Irene Freidel has over twenty-five years of experience as a high-level complex commercial litigator. She practiced law at K&L Gates LLP in Boston from 1991 through June 2017. While at K&L Gates, Irene represented clients in federal and state courts throughout the country, handled appeals in the First, Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as in various state appellate courts, submitted briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, and served as counsel in jury trials in state and federal court. Irene’s litigation practice focused initially on general commercial litigation and environmental law, and then turned to financial services litigation and class actions. Irene was the Practice Group Coordinator for the firm’s Financial Institutions and Services Practice from 2010 to 2014; she served on the firm’s Management Committee from 2014-2017, and was the co-practice area leader of the firm’s global litigation practice from 2014-2017. Irene also served on the firm-wide Women in the Professions Committee and acted as the committee liaison for women attorneys in K&L Gates’ Boston office. For the last three years, Irene has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation. Irene is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she received her B.A. in anthropology in 1986. Irene received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1991, where she was Chair of the Environmental Law Society.
As an Access to Justice Fellow, Irene will work on two projects. First, she will volunteer with the PAIR (Political Asylum/Immigration Representation) Project on various direct service cases, including on behalf of children who fled their home countries to escape persecution and arrived in the United States unaccompanied by either parent. Irene also continues to work on certain PAIR pro bono matters with her former colleagues at K&L Gates. Formed in 1989, the PAIR Project provides free legal services to asylum-seekers and promotes the rights of detained immigrants.
Second, Irene will be working with the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance and a number of watershed organizations in Massachusetts in litigation under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against EPA and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in connection with EPA’s decision to stay the effective date of the Massachusetts general storm water management permit for small municipal operators under the Clean Water Act. Mass Rivers’ mission is to protect and restore the Commonwealth’s rivers and streams. Founded in 2007, the organization works to strengthen statewide river policies in four areas: water quality, stream flow, wildlife habitat, and investment in green infrastructure.