Tess C. Edwards
Tess Edwards advises clients on a broad range of energy, environmental, and land use matters.
Tess has a passion for renewable energy development and supports utility-scale solar and battery energy storage developers in all stages of environmental review, permitting, financing, and contracting, from negotiating leases with landowners to navigating the new EFSB permitting process under the 2024 Climate Act.
Tess also regularly advises renewable energy investors by reviewing and advising on existing project portfolios. She has also represented landowners and municipalities in leasing land to energy developers by reviewing leases, PPAs, and PILOT agreements.
Tess also has a significant background in zoning and permitting matters. Drawing on her experience at the Land Court, Tess has assisted commercial and residential developers in obtaining local and wetlands permits and litigating those permits on appeal. She also advised clients on real estate transactions, including acquisitions, leasing, and development of residential subdivisions, multifamily residential, medical, industrial, marina, and hotel properties.
Tess has also worked with individual property owners with complex title matters, affordable housing law, municipal law, and property disputes, including withdrawing land from Article 97, Chapter 61, 61A, 61B, and permitting coastal structures under Chapter 91 and the Wetlands Protection Act.
Prior to joining Pierce Atwood, Tess spent two years as law clerk to the Honorable Robert B. Foster of the Land Court Department of the Massachusetts Trial Court.
During law school, Tess was president of the Environmental Law Society and an instructor at law in the Environmental Law Teaching Program at Boston College. She also gained experience in environmental and real estate law through her legal internships with Vineyard Wind, the Land Court (Hon. Michael D. Vhay), the Environmental Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Solicitor’s Office in Boston.
Tess also served as a student attorney with the Boston College Civil Litigation Clinic, representing clients before the housing and family courts.
- Included in The Best Lawyers in America® “Ones to Watch” for Land Use and Zoning Law and Real Estate Law (2026-present)
- American Bar Association
- Boston Bar Association Public Interest Leadership Program (2025-2026)
- Boston Bar Association Energy & Environment Steering Committee
- Wetlands, Waterways, and Water Quality Subcommittee
- Real Estate Bar Association
- Environmental Business Council of New England
- New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE)