Matthew J Kiefer

Practice Areas

Matthew Kiefer is a real estate development and land use lawyer whose practice is at the intersection of private initiative and public policy, focusing on obtaining parcel dispositions and entitlements from public agencies for complex urban projects. These include market-oriented, mixed-income and affordable housing; commercial and mixed-use projects; and facilities and master plans for universities, cultural institutions and other non-profits. He is a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and has been recognized by Chambers USA as “a pre-eminent force in development and land use work.”

In addition to his law practice, Matthew is a thought-leader in land use planning, design and development in Boston. He serves on the Advisory Board and Management Committee of ULI Boston; is an at-large member of the City of Boston’s Community Preservation Committee; is the past Chair of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, which supports best practices in municipal governance; and is an Honorary Member of the Boston Society of Architects and the American Institute of Architects.

Matthew currently teaches in and co-directs the real estate program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has written and spoken widely on land use topics. He is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Michigan Law School, and was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard GSD.

Matthew co-chairs the firm’s Green Business practice and its Climate Change Resilience Task Force.