Karen J. Kepler

A member of the Firm’s Business and Finance Department and Affordable Housing Practice Group, Karen Kepler represents clients in all aspects of commercial real estate development and finance, with a particular emphasis on facilitating public-private partnerships through affordable housing and community economic development projects. In addition to her general commercial real estate practice, she represents for-profit and non-profit companies, financial institutions and quasi-public agencies in complex mixed-use developments, assisted living projects, HUD and Fannie Mae financed developments, federal and state low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and tax-exempt bond financed projects, New Markets Tax Credit developments and "Comprehensive Permit" projects under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40B. Karen also has extensive experience structuring complex, multi-tiered and multi-phased projects using creative land use tools such as condominiums, air-rights and ground leases.

Karen is a member of the Housing Advisory Board of the Town of Brookline, a past-president and trustee of the Lawyers’ Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness and a past-president of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts.

Karen has achieved an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating and is ranked one of the top women real estate lawyers in the Northeast by Martindale-Hubbell. She is also listed as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer. In 2016, she was selected as an honoree for the “Top Women of Law” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Speaking Engagements:

• “Financing Affordable Housing Projects,” Boston Bar Association, May 2016
• “Hot Topics in New Markets Tax Credit Financing,” Social Investing Series Seminar, Boston, 2010.
• The Attorney General’s Decision in Greenfield: Implications for Housing Authorities, Associated Entities and Public Bidding Requirements, October 2010.

• Affordable Housing & Community Development
• Banking
• Commercial Finance & Lending
• Community Banking
• Real Estate

• Murtha Cullina Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Vice Chair, Present
• American Bar Association, Forum on Affordable Housing, past Chair of Senior Housing Committee, 1997 - present
• Boston Bar Association, Co-Chair of Affordable Housing Subcommittee and Real Estate Section
• CREW/Boston, Member of Housing & Community Development Group
• Lawyers’ Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness, Board Member and Past-President,  1997 - 2012
• Women’s Bar Foundation of Massachusetts, Inc., Past President and Trustee, 2001-2005
• Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, Past President, 1989-1990, current member of the Emeritus Board

• AV^® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating and ranked one of the top women real estate lawyers in the Northeast by Martindale-Hubbell
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Real Estate Law since 2017 (Copyright 2015 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
• Massachusetts Super Lawyer (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.)
• Chosen as Honoree for "Top Women of Law" by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 2016

• Town of Brookline, Housing Advisory Board, Current Member
• The Chestnut Hill School, Trustee, 2004-2007
• LeadBoston Class of 2004-2005
• Harvard Law School, Legal Writing Instructor, 1999-2000
• Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education: Panelist on several real estate focused seminars

• Massachusetts

• Two New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) IRS Rulings and NMTC Legislative Update, June 2010.

• January 25, 2018 - Karen J. Kepler Named Partner-in-Charge of Boston Office of Murtha Cullina LLP
• August 15, 2017 - 35 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition; Three Named “Lawyer of the Year”
• July 21, 2016 - Murtha Cullina LLP Partner Karen J. Kepler Receives “Top Women of Law” Award From Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
• Murtha Cullina Welcomes Partner Karen J. Kepler

• May 2, 2016 - Karen J. Kepler to present at “Financing Affordable Housing Projects” for the Boston Bar Association
• Karen J. Kepler presented The Attorney General's Decision in Greenfield: Implications for Housing Authorities, Associated Entities and Public Bidding Requirements in October 2010.
• Karen J. Kepler presented “Hot Topics in New Markets Tax Credit Financing,” Social Investing Series Seminar in Boston, 2010.

• Massachusetts

• Boston University School of Law (J.D., 1983)
• University of Massachusetts (B.A., cum laude, 1979)