Samantha McDonald is an experienced, client-focused real estate lawyer, concentrating on business and real estate property law within the firm’s real estate and environmental practice area. She represents a wide range of clients and matters, including buyers and sellers of commercial real estate, landlord-tenant disputes and evictions, land use, zoning, and development matters, leasing, and surrounding property issues.
Samantha appreciates what her clients value most, understanding that “getting the deal done is most important to the client.” She enjoys working with clients to resolve matters that people typically don’t have to deal with and can’t always assess on their own. She helps her clients navigate various situations, evaluate the types of risks and potential effects involved, and works with clients to achieve exactly what they want while protecting them.
Before Bowditch
Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Samantha was an Officer at another Worcester law firm, where she focused her practice on business and real estate property law. She developed a specialty in evictions, but says she had her “foot in the door” with other practice areas as well. Prior to law school, Samantha worked as a paralegal for a solo practitioner doing real estate conveyancing.
Besides work
Samantha enjoys crossword puzzles, but in the warmer months, she likes to spend time in her perennial flower garden. “I like to play in the dirt – I’m a dirt lawyer.”
Affiliations
- Board of Directors, Worcester Regional Research Bureau, Inc.
- Community Legal Aid 2020 Pro Bono Honor Roll
- Board of Trustees, Worcester County Horticultural Society (Tower Hill Botanic Garden)
- Member, Leadership Council, Women’s Initiative of the United Way of Central Massachusetts
- Corporator, Worcester Art Museum
- Corporator, Music Worcester
- Corporator, Greater Worcester Community Foundation
- Member, Real Estate Finance Association (REFA), a division of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB)
- Member, Real Estate Bar Association
- Member, Worcester County Bar Association
- Member, Women’s Bar Association
Previous
- Board Chair Emerita/Development Committee Member, YOU Inc, Worcester
- Board Member, The Commonwealth Department of Children and Families Worcester West
- Chair, Financial Strategies Committee of the Women’s Initiative/Member, Steering Committee, Women’s Initiative of the United Way of Central Massachusetts
- Member, American Bar Association – Environment, Energy & Resources and the Real Property, Trust & Estates Sections
- Member, Wachusett Greenways Trust
- Member, White Oak Land Trust
- President, ArtsWorcester
- Vice President of the Environmental Society, Suffolk University Law School
Honors
- Selected as a member of Leadership Worcester 2016, a joint program of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
- Super Lawyers “Rising Star” (2015-2019)
- Recipient of the Pro Bono Publico Award from Community Legal Aid (2014)
Articles + Talks
Articles
- “COVID-19 Legal Impacts Far-Reaching for RE,” The Real Reporter, June 2, 2022
- Authored the chapter on Powers of Attorney, Contributing author, “Crocker’s Notes on Common Forms” (10th ed., MCLE 2013), edited by Sydney F. Smithers, IV,” May 10, 2016
Talks
- NEREJ & CCIM West of Boston CRE Summit, Millbury, MA, November 9, 2022
- Real Estate Special Interest Group Meeting, MSI Annual International Conference, Washington, DC, October 24, 2022
- “Investing in Worcester: A developers perspective,” Worcester Business Journal Webinar, March 29, 2022 (Moderator)
- “COVID and Beyond: Nonprofit Innovation,” Worcester Business Journal Webinar, August 24, 2021 (Moderator)
- “Civic Engagement and Your Career,” Worcester County Bar Association, Worcester, Massachusetts, February 12, 2020
- 5th Annual Economic Development Summit: Transforming Main Street, Bowditch, Worcester, Massachusetts, November 14, 2019 (Moderator)
- “Becoming Ms. Worcester – Getting Involved in Your Community,” Moderator, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference, Worcester, Massachusetts, April 11, 2019
- An Iconic Building Ready for the Next Chapter: Developing Union Station, Moderator, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Game Changers Business Conference & Expo, Worcester, Massachusetts, October 19, 2018
- “Conflict of Interest Issues,” NBI Seminar titled “Representing Non Profits,” 2016
Bar Admissions
- Massachusetts
- District Court of Massachuetts
Education
- J.D., Suffolk University Law School
- B.A., cum laude, Environmental Studies, Clark University
Real Estate
- Represented a buyer in the purchase of a renewable fuel generation facility business and real property, including responding to significant undisclosed environmental issues.
- Represented seller in sale of real property where buyer breached contract, including tendering title and negotiating settlement.
- Represented buyer of real property from a municipality with a defective tax taking.
Non-Profits
- Create and advise non-profit corporations and obtained tax-exempt status for them
- Represented recipients of assets in cy pres cases, including required on-going reporting to the Attorney General
- Represented a quasi-municipal entity regarding regulatory requirements for the sale of land acquired by eminent domain
- Represented a non-profit in transferring all real property out of a trust owning its realty and dissolving the trust
- Provide presentations to Boards of Directors regarding their duties
Events + Recordings
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Annual Economic Development Summit: Multifamily Development and Inclusionary Zoning
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Samantha McDonald Spoke at NEREJ & CCIM West of Boston CRE Summit
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Samantha McDonald Moderated “Investing in Worcester: A developers perspective” with the Worcester Business Journal (Webinar)
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Samantha McDonald Moderated Worcester Business Journal’s “COVID and Beyond: Nonprofit Innovation” (Webinar)
Publications
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Client Alert: Massachusetts Commits $171MM for Programs to Help Tenants and Landlords Impacted by COVID-19
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Client Alert: Massachusetts Eviction and Foreclosure Moratorium Expires and is Replaced by a More Limited CDC Order
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Jonathan Hausner, Samantha McDonald, Mary Feeney, and Brian Grossman Write, “COVID-19 Legal Impacts Far-Reaching for RE” for The Real Reporter
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Client Alert: MA Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development Issues Regulations and Guidance on COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium
News
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Six Bowditch Attorneys Named to Community Legal Aid’s 2020 Pro Bono Honor Roll
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Samantha McDonald elected to the Worcester County Horticultural Society’s Board of Trustees
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Eighteen Bowditch Attorneys Named to 2019 Super Lawyers
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Samantha McDonald to Speak at MetroWest Conference for Women September 19
