Kathleen E. Connolly

Ms. Connolly has a wide range of experience in land use permitting law and litigation, and an extensive background in land use and environmental law with an emphasis on zoning planning and conservation. She counsels developers and other applicants before local, state and federal permitting agencies. She also counsels municipalities on drafting and implementing effective wetlands, zoning by-laws and health regulations, handles zoning and wetlands permitting appeals in the Superior Court, Appeals Court and Land Court as well as wetlands appeals before the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Division of Administrative Law Appeals.

As a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commission (MACC), Ms. Connolly conducts seminars on environmental law, provides legal advice to the state’s conservation commissions through a telephone hotline and regularly publishes articles in the quarterly newsletter. She also served on the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Technical Steering Committee developing recommendations to the DCR for management of its forest and benefits for the citizens of Massachusetts and the environment.

Prior to joining Murtha Cullina, Ms. Connolly was a principal at a Boston law firm for 16 years. She also served as a writer and educator at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Public Affairs Division of the New England Region.

Publications & Presentations

• EPA Enforcement of Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluations (SITE)
• Author, Public Perception of Environmental Risks in New England, U.S. GPO, 1988
• Co-Author & Co-Editor, MACC Environmental Handbook for Conservation Commissioners, 2006-2007

Speaking Engagements

• Annual Speaker, MACC Annual Environmental Conference, College of the Holy Cross
• Presenter at Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition Annual Conference
• Lecturer on Enforcement and Conservation Law at Seasonal Conferences by MACC

• Administrative & State Tax Appeals
• Environmental Law
• Land Use
• Municipal Law
• Real Estate
• Retail and Hospitality

• Boston Bar Association
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• Board of Directors, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissioners (MACC)
• Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition
• National Association of Industrial and Office Properties

• American Bar Association Section of Urban, State & Local Government Law Prize Award for "Excellence in the Study of Law and Land Use and Local Government," 1991
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superior Performance Awards

• Murtha Cullina Attorney Kathleen Connolly Elected MACC President
• Murtha Cullina Attorney Kathleen Connolly Obtains Victory Before Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• Kathleen E. Connolly, Re-Elected Vice President of Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions
• Kathleen Connolly to Present Environmental Seminars
• Kathleen E. Connolly of Murtha Cullina LLP Selected to the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Technical Steering Committee

• MACC Annual Environmental Conference: Creative Approaches to Financing Your Commission and Update on Open Meeting and Conflict of Interest Laws
• Record Keeping for Land Trusts
• Advanced Environmental Law

• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that Landowner’s Lawsuit is Not Barred by SLAPP Statute
• SJC Invalidates Forced Waiver of Wetlands Protection Act Deadlines
• The Attorney General Finalizes Emergency Regulations and Issues Guidance Interpreting the New Open Meeting Law

• "Murtha Cullina Attorney - Connolly obtains victory before state Supreme Judicial Court"
• "SLAPP law no bar to settlement suit"
• A.L. Prime Wins Appeal at old RMV Location
• Neighbors appeal failed at 1021 Main Street.
• The New Open Meeting Law
• Financial Incentive for Conservation Easements
• Quorum, Quantum of Vote, and Other Procedural Quandries for Conservation Commissions
• Conservation Commissions' Authority to Collect Fees and Spend Funds
• Security - If Your Commission Uses it - Use it Right
• Local Wetlands Bylaws are Not Intended to Supersede the Wetlands Protection Act, but to Provide Additional Local Protections
• Wilson Turbo Power Gets OK to Relocate

• MACC Annual Environmental Conference
• MACC Fall Conference: Hot Topics! News You Can Use
• MACC Fall Conference: Hot Topics! News You Can Use