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Jeff Roelofs has been practicing law since 1993, with a specialty in environmental and land use law. He counsels and advocates for clients in a wide range of matters including permitting, regulatory compliance, enforcement defense, real estate and business transactions, and litigation. Jeff appears regularly before state and federal environmental agencies and regulators and has appeared before nearly 100 local boards and commissions. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon.
Jeff currently represents a broad range of clients, from individual homeowners confronted with wetlands or zoning issues, abutters and citizen groups in administrative and judicial appeals of local and state permit decisions, municipalities and a state agency in need of specialized environmental or land use counsel, and one of Massachusetts’ largest residential and commercial developers in subdivision and zoning approval processes, environmental permitting, litigation, and other land use and environmental matters involving a variety of project types. Other representative matters include challenging or defending defense and prosecution of private cost recovery and contribution actions, regulatory counseling in the context of contaminated properties, administrative and judicial wetlands, subdivision and zoning appeals, environmental due diligence in connection with real estate and corporate transactions, and compliance, permitting and enforcement-related counseling and advocacy under federal, state and local environmental and land use laws.
Jeff is a member of the Boston Bar Association’s Environmental Section Steering Committee, the Licensed Site Professional Association, and the North East Builder’s Association of Massachusetts. Jeff formerly served as the co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Wetlands, Waterways and Water Quality Committee (2007-2010) and the co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Solo and Small Firm Section (2011-2013). He is also a former member of the Newburyport Planning Board.
Prior to opening his own practice in 2007, Law Offices of Jeffrey L. Roelofs, P.C., Jeff worked seven years with Anderson & Kreiger LLP (2000-2007), where he joined the firm as a partner in 2005, and six years with Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP’s environmental department (1994-2000). Jeff is a graduate of Colgate University, where he received his undergraduate degree in Economics cum laude, and Cornell Law School, where he received his law degree cum laude and was Articles Editor for the Cornell International Law Journal.
RECOGNITIONS
Best Lawyers in America: Environmental Law (2014-present)
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
MCLE Environmental and Land Use Case Law Update, Chair (2012).
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, Presentation, MCLE Basics Plus! Environmental Law Seminar (annually 2009-2013).
Speaker, “Serving Your Community on a Local Board or Commission: Opportunities, Rewards, and Challenges,” Boston Bar Association, January 14, 2011.
Don’t Be Fooled: Chapter 21J, §3 Does Not Protect LSP’s, LSPA News, Vol. 12, No. 5 (July/August 2005).
Wetlands Regulation in Massachusetts, Presentation to Boston College Environmental Law Seminar (2005 and 2007).
Chapter 14, “Environmental Matters,” Lease Drafting in Massachusetts (MCLE Manual, 3rd edition 2010 with 2013 Supplement) (chapter updates).
“Bestfoods” - A Return to Common Sense, 13 Toxics Law Reporter 127 (BNA, June 24, 1998) (co-authored with Robert S. Sanoff).
CERCLA Reauthorization, 108 Oregon Insider 1 (July 15, 1994).
United States-Canada Air Quality Agreement: A Framework for Addressing Transboundary Air Pollution Problems, 26 Cornell I.L.J. 421 (Spring 1993).