Benjamin Wechsler is a Member with over 20 years of experience on land use, environmental, natural resources and real estate matters. He represents landowners, real estate developers and institutional clients on a wide variety of both traditional and “green” development projects. His particular areas of expertise include Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts, land use and zoning, corporate sustainability, tidal and non-tidal wetlands, state and Federal endangered species regulation, renewable energy permitting, piers and dredging, water quality trading, mitigation banking, land protection and preservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. He is frequently called to resolve complicated title and survey issues.
Mr. Wechsler regularly appears before various Courts and administrative tribunals, including state and Federal Courts, the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings, and various county Boards of Appeals, hearing examiners, and planning commissions. He has been qualified by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland as an Expert Witness in Land Use and Development (In re: Whiskey One Eight, LLC, Case No. 15-19885).
Prior to joining YVS Law, Mr. Wechsler was a partner at Linowes and Blocher LLP. Mr. Wechsler received his J.D., graduating cum laude, from George Washington University Law School. He received a B.A., cum laude, from Princeton University, with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Mr. Wechsler is active in various community and professional organizations. Mr. Wechsler serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, having been originally appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and then reappointed by Governor Larry Hogan.
George Washington University Law School, 1999
- J.D., Cum Laude, Concentration in Environmental Law.
Princeton University, 1995
- B.A. Cum Laude, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Certificate in Environmental Studies.
- Linowes and Blocher LLP, Partner (2012-2020); Associate (2006-2011).
- Assateague Coastal Trust, Inc, Development Director and General Counsel, 2005 – 2006.
- Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, LLP (now DLA Piper), Litigation Associate, 2000 – 2004.
- LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae LLP, Associate, 1999 – 2000.
Chesapeake Bay Trust, Trustee. Appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley (D) in 2012, Reappointed by Governor Larry Hogan (R) in 2016. Chair (2017-2019), Vice Chair (2019-present, 2016-2017).
Maryland State Bar Association, Environmental Section Counsel. Secretary/Treasurer, 2015–2016.
Anne Arundel County Bar Association. Chair, Real Estate, Land Use and Environmental Committee.
Anne Arundel County Septic Policy TMDL Task Force, 2017 - Present. Chair, Policy Work Group.
Leadership Anne Arundel, Flagship Class of 2015.
Scenic Rivers Land Trust, Board Member, 2006 - 2008.
Assateague Coastal Trust, Board Member, 2005 - 2006.
NAIOP Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Governmental Affairs, 2016.
Maryland Building Industry Association, Legislative Services Award, 2016.
Qualified as an Expert Witness in Land Use and Development, United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. In re: Whiskey One Eight, LLC, Case No. 1:15-BK-19885.
Benjamin Starbuck Wechsler, Note, Rethinking Reinvention: A Case Study of Project XL, 5 ENVTL. LAW. 255 (1998).
Benjamin Starbuck Wechsler, Project XL and Regulatory Reinvention: A Practitioner’s Primer, 6 J. ENVTL. L & PRAC. 42 (1999).
S.P. Hubbell, et al. (incl. B. Wechsler), Light-Gap Disturbance, Recruitment Limitation, and Tree Diversity in a Neotropical Forest, 283 SCI. 554 (1999).
Benjamin Starbuck Wechsler, New Critical Area Buffer Regulations Alter Waterfront Development in the State of Maryland, unpublished white paper (2010).