Gary L. Gill-Austern is Of Counsel practicing in the Real Estate and Finance Department. He is a member of the Environmental and Land Use groups. Gary handles matters involving all aspects of local, state and federal environmental law and regulation, concentrating in the areas of compliance counseling, permitting, brownfields redevelopment and environmental insurance. He represents clients in agency proceedings, advises clients on environmental aspects of real estate and other business transactions, and oversees the implementation of assessment and cleanup plans at hazardous waste sites, including Superfund sites. He negotiated one of the first covenants not to sue under the Massachusetts Brownfields Act.
Gary also specializes in the area of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He serves as a resource to clients and colleagues in all areas of ADR, particularly mediation and arbitration, providing advice on contract drafting, process options, individual neutral qualifications and strategies for the use of ADR. He is an active mediator, primarily on a pro bono basis, and serves on the mediation panels of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the Boston Municipal Court, and the Community Dispute Settlement Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and the Massachusetts Association of Mediation Programs and Practitioners. He is a member of ACR's national task force on the topic of the unauthorized practice of law.
In February 2001, Gary's article on mediation, "Faithful," appeared in the Journal of Dispute Resolution. In 1998, the Center for Dispute Resolution at Willamette University's College of Law awarded him second place in its Dispute Resolution Simulation Contest. He teaches mediation on an adjunct basis at Boston-area law schools, and has spoken at law schools and professional conferences on mediation, ADR in general, as well as on the integration of ADR in law firm practice.
Gary is a member of the American and Boston Bar Associations. He serves on the Steering Committee for the Boston Bar Association's Environmental Section and is co-chair of its Public Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Network, and has handled referrals on behalf of a community development corporation on brownfields redevelopment, a public housing tenant association regarding hazardous waste cleanup, and a community group with respect to open space preservation. In 2002, he received special recognition from Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), for his contribution and commitment to the Coalition to Save Glendale Park in Everett, and to ACE's environmental justice work overall.