In reinforcement of our image as lawyers to self-adulate and cock-a-doodle-doo our talents and prowesses, lawyers have the benefit of an annual glitzy magazine called Super Lawyers.  Yes, once a year, we self-designate ourselves (for our regional Super Lawyers group, nearly all with Boston offices) “SUPER,” and proudly publish pretty color ads accompanied by press releases to our home town media. Dare I ask if there is any difference between this publication and the pictures of the lawyer guys and gals whose faces are known to us from full...

The voters in Massachusetts have passed a new law which allows the possession and recreational use of marijuana.  The statute takes effect on December 15, 2016.  With that said, the possession of marijuana will remain illegal under federal law. There are lots of open questions about how the law will be implemented.  Many employers are asking about how to deal with marijuana use in the workplace. For now, employers who do drug testing of employees can breathe a little easier.  The language of the referendum explicitly...

One area of law that has a lot of catching up to do is that of the employee’s rights when the employer terminates her for wholly unfair reasons. Such employer actions are often devastating to the well qualified, hardworking and productive employee who otherwise holds a reasonable expectation that, despite her “at will” status, she would not suffer the trauma and disruption of becoming unemployed for reasons wholly beyond her control. I have found a common misconception in clients that the employer needs a reason, of at least minimal validity,...

When someone asks me what kind of law that I practice, I answer “civil litigation.” The response is usually a puzzled-then-accepting-without-questioning look or the question: “What is that?” The civil legal arena covers a broad area that does not include criminal or family law. Beauregard, Burke & Franco has handled the whole gamut of civil cases. There’s the classic personal injury suit, be it a motor vehicle accident, or a slip and fall; or an employment case, which can include contract disputes, wrongful termination, and...

Forty years of civil litigation – jury trials in major personal injury and death cases, court challenges to government officials who abuse their powers over public employees, taking business and commercial disputes to trial, and dealing with the wide variety of clients involved in these cases – has taught me lessons worth passing on to you who engage in reading blogs. First – do not be bamboozled (not a legal term) by yellow page ads, advertising on the sides of buses, highway billboards, or flashy issues of the Boston publication “Super...