GREGOR I. McGREGOR, Esq. is the founder and principal of New England’s oldest environmental law firm, McGregor Legere & Stevens PC., formed in 1975.
The firm handles all aspects of environmental law, land use, real estate, energy, and related litigation. Mr. McGregor enjoys Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys (AV).
In over 50 years of legal practice, Mr. McGregor's court cases created precedents on Environmental Impact Statements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), wetland and floodplain law under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, hazardous waste cleanup liability and cost-recovery under the Massachusetts Superfund, reduced taxes for land conservation transactions, Article 97 open space and parkland protection, Home Rule environmental ordinances and bylaws of cities and towns, court enforcement remedies, and the constitutional doctrine of Regulatory Takings.
Before 1975, Mr. McGregor was an Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and the first chief of the Attorney General’s Division of Environmental Protection. In that capacity he advised and represented the Commonwealth during the formative years of Massachusetts environmental statutes, agencies, regulations, enforcement and cases in court.
Mr. McGregor is editor of the two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Environmental Law, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (MCLE). He is co-chair of MCLE’s annual Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Law Conference and MCLE’s Real Estate and Environmental Law Curriculum Advisory Committee. He received from MCLE in 2013 its Scholar-Mentor Award recognizing his dedication to legal scholarship and leadership.
Mr. McGregor co-chairs the Environmental and Renewable Energy Law Section of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (REBA) and serves as a member of the REBA Board of Directors. He is an active member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA), which honored him for his career contributions and advocacy on the Home Rule Doctrine. At a National CLE Conference in Vail, CO, Mr. McGregor for many years co-chaired an annual seminar on Environmental Law, Land Use, Energy & Litigation for attorneys from across the United States.
The firm is a founding member of the Environmental Law Network (ELN), an alliance of specialty law firms, in the United States and abroad, sharing legal expertise and practical experience for the benefit of their clients.
Mr. McGregor is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.
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Local wetlands bylaw (or ordinance) jurisdiction over projects in and near resource areas depends on Conservation Commission compliance with the 21-day deadlines for commencing public hearings and issuing decisions on Notices of Intent (NOI). Indeed, you may safely regard those timing provisions in the state Wetlands Protection Act (the Act) as binding on the Commission, with failure to meet them potentially fatal to any decision the Commission may render.
Takings jurisprudence requires that courts know the extent of a regulation’s interference with property rights prior to making any adjudication on its validity. Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
The Firm’s newest PowerPoint updating wetlands and water law for those who are involved with applications, plans, permits and enforcement by Conservation Commissions is available to readers of this site. Gregor McGregor presented it to the Massachusetts Society of Municipal Conservation Professionals in a luncheon webcast January 27, 2021.
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