Matthew Kiefer

Lecturer in Real Estate

Matthew J. Kiefer is a land use attorney with over 25 years of experience as a Director in the Boston office of the national law firm Goulston & Storrs. His practice, at the nexus of private initiative and public policy, focuses on garnering parcel dispositions and entitlements from public agencies for complex urban projects. These include market-oriented, mixed-income and affordable housing; life science, commercial and mixed-use projects; facilities and master plans for universities, cultural institutions and other non-profits; and cross-sectoral projects combining mission-oriented facilities with profit-oriented development.  Matthew 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 plays a prominent role in land use planning, design and development in Boston. He serves on the Advisory Board and Management Committee of ULI Boston; is a member of the City of Boston’s Community Preservation Committee, which awards funding for community-based affordable housing, open space and historic preservation projects; is an Executive Committee member and 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. He has written and spoken on land use development, law and policy in a number of publications and forums.

Matthew has taught real estate field studies courses–most recently, Developing for Social Impact, SES-5383. He will be teaching in the Development Studio for the GSD’s MRE program and will be lead faculty for the Practicum. He is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Michigan Law School, and was a Loeb Fellow at the GSD. He lives in Jamaica Plain.