This story has been updated.
A HIGH-POWERED ATTORNEY representing Milton in its legal fight against Attorney General Andrea Campell over zoning withdrew from the case after just two days on the job when two state agencies alleged his involvement represented a conflict of interest.
Tad Heuer, a partner at Foley Hoag, joined Milton’s legal team as a special counsel on Tuesday night and appeared at a hearing before a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday. But later that day state officials apparently raised concerns that Foley Hoag had a conflict of interest because the law firm in other capacities represents the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the MBTA.
Milton officials on Friday said Foley Hoag had disclosed to them that the firm does work for MassDOT and the MBTA but did not believe that work rose to the level of a conflict of interest. State officials said Heuer has advised the MBTA in the past, but had no details on the nature of his work.
After Heuer appeared Wednesday on behalf of Milton before the single justice of the SJC, Milton Select Board chair Michael Zullas said the MBTA contacted Foley Hoag claiming Heuer’s representation involved a conflict of interest. Zullas said Foley Hoag felt no conflict existed, but the law firm nevertheless decided Heuer should withdraw from the case.
On Saturday, Foley Hoag Managing Partner Jim Bucking issued a statement linking the matter to Campbell’s “emotionally charged” lawsuit against Milton.
“Tad is one of the finest appellate lawyers in Massachusetts and is the state’s foremost expert on complex regulatory disputes like this,” Bucking said. “The Commonwealth’s complaint against the Town of Milton is emotionally charged, including for non-parties to the litigation like our longtime client the MBTA. There was no legal or ethical conflict of interest in Foley Hoag representing the Town of Milton in this matter. The firm had no obligation to withdraw from our representation of the Town, and we only chose to do so at the request of the MBTA.”
The Milton Select Board held an emergency meeting Friday morning and voted 3-0, with two members abstaining, to hire Kevin P. Martin of Goodwin as their special counsel. His pay was not disclosed at the meeting, but officials said it will probably be in the same range as what Heuer was charging, which was in the neighborhood of $900 an hour.
The shift in Milton’s legal team comes at a time when the municipality is locked in a high-stakes legal fight with Campell, who has made no secret that she wants to take her lawsuit against Milton straight to the Supreme Judicial Court to send a clear message to other communities in the state thinking about avoiding their responsibilities under the MBTA Communities Act. The act requires municipalities in the MBTA service area to rezone to allow more multi-family housing near transit facilities.
Milton Town Meeting approved a MBTA Communities Act rezoning plan last year but that plan was rejected by voters last month in a special election. Campbell subsequently sued the town and is pressing to take the case direct to the Supreme Judicial Court on an accelerated schedule that is being opposed by Milton.
Milton officials said they were in the midst of filing last-minute legal briefs in their case against Campbell when Heuer had to step aside. The case faces a major milestone on Monday when SJC Justice Serge Georges Jr. is expected to rule on whether the case should go to the full court.
State officials confirmed Foley Hoag represents the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the MBTA on other matters, but didn’t go into details on those other matters or whether they had anything to do with the MBTA Communities Act.
Rules governing lawyers say they shall not represent a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest. What’s not clear is whether a lawyer representing a town involved in a dispute with the attorney general about a housing law has a conflict if his firm represents state transportation agencies on non-housing matters.