John Ziemba

Mr. Ziemba is a Partner in the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, where he is helping to build the firm's new Transportation, Infrastructure, and Mobility group and the Government Relations and Public Policy group.  He is focusing on transportation issues, the mobility industry, infrastructure development, and public private partnerships. He serves businesses in need of governmental counsel in addition to public agencies and authorities with outside legal needs. He has a unique breadth and depth of experience in working with the state of Massachusetts, where he held top legal and managerial positions for over twenty years.   

Mr. Ziemba served as a Cabinet Secretary for two agencies as Acting Secretary of Transportation and Director of Labor and was also the Acting Chair of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. He also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor with responsibility for multiple agencies, including transportation, labor, consumer affairs and business regulation, and public safety. Most recently, he served as Ombudsman at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission where he was one of the principal founding staff members that helped develop the licensing and oversight structures for the Massachusetts gaming industry. 

Representative Experience

• Assisted a statewide group of health care practitioners overturn an unfair rate methodology in a proceeding before the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.
• Worked with a city community development agency to demonstrate compliance and manage an otherwise potentially devastating compliance penalty.
• Represented an agency in a proceeding before the state’s public utilities agency on renewable energy incentive (net metering) regulations.
• Helped major Massachusetts companies secure tens of millions of dollars in state and/or city infrastructure or tax incentives to promote employment in the Commonwealth.
• Worked with a privatization consultancy firm to analyze what would be required to privatize parking in a large city.
• Provided early counsel on the formation of a Business Improvement District to help finance the operations and maintenance of Boston’s Greenway.
• Provided counsel to a public authority on how to start its renewable energy development program.
• Advised a public authority on Massachusetts Constitutional issues impacting its contracts.
• Worked for over twenty years for numerous agencies, including at the Gaming Commission (overseeing industry compliance with thousands of state and local requirements).
• Helped author major legislation including groundbreaking privacy legislation filed by the Governor’s Office and legislation that resulted in new housing and services for elderly persons and persons with disabilities.
• Helped author and implement an Executive Order requiring all agencies to review their collection and dissemination of personal information.