Public Law

Cities & Towns

Anderson & Kreiger’s Public Law team serves as Town Counsel and Special Town Counsel for municipalities across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As the go-to firm for sophisticated public local law, we handle virtually any legal matters facing towns may require assistance with. We help towns run smoothly, and make sure they are protected and defended in a full range of scenarios.

We also help municipalities achieve innovative, new initiatives. For example, our lawyers have helped draft special legislation making everything from remote town meetings, to sustainability initiatives such as banning single-use plastic water bottles a reality.

A&K attorneys serve as Town Counsel to several Massachusetts towns, currently including:

  • Acton
  • Bedford
  • Belmont
  • Concord
  • Dover
  • Ipswich
  • Lexington

As Town Counsel, we help municipalities handle all legal matters that arise in the course of daily business. We counsel town boards and leadership in highly visible matters, handle opposition presented by local citizens groups, and mediate matters. When litigation is necessary, we provide practical advice and defend their positions fully. We are highly effective public law attorneys helping clients with complex matters with multiple stakeholders, handling the full range of legal work for our towns.

As Special Town Counsel, we are selected for our specialized expertise, exemplary reputation, and sophisticated ability to devise solid legal solutions. Our lawyers manage discrete matters that require the targeted skills and first-hand knowledge we accumulated over four decades of working in public law. We defend towns in a full range of litigation and also conduct important business and transactional matters in real estate, environmental, solar and other alternative energy projects and affordable housing, among others. We are often asked to provide strategic advice on water permitting and management, hazardous waste and other contamination issues, as well as emerging PFAS litigation.

Cities and towns also rely on our careful guidance to proactively improve the services they offer. Recently, the firm performed a town-wide review of police procedures to the Town of Lexington with the distinct goal of eliminating racial bias in current practices. Similarly, we have often advised our municipal clients on innovative real estate transactions intended to create affordable housing to meet local and state housing production goals, including structuring extensions of expiring housing restrictions, negotiating acquisitions and dispositions of properties for development, and consulting on reuse of environmentally-sensitive sites.  We also helped several towns to develop solar power systems on municipal and school buildings and facilities, significantly reducing energy costs.