Directory of fellows
Michael Last
Boston,
Massachusetts
Region 1 CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, and VT
Environmental Law Topic
I have practiced environmental law since the early 1970’s and my experience includes representing clients with respect to air, water, and hazardous waste pollution problems involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various state and local regulatory agencies, including obtaining permits, resolving alleged violations and penalty assessments, providing compliance counseling, assisting in acquisition transactions through due diligence coordination and negotiation of contract terms, negotiating resolution of Superfund claims (including Natural Resource Damage claims), serving as common counsel for PRPS who are performing Superfund response actions, and participating in the siting and permitting of new or modified industrial facilities and waste treatment or disposal operations; representing developers in connection with environmental impact review and obtaining environmental approvals; coordinating Brownfields redevelopment projects; utilizing environmental insurance products to facilitate transactions and redevelopment opportunities; and acting as an advisor to state agencies with respect to the implementation of environmental law and regulation. I have also mediated and facilitated the resolution of two party and multi-party disputes involving complex environmental issues. My mediation/facilitation work has included overseeing allocation of liability processes involving over two hundred parties within the context of both Federal and state waste site clean-ups.
Degrees
- Lawrence University/BA
- Harvard University/JD
Admissions
- Massachusetts
Court Admissions
MassachusettsProfessional Societies and Organizations
- Boston Bar Association
- American Bar Association
Representative Publications (not including ACOEL Blogs)
- "Tort Law Implications of Hazardous Waste Facilities" published in the "National Resources Lawyer" Vol. XVII, November 3, 1984.
- "Summary Outline - Evaluation and Selecting Environmental Compliance and Cleanup Contractors" published in "Proceedings" of the Fifth Annual Hazardous Materials Conference, 1987.
- "Right-To-Know: An Employers Perspective" (co-authored with Thomas Kanwit of Gaston & Snow) published in the handbook for the American Hospital Association's video teleconference on "Confronting the Risk: Hazardous Materials and Hospital Liability", 1987:
- "Environmental Enforcement Tools Affecting Real Estate Transfers" published in "Burdens of Environmental Regulation on Private Property Ownership and Business Transactions: Reasonable or Unreasonable?" by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Environmental Law, 1987.
- "Superfund Liability Traps Affecting Developers and Lenders" published in the ALI/ABA Course of Study materials for "Minimizing Liability for Hazardous Waste Management," 1988 and also in "Environmental Audits and Risk Assessments" published by the American Bar Association's Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, 1988.
- "Toxic Torts Put CEO's at Risk" published in Chief Executive Magazine, No. 52 July/August, 1989