Kathleen D. Oppenheimer

Kathleen D. Oppenheimer joined the Pavese Law Firm in 2011.  Ms. Oppenheimer’s practice focuses primarily on land use and zoning, real estate and environmental issues related to the development of land.  This includes: permitting, drafting comprehensive plan amendments and representing clients in local government administrative matters before city and county commissions, councils and boards.

Ms. Oppenheimer was born and raised in Redding, Connecticut, spending her school vacations in Naples, Florida.  She went on to attend Franklin and Marshall College as a Buchanan and Meserve Scholar.  There she earned her A.B. in American Studies with a minor in Urban and Social Public Policy, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  Ms. Oppenheimer spent her last semester at F&M completing a study abroad program through the Sea Education Association where she conducted original oceanographic research in the Caribbean and Sargasso Seas aboard a 134-foot brigantine.

After graduation, Ms. Oppenheimer began as a Zoning Manager with Network Building & Consulting LLC.  She represented seven national and regional wireless providers in preparing land use cases for wireless telecommunications facilities across dozens of jurisdictions in the Baltimore/Washington area.  She gained extensive experience in building the necessary relationships with landowners, adjacent neighbors, community residents, planners and other governmental officials, land use and telecommunications lawyers, and citizen groups necessary to support proposed sites throughout the zoning and permitting process.

After her time in wireless site development, Ms. Oppenheimer received Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of City and Regional Planning (M.C.R.P.) degrees under a dual-degree program sponsored by the University of North Carolina School of Law and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of City and Regional Planning. Her studies focused primarily on land use and environmental law/planning. 

While in law/graduate school, Ms. Oppenheimer was the Senior Associate Justice of the Student Supreme Court, an Articles Editor for the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, a guest blog contributor to the North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, and performed over 140 hours of pro bono service.  Between semesters, Ms. Oppenheimer also interned for the State of Connecticut’s Office of Responsible Growth assisting staff in many facets of implementing the Conservation and Development Policies Plan for Connecticut.  

In her spare time, Ms. Oppenheimer serves as a Guardian ad Litem for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program (Twentieth Judicial Circuit) and volunteers with the Gulf Coast Humane Society.   She also enjoys boating, fencing, skiing, travel, and art.