Tad Heuer

Practice Areas

Tad Heuer specializes in solving the most complex high-profile regulatory and permitting challenges in land use, energy, education, transportation, and public law. Tad is also a leading appellate advocate before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court, having successfully argued numerous high-stakes complex regulatory appeals.

Tad helps public and private companies, educational institutions, and nonprofits avoid regulatory disputes before they occur, resolve intractable disputes through creative negotiation, obtain landmark judicial decisions, and change the law through regulation or legislation. As the founder and co-chair of Foley Hoag’s Appellate practice group, he has won appeals in cases ranging from eminent domain to energy law, authored amicus briefs in both the SJC and the United States Supreme Court on issues from historic preservation to campaign finance, is a contributing author to the leading treatise Appellate Practice in Massachusetts, and was a law clerk to former Massachusetts SJC Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall.

Tad frequently litigates administrative law cases in the Land and Superior Courts, as well as in adjudicatory proceedings before municipal zoning and planning boards, the Department of Public Utilities, Energy Facilities Siting Board, Department of Environmental Protection, Appellate Tax Board, Office of Campaign & Political Finance, and others. He regularly negotiates with state law enforcement agencies, including the Attorney General, to resolve government investigations on matters from consumer protection to Medicare fraud.

In his regulatory compliance and permitting practice, Tad creates bespoke strategies to guide clients successfully through the often-arcane regulatory processes of federal agencies, state regulators, and local permitting boards. He has extensive experience securing critical environmental and land use permits for high-profile development projects and is sought after for his compliance advice on the intricate regulations that govern zoning, energy, healthcare, and education. Tad also has significant experience persuading federal and state agencies to adopt better regulations, having helped clients craft new rules on topics ranging from medical device coverage to election funding.

Tad is a member the Real Estate Bar Association (and the co-chair of its Amicus Committee), the Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Tad is actively involved in civic affairs, having heard over 500 cases as an appointed member of the Cambridge Zoning Board of Appeals, served on the Wellesley Community Preservation Commission, and as the chair of the Wellesley Historical Commission. He is currently in his fifth term as an elected town meeting member.