Lisa L. Mead

Lisa L. Mead, a partner in the Firm, is also former City Solicitor for the City of Somerville. She is a former three-term Mayor of the City of Newburyport and a former two-term City Councilor for the City of Newburyport. Lisa also served as State Director for Senator John Kerry’s Massachusetts operations. Previously, she worked in a private practice specializing in real estate, banking, securities and corporate law, and as Assistant General Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare. As a partner at Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC, she provides general municipal counsel services to towns and cities as well as special counsel services.

Having served as both the chief elected officer for a municipality and City Solicitor for a major urban city, Lisa is broadly qualified to assist municipalities as they address a variety of local legal issues, including: procurement, finances, licensing, zoning, affordable housing development, permitting, public construction, litigation, state and federal relations, renewable energy contracts and public construction. Drafting and negotiating power purchase agreements as well as tax agreements on behalf of municipalities have become areas of focus for Lisa.

Lisa’s work also extends into local permitting for non-land use matters, such as licensing. She permitted the first commercial grade wind turbine on the north shore and the first 5 MGW solar facility in Massachusetts.

Lisa serves a large number of land use clients, working with private homeowners as well as large residential and commercial developers. Her work extends to providing counsel to major health care facilities concerning their real estate assets as well as permitting and related commercial leases.

Lisa has presented at the Boston Bar Association, Department of Housing and Community Development and Massachusetts Municipal Management Association on various municipal topics such as renewable energy matters, medical marijuana permitting, managing relationships between town management and Boards of Selectmen, smart growth tools and other topics.

Education:

• B.A., University of Massachusetts (Amherst, Massachusetts)
• J.D., New England School of Law (Boston, Massachusetts)

Selected Publications and Presentations:

• Suffolk University Municipal Managers Certification Program Faculty, Local Government Leadership and Management, Legal Challenges for Local Government (2016)
• Boston Bar Association, Local Permitting and the Wind Siting Reform Act, December 2011
• Member of the New Hampshire Bar
• Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, Annual Boot-Camp; Strategies for Building Relationships among the Board of Selectmen, Town Manager and Town Counsel, October 2009 and 2010.
• Developing a Green Legal Thumb Emerging Practice Issues; Green Real Estate, How to Handle Zoning and Permitting, October 2009.
• Keeping Current with chapter 40B, Citizens Housing & Planning Institute and Department of Housing and Community Development, October, 2008
• A New Look at the Old 40B, A Municipal Perspective, Suffolk University’s Moakley Institute, September 2008.
• Local Investment Accounts Ensure Funding, “American City and County Magazine” (March 2002). Co-authored with Stephen Lisauskas.