• Alexander Hamilton, Public Records Law Share Top Billing at the First Circuit, PUBLIC LAW, November 12, 2021
• New State Law Allows Local Regulation of Short-Term Rentals, PUBLIC LAW, January 17, 2019
• Supreme Court on Regulatory Takings: Look to Reasonable Expectations, PUBLIC LAW, July 1, 2017
• Paul Kominers & Mina Makarious, Democracy, Some Assembly Required: Barron v. Kolenda, 67 Boston Bar Journal (2023)
• Paul M. Kominers & Nina Pickering-Cook, Municipal Law, in Handbook of Massachusetts Legal Research (Amy Bruce, ed., 4th ed. Supp. 2023)
• Paul Kominers & Mina S. Makarious, The Relationship Between the Federal Government and Local Government, in Massachusetts Municipal Law (2d ed. Supp. 2022)
• Paul Kominers, Mina S. Makarious & Tasha Marshall, The Relationship Between the Federal Government and Local Government, in Massachusetts Municipal Law(James B. Lampke & Robert W. Ritchie, eds., 2d ed. Supp. 2020)
• Mina Makarious & Paul Kominers, Spaulding v. Town of Natick School Committee: Allowing Free Speech while Accomplishing Municipal Work, 63 Boston Bar Journal (2019)
• Ben Green, Gabe Cunningham, Ariel Ekblaw, Paul Kominers, et al., Open Data Privacy(Berkman Klein Center Research Publication No. 2017-07)

Speaking Engagements

• Moderator, MIT Alumni Leadership Conference 2020, "Pathways to Leadership", September 22, 2020.
• Panelist, MIT Alumni Leadership Conference 2018, "MIT10: Building Young Alumni Coalitions", September 22, 2018.