Bruce H. Tobey is Of Counsel with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC.  His practice focuses on representing government entities as well as private sector clients in the areas of public contracts, water law, environmental policy, programs and financial and regulatory matters, sustainability, and governance.

Attorney Tobey’s extensive experience includes representing numerous Massachusetts cities and towns in a variety of environmental and other public law matters. As the Mayor/CEO of Gloucester, MA from 1991-1992 and 1994-2002, he directed the overall operations of a $100 million municipal corporation, with a particular focus on resolving complex and longstanding solid waste, water and wastewater system issues. In doing this, he built on his substantial experience from years of experience as a senior attorney on the Boston Harbor clean-up with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and as the City Solicitor in Gloucester. He is a past President of the Massachusetts Mayors Association and in that capacity, he served as a gubernatorially – appointed member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Water Infrastructure Finance Commission, which conducted a statewide infrastructure needs assessment effort and advised the Governor on programing under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

His previous extensive public service included participation on numerous Federal Advisory Committees of the United State Environmental Protection Agency and as Chair of the Advisory Council of the National League of Cities. He is a past member and Chair of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Local Government Advisory Committee, and he had served on the state’s Federal Stimulus Task Force and as Chair of the Advisory Council of the National League of Cities. Attorney Tobey served as the 2008 President of the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) and as the 2013 President of its subsidiary, the Massachusetts Municipal Councillors’ Association (MMCA). In addition, Attorney Tobey served as a member and chair of the Massachusetts Local Government Advisory Commission (LGAC) and as a long-time member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA).

As a nationally-recognized leader in his disciplines, most recently, he led the firm’s multi-year representation of the two municipalities which jointly own the Binghamton-Johnson City (NY) Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, providing advice to community leaders and leading all drafting and process work regarding the consideration of moving to contract operations of the Plant as its $275 million reconstruction neared completion.

In the private sector, he has held multiple executive positions including Vice President Business Development for HomeServe USA, leading the company’s national campaign to develop public-private partnerships with water and wastewater utilities, and Director of Business Development for the Aquarion Company, where he provided legal, regulatory and government relations support, and developed and executed public-private partnership strategies for one of the nation’s ten largest investor-owned water utilities. He holds a U.S. Patent as the co-Inventor of “Trenchlessly Installed Subterranean Collector Drain for Surface and Subsurface Water.”

With more than 30 years of both public and private sector experience, Attorney Tobey is a frequent guest speaker at national trade association events, published author, and has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s P3 Panel.

He earned his J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School, where he was a member of Law Review, and his MBA from Suffolk University. He graduated with a B.A in Russian from Wesleyan University. He is admitted to practice law in New York and Massachusetts.

Areas of Practice

• Business & Municipal Law
• Water Law
• Municipal and Water Law

Bar Admissions

• New York
• Massachusetts