People
Tyler E. Archer

Tyler E. Archer

Associate

Tyler Archer serves an array of clients across multiple practice areas. He is a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy, and Land Use practice groups and serves as Vice Chair of the firm’s Food and Beverage Industry Group. His environmental and energy practice involves transactional due diligence, regulatory compliance, risk management (e.g., environmental insurance), and site assessment and remediation. Tyler is also focused on fast-developing PFAS regulation and potential effects across industries.

Tyler has a growing and wide-ranging food and beverage practice. He assists large domestic and international clients with transactional due diligence and risk management as well as local farms and food businesses with entity formation, real estate, and regulatory compliance (e.g., licensing, food packaging, cold storage). Tyler has also assisted land trusts and other entities establish conservation easements, including to protect and maintain working farms, and evaluate Public Act 490 applicability.

Through his land use practice, Tyler assists clients with coastal, littoral, and riparian rights and access; lake and pond issues (e.g., restoration, invasive species); and aquifer protection and wetlands permitting. He also served on a Connecticut Governor’s Council on Climate Change working group studying resilient infrastructure and nature-based solutions. Prior to law school, Tyler earned a master’s in Marine Affairs with a focus on ocean policy and coastal management and worked on fisheries policy at a Connecticut-based nonprofit.

Prior to joining the firm, Tyler was a Law Clerk for the honorable judges of the Connecticut State Superior Court in Hartford. While in law school, he interned for a regional environmental nonprofit and an affordable housing developer.

Credentials

Education

Boston College Law School, J.D., 2018
University of Rhode Island, M.A., 2013
Boston College, B.A., 2011

Bar Admissions

Connecticut
Massachusetts

Distinctions

Listed as a Connecticut Super Lawyer Rising Star®: Environmental (2022-2024)
Legal Food Hub: Distinguished Service Award (2023)

Professional Affiliations

Legal Food Hub: Attorney Council (2024-present)

Community Involvement

Shepard Meadows Equestrian Center: Board Member (2023-2024)

Experience

Environmental

Legal and Technical PFAS Risk Management Planning for a Multi-State Food and Beverage Company

We provide comprehensive assistance to a large, multi-state food and beverage client undertaking an extensive legal and technical PFAS risk management plan to address its potential operational risks, including up and down its supply chain. The project involves engaging and directing a national environmental consulting firm, coordinating technical and legal advice on the rapidly changing legal/regulatory federal and multi-state landscape, advising on technical, health and litigation developments and addressing all stages of the client’s operations from procurement, food production, transportation, packaging and distribution. Our ongoing support also includes advising on PFAS sampling strategies, supply chain contracts, insurance coverage (looking backward and forward) and stakeholder communications.

Ongoing Assistance to Food and Beverage Companies Regarding PFAS and Food Packaging Compliance

As state-level bans on intentionally added PFAS in food packaging continue to go into effect, we regularly assist food and beverage companies with multi-state and international footprints undertake highly nuanced legal and technical evaluations of PFAS risks associated with food packaging and compliance. This effort includes requesting certificates of compliance from upstream food packaging suppliers as well as evaluating and responding to similar demands from downstream distributors, wholesalers and retailers.

Advising Regional Airport Operator Regarding Potential Historical PFAS Contamination

As part of its obligations under a long-term lease and management agreement, we are advising an airport operator in connection with potential historical PFAS contamination from on-site firefighting training. Our advice includes evaluating current and future federal and state PFAS requirements, developing a strategic investigation/due diligence approach, evaluating potential remediation and mitigation/risk management options (including environmental insurance) and negotiating the allocation of responsibilities and liabilities among various parties.

Assisting a manufacturing client respond to EPA request for information related to a New England Superfund site

We are assisting a large, multi-state manufacturing company regarding compliance with a Request for Information (RFI) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 104 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in connection with a large Superfund site in New England. Our representation includes reviewing and managing decades of historical files relative to several legacy manufacturing and warehousing facilities located near the site as well as drafting and submitting the RFI response document and compiling the relevant supporting documentation.

Farm/food licensing

Local, State, and Federal Agriculture and Food Manufacturing Licensing

We have assisted various clients, including farms, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and “non-traditional” food clients (such as independent schools) evaluate and navigate a variety of permitting, licensing, and registration requirements before local departments of zoning and public health, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, and Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. We have assisted clients apply for local food store/service licenses and state Food Manufacturing Establishment licenses (including for wholesale) as well as register with the state under the Produce Safety Rule. Recent examples include securing local and state approvals for a farm to install a shipping container converted into a hydroponic lettuce and herb garden.

Land use approvals and litigation

Conservation Easement for Historic Working Farm

We represented the seller in what is thought to be Connecticut’s first lease-to-own farm sale involving a land trust. Our client, a regional land conservancy, sold a historic working farm to its long-time tenant after they satisfied the “sweat equity” requirements of the lease, including certain property maintenance, improvements, and other site work over more than 10 years. The land conservancy retained a bespoke agricultural conservation easement that allows for a range of agricultural and related uses and opportunities as well as requires the protection and restoration of the property, including its early-1900s potato shed and tobacco barn, which is one of the last in the area.

General

Closing of $50MM of Financing, Ground Lease, Construction Contract and Condominium

Represented joint venture consisting of two privately-held real estate developers on a sale and leaseback of real property, together with $50 million in leasehold construction financing, to construct a ground-up, mixed-use development consisting of 299 residential apartments, 6,000 square feet of retail space and 206 parking spaces. In addition to the sale and leaseback, our team advised in the subleasing of the leasehold interest and the declaring of a leasehold financing condominium, along with related environmental and tax matters which impacted the property. In addition, members of our construction group advised on and negotiated a complicated construction contract along with related residential condominium restrictions.

November 13, 2024