Chaz Kelsh focuses his practice on complex environmental litigation matters. He has litigated numerous matters in trial and appellate courts at the federal and state levels. Mr. Kelsh’s experience also includes private arbitration and advising on matters before regulatory agencies. Before joining the firm, he clerked for the Honorable Sandra L. Lynch of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for the Honorable Leo T. Sorokin of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 

While pursuing his legal education, Mr. Kelsh was a summer law clerk in the Office of the General Counsel for the US Office of Management and Budget and in the Civil Unit of the Office of the US Attorney for the District of Maine. He previously worked as a senior associate consultant for a top global management consulting firm in the firm’s Boston, Massachusetts, and Stockholm, Sweden, offices.

Mr. Kelsh maintains an active pro bono litigation practice. He is also the vice president of the board of directors of the Somerville Media Center, a digital makerspace and the oldest access organization of its kind in Massachusetts.

Experience

  • Mr. Kelsh has represented clients on a variety of significant matters, including:

    • Norfolk Southern following derailment and alleged release of hazardous substances in enforcement and class action litigation
    • Tetra Tech defending False Claims Act and mass tort actions alleging falsification of data at Superfund site in California
    • A chemical company in proceedings regarding the allocation of costs at Superfund site in Kentucky

Insights & News

Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, Harvard Law School, 2018

      cum laude

      Dean’s Scholar Prizes in Environmental Law, Constitutional Law, Legislation & Regulation, and Legal Research & Writing

      Senior Article Editor, Harvard Law & Policy Review 

    • MPP, Harvard Kennedy School, 2018

    • AB, Public Policy & American Institutions, Sociology, Brown University, 2011

  • Admissions

    • Massachusetts

  • Clerkships

    • The Hon. Sandra L. Lynch, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2019 - 2020

    • The Hon. Leo T. Sorokin, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2018 - 2019

Credentials

Notice

Unless you are an existing client, before communicating with WilmerHale by e-mail (or otherwise), please read the Disclaimer referenced by this link.(The Disclaimer is also accessible from the opening of this website). As noted therein, until you have received from us a written statement that we represent you in a particular manner (an "engagement letter") you should not send to us any confidential information about any such matter. After we have undertaken representation of you concerning a matter, you will be our client, and we may thereafter exchange confidential information freely.

Thank you for your interest in WilmerHale.