We are proud of our client Chantal Charles’ important op-ed in Commonwealth Magazine in support of real action, not empty rhetoric, by Mayor Walsh to remedy decades of rampant racial discrimination at Boston’s City Hall. http://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/nothing-has-changed-at-city-hall/
We are pleased to announce that the firm has been named in US News’ “Best Law Firms” for yet another year! For 2017, Zalkind Law has been ranked as Metro Tier 1 in three practicing areas: Criminal Defense – Non-White Collar, Criminal Defense – White Collar, and Employment – Individuals.
U.S. News “Best Law Firm” rankings showcase more than 10,000 law firms and are based on a rigorous evaluation process. We are proud of the hard work and effort our attorneys have put in to earn us this prestigious ranking.
We are pleased to announce that five of our attorneys have been selected to the 2016 Massachusetts Super Lawyers List. We would also like to congratulate five of our attorneys for being selected to the 2016 Massachusetts Rising Stars list.
Super Lawyers rates outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations. Only up to 5 percent of the lawyers in a state are named to the Super Lawyers list, and no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list.
Please join us in congratulating the following attorneys who have been selected as “Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” this year.
We are pleased to announce that our named partners and of-counsel attorneys have been listed in the 23rd edition of Best Lawyers of America. Norman Zalkind, who has been listed in Best Lawyers for 23 consecutive years, is recognized for his practice in criminal defense, as well as white-collar criminal defense. David Duncan is also listed for both white-collar and non-white-collar criminal defense, and Inga Bernstein is listed for non-white-collar criminal defense and employment law. Harvey Silverglate and Elizabeth Lunt, who are of-counsel at the firm, are also listed for their work in criminal defense, both white collar and non-white collar.
On July 11, 2016, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment against Kathleen Burns, a former employee of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who suffered gender discrimination and a hostile work environment at the hands of a male supervisor who wielded a baseball bat in every interaction with her and ultimately stripped her of her main responsibilities. ZDB attorney Monica Shah authored an amicus brief on behalf of MELA arguing that the lower court erred by requiring direct evidence of discrimination, disregarding substantial circumstantial evidence of discrimination (including stereotypical beliefs about a female employee’s role in positions of leadership and authority), and ratcheting up the standard for a hostile work environment claim. Acknowledging MELA’s assistance to the Court, the First Circuit concluded that the lower court erred in these ways and that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence for a reasonable jury to find in Ms. Burns’ favor on both claims. The Court’s decision and MELA’s amicus brief can be found here.
In June 2016, Norman Zalkind and David Russcol advocated for a client accused of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Our client was accused of causing serious injuries to the alleged victim. The prosecution requested that he be found guilty of all charges, including two felonies. Over the prosecutor’s objection, the Court accepted our request that the case be continued without a finding. Our client was placed on unsupervised probation, and the charges against him will be dismissed in 2017.
In April 2016, Emma Quinn-Judge spoke about pregnancy and caregiver discrimination as part of a panel about “Dismantling Barriers to Women’s Equality in the Workplace.”
In April 2016, Emma Quinn-Judge spoke about the relative success of retaliation claims as compared to discrimination claims as part of a National Employment Lawyers Association seminar entitled “Reining in Retaliation & Winning Whistleblower Cases.”
Emma Quinn-Judge and Monica Shah recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of three national voices on criminal justice reform – The Constitution Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers – in Commonwealth v. Laltaprasad, a case which will be argued before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on April 5, 2016. The case involves the question of whether Massachusetts’ law contains a safety valve allowing a criminal defendant relief from harsh mandatory minimum penalties in cases involving mitigating circumstances. In the brief, amici provide context to the Massachusetts law by explaining that a national consensus has emerged that strict mandatory minimum sentencing schemes fail to effectuate the basic purposes of sentencing, and that, as a result, the federal government and at least twenty-nine states have statutes that provide judicial discretion to depart below certain mandatory minimum sentences.
Monica Shah authors amicus brief on behalf of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association in Burns v. Johnson, a case involving gender discrimination and hostile work environment claims pending before the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The plaintiff – a longtime employee with Department of Homeland Security and a mother of five children who worked an alternative schedule due to her childcare obligations – was almost immediately stripped of her responsibilities when a new male supervisor took over, singled her out and questioned her work schedule, and reassigned her main duties to a group of male employees to promote their “leadership” skills. He further asserted his authority over her by wielding a baseball bat in every interaction he had with her. MELA’s brief addresses the district court’s failure to consider the circumstantial evidence of gender-based discrimination and harassment against the plaintiff, including unconscious bias about women in leadership roles and gender stereotypes, and urges the Court of Appeals to vacate and reverse the district court’s decision to dismiss all of plaintiff’s claims.
Boston Lawyer Blog