Kathleen Brill

Practice Areas

Kathleen Brill concentrates her practice on complex environmental and land use matters and leverages her environmental consulting and real estate development experience to assist clients in property acquisition and development, with a focus on siting and permitting complex projects, structuring transactions to manage environmental risk, compliance counseling, and dispute resolution.

Recognized by Chambers USA as a leading practitioner of environmental law, Kathleen is passionate about helping clients shape the built environment and respond to environmental challenges. Whether siting a fusion demonstration facility at a former military installation, creating a cultural destination on the downtown waterfront, securing funding for public infrastructure to support a commercial development, or renovating a recreational facility adjacent to environmentally sensitive wetlands, Kathleen helps clients plan, site, and permit complex projects, and obtain environmental, land use, and other regulatory approvals at the local, state, and federal levels.

When clients are considering acquiring properties, Kathleen helps them understand and evaluate environmental conditions and structure transactions in a protective manner. From energy assets to industrial facilities to environmentally contaminated properties, Kathleen performs environmental and land use due diligence, negotiates indemnities and warranties, and advises on risk management including environmental insurance coverage.

When environmental challenges arise, Kathleen provides her clients with strategic advice that achieves compliance goals while allowing their businesses to thrive. Whether responding to government information requests and enforcement actions, pursuing adjudicatory proceedings and administrative disputes, or defending against claims of environmental violations, Kathleen zealously advocates for her clients before government agencies, appeals boards and administrative bodies, and courts.

Particular areas of expertise include zoning, wetlands and tidelands structures licensing, climate adaptation and resiliency, building emissions, open space protections, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and state equivalent compliance, Clean Air Act permitting and compliance, and public incentives including tax credit and infrastructure bond financing applications.

Kathleen maintains an active pro bono practice, in which she has advised clients on issues related to climate resiliency, land use controls, open space preservation, and wetlands. She has also been recognized for her work on multiple cases seeking to protect the civil rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. Before joining Foley Hoag, Kathleen had considerable experience in the fields of urban planning, transportation planning, and environmental consulting. During law school, Kathleen served as an intern for the Honorable Gordon H. Piper of the Massachusetts Land Court.

Education: Boston College Law School, JD, magna cum laude; Harvard College, AB, cum laude