Susan A. Bernstein, Attorney At Law

1000 Winter Street, Suite 1100 Waltham, MA 02451-1476
Tel: 617-367-5858, 781-290-5858 Fax: 781-290-5789
E-Mail: Sabernlaw@aol.com Web: www.Sabernlaw.com

Susan A. Bernstein, Attorney at Law, operates a sole practice in which she concentrates in environmental, real estate, and land use law; permitting and regulatory compliance.

Attorney Bernstein represents individuals and developers, businesses, corporations, property owners, condominium associations, telecommunication companies and financial institutions. She also represents buyers and sellers in commercial and residential real estate transactions, condominium formations; and related corporate matters. She has extensive experience with projects in the City of Boston and other communities throughout Eastern Massachusetts and has appeared before numerous boards and commissions to obtain permits and licenses at the local level and most particularly the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP").

Among the areas in which Attorney Bernstein practices are: hazardous waste; administrative enforcement actions; wetlands, chapter 91 waterways, water discharge and air permits, asbestos, zoning relief, MEPA, Brownfields, c. 40B affordable housing projects, and negotiations with local, state, and federal agencies. In addition, she has represented defendants in federal Superfund cases and other matters before the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). She is currently environmental counsel to several law firms; and has worked as a team member to respond to Requests/Responses to Proposals.

In the area of green energy, Attorney Bernstein is working with development clients to respond to new energy saving initiatives and LEED certified requirements. She is currently an Editorial Consultant on Green Energy to the New England Real Estate Journal.

In her career, Attorney Bernstein has worked on several major projects including: Rowes Wharf, Boston University's Center for Advanced Biotechnology Research, The Pilot House-Phase I, Russia Wharf, the Harborlights Pavilion, Legal Sea Foods, The Pine Street Inn, CVS Pharmacies, the United States Postal Service, Marriott Courtyard at South Bay, Harvard Commons, Clair Automobile Group, and Verizon Wireless.

In the hazardous waste field, Attorney Bernstein has reviewed numerous Phase I and II Reports for clients who own or are contemplating purchase or sale of properties, including gasoline stations, urban and industrial properties throughout Eastern and Central Massachusetts. She has worked extensively with environmental engineers and monitored environmental compliance reports including IRAs, LRAs, RAOs, and AULs; and provided legal counsel to property owners through various stages of the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (“MCP”) for several industrial, commercial, and residential sites in Massachusetts. Attorney Bernstein has also counseled clients about contaminated sites in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Ohio, Missouri, and Virginia.

Attorney Bernstein is currently a member of the Boston Bar Association's Environmental Steering Committee and a past co-chair of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Committee, (during which she developed and co-chaired its seminar on "Environmental and Land Use: Emerging Issues", and “Recent Developments in Land Use Permitting”). She is also qualified by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise ("WBE"). Attorney Bernstein is active in several civic, charitable and business organizations and served from 1990 to 2000 as Chair and Member of the Town of Stoughton Planning Board. She is currently a resident of Waltham, MA. She established her sole practice in 1997, prior to which she was with the Boston law firm of Rubin and Rudman, LLP.

Attorney Bernstein holds a B.S. degree from The American University, an M.S. degree from Hunter College of C.U.N.Y., and a J.D. from the New England School of Law. She is a member in good standing of the Massachusetts Bar, and admitted to practice in the courts of Massachusetts and the Federal District Court of Massachusetts. She holds a Certificate of Completion form Mediation Works Incorporated’s Negotiations Skills Workshop. She has written articles on environmental permitting and regulations, which have appeared in Banker & Tradesman, Commercial Lending Review, the Massachusetts Bar Association's Property Law Section Newsletter, the MCLE’s Massachusetts Environmental Law Handbook, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, New England's Environment, and Women's Business. She has been quoted in The Boston Globe on waterfront and development issues.

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