Founding Partner – [Retired]
Location: Needham, Massachusetts
Phone: 781-239-8900
Fax: 781-239-8909
E-mail: rorsi@oarlawyers.com

Attorney Robert Orsi has retired from practicing law.

Bob Orsi was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He became a member of the Massachusetts bar in 1987. He received his B.A. from Harvard College and his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1987. He was an editor and clinical placement director at the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, and is a member of the Order of the Coif. He regularly gives seminars in the New England area on lending, land use planning, and municipal law. His articles have appeared in the New England Real Estate Journal, the Boston Business Journal, and Landplanner Magazine.

Mr. Orsi has worked on major real estate acquisitions and developments throughout New England, including the leasing and development of large regional malls and permitting of large subdivision projects. Mr. Orsi has handled real estate acquisitions as a part of national venture capital and leveraged buyout transactions. Mr. Orsi has also represented financial institutions in various commercial lending transactions.

Mr. Orsi has extensive experience in land use, development and municipal law, both as an attorney and as a municipal official. He served on the Planning Board of Millis. He also served as the town’s representative to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the primary land use planning authority for eastern Massachusetts. He was chairman of the Millis Finance Committee. Mr. Orsi is also the past chairman of the Board of Selectmen in Millis. He also served on the town’s Affordable Housing Committee. He is also active in local theater, having produced, directed or acted in over twenty productions.

He has written portions of the Millis Zoning By-Laws, and has worked on many open space acquisitions. Mr. Orsi also served as a gubernatorial public appointee to the Massachusetts Designer Selection Board, the board that oversees project design for state buildings. Mr. Orsi has been named one of Massachusetts’s “Massachusetts Super Lawyers” 2004-2022 (every year since the award’s inception) and as a “Top Attorney in Real Estate Law in 2008” by the publishers of Law & Politics and the publishers of Boston Magazine. Mr. Orsi was also named as one of Boston’s top one hundred Super Lawyers for the year 2011.

Mr. Orsi has served for eight years as president of the Popponesset Beach Association, protecting a local beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Areas of Practice

• 80% Real Estate
• 15% Municipal Law
• 5% Environmental Law

Bar Admissions

• Massachusetts, 1987

Education

• Boston College Law School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • J.D. (Magna Cum Laude) – 1987
  • Honors: Member, Order of the Coif
  • Law Review: Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Clinical Placement Director and Staff Member, 1986 – 1987
• Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • B.A. (Cum Laude) – 1981

Published Works

• A Closer Look at Affordable Housing
• Implementing Public Records Requests
• Negotiating Truces in the Battle for Land, (with Lawrence M. Beals)
• Strengthening The Underwriter-Agent Relationship, (with John R. Blake, Esq.)
• Understanding The Lenders Concerns About Title Insurance
• Financing Sources Remain Available in a Difficult Market, (with Louise Murphy)

Classes/Seminars

• Zoning and Land Use Instructor, UMass Amherst

Honors and Awards

• Massachusetts Super Lawyers 2004-2016 (every year since the award’s inception)
• Massachusetts Top 100 Super Lawyers – 2011

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Massachusetts Bar Association, Member
• New England Land Title Association, Member
• Town of Millis, Member, Finance Committee, 1994 – 1999
• Town of Millis, Vice Chairman, Finance Committee, 1996 – 1997
• Town of Millis, Chairman, Finance Committee, 1997 – 1999
• Town of Millis, Member, Board of Selectmen, 1999 – 2002
• Town of Millis, Member, Board of Selectmen, 2001 – 2002
• Town of Millis, Board of Selectmen, Chairman, 2001 – 2002
• Town of Millis, Member, Planning Board, Acting Chairman, 1988 – 1991
• Town of Millis, Member, Financial Management Team, 2000 – Present
• Boston Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Town of Millis, Representative, Metropolitan Area Planning Council , 1995 – 1998

Past Employment Positions

• Tarlow, Breed, Hart, Murphy & Rodgers, PC, Partner, 1994 – 2002
• Hutchins & Wheeler, Associate, 1989 – 1994

Pro Bono Activities

• Former Selectman, Town of Millis MA, 1999 – 2002
• President, Millis Theater Group, 2005 – 2011
• President, Millis Backstage Crew, 2010-2011
• President, Popponesset Beach Association, Inc.
• Sons of Italy Social Justice Committee Member 2012-Present