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Massachusetts Black and white picture of Monica ShahSuperlawyers Magazine published an in-depth article on Attorney Monica Shah’s career representing individuals against powerful institutions. Shah says, “I went in this direction to represent people who are in vulnerable situations, but that may mean that that vulnerable somebody is someone from the white-collar space or, in my university practice, a student or a faculty member. But they’re all facing the powers that be and a system that is stacked against them.” Through interviews with Monica’s colleagues in the Boston legal community, the article highlights Monica’s committment to her clients, tenacity, and creative legal thinking. Zalkind Law attorney Emma Quinn-Judge discusses Monica’s approach to career development as a litigator: “She recognizes that it’s important not to stand still, and to keep moving and developing and growing and getting out of your comfort zone.” Monica credits her training at Zalkind Law and the colleagues she has at the firm for some of her success as a litigator: “If there is any superpower I have, it’s this amazing team.”

Read more about Monica’s impressive career and the work she does at Zalkind Law here.

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This week, a federal judge held that Massachusetts Workers Compensation Statute does not necessarily preclude a jury award for emotional distress damages for intentional torts on the job. Attorney Ana Munoz spoke with Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the decision, saying “Because this is the kind of emotional distress injury that touches upon other areas of public policy, those injuries are outside the core of what workers’ compensation was designed to protect.

Read more here: https://masslawyersweekly.com/2025/10/10/iied-race-retaliation-workers-comp-massachusetts/

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This week, a federal judge held that a new law that exempts universities and health care entities from compliance with certain provisions of the Massachusetts Wage Act. Attorney David Russcol spoke with Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the decision, saying: “The Wage Act makes very clear as a matter of public policy exactly how employees are supposed to be paid and when a payment is on time and when it’s not. What’s happened here is that these universities have allegedly violated the Wage Act so much that they’ve told the Legislature that there are billions of dollars at stake. The lesson seems to be that if you violate the law that much, you can get the Legislature to bail you out.”

Read the full article here: https://masslawyersweekly.com/2025/09/04/bu-wage-act-immunity-ruling/

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Last month, the Massachusetts Appeals Court made clear in Doe 99 v. Cheffi, which we wrote about here, that most students who experience sexual harassment in school are not required to file their claims with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination before proceeding to court. Zalkind Law’s Naomi Shatz spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the decision, noting that “it’s very clear from the statute under what circumstances you can go to the MCAD and therefore have to go to the MCAD,” but that in most cases students who experience sexual harassment at school can file their claims directly in court. Attorney Shatz noted that the case highlights the poor draftsmanship of Chapter 151C, which only provides protection against discrimination to students in vocational schools or students during the school application process. As Attorney Shatz told Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, “It’s particularly important that this get fixed on the legislative front now that the protection students used to have from federal laws [like Title IX] is evaporating.”

 

Read the full article here.

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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education, alleging that the state violates Title IX by allowing transgender students to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Attorney Naomi Shatz spoke with the Bangor Daily News about the lawsuit, noting that the administration’s interpretation of Title IX is contrary to how federal courts have interpreted the law.

Read the story here:

The national stakes of Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Maine

 

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Zalkind Law’s Rachel Stroup and Jennifer Herrmann filed a free speech lawsuit on behalf of Anna Feder against Emerson College. Ms. Feder ran the Bright Lights Cinema Series at Emerson for over a decade, and was terminated after screening the film Israelism, which explores American Jews’ relationship to the state of Israel, and after supporting student activism related to Palestine. Read news coverage of the case below:

In lawsuit, ex-Emerson staffer claims college fired her for pro-Palestinian activism

Staffer sues Emerson, claiming she was terminated for pro-Palestinian activism | WBUR News

CONTINUE READING ›

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On Friday, the federal Department of Education announced an investigation into the Maine Department of Education, alleging that it has violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The Department alleges that Maine schools have improperly withheld information about transgender students from their parents. Attorney David Russcol spoke to the Bangor Daily News about FERPA and what rights it does and does not grant parents. Read more here:

Experts blast federal probe into Maine’s transgender student policies as ‘unprecedented’

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Last month, the First Circuit decided Wadsworth v. Nguyen et. al., a case alleging Title IX and Equal Protection claims against a school district and some of its administrators for sexual harassment by a school principal against a high school student. The First Circuit reversed in part the District Court’s grant of summary judgment to the district and its employees, allowing the plaintiff’s equal protection claim against the principal and Title IX claim against the school could proceed. Attorney Naomi Shatz spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the First Circuit’s holding that the principal, who had repeatedly made sexual comments to a vulnerable sixteen year old student, threatened her with assault if she didn’t respond to his texts quickly enough, bought her gifts, and pulled her out of class every day to make her spend time with him, was not entitled to qualified immunity. “The defendant’s argument that a right is not clearly established unless there is an in-circuit appellate case that has already addressed the exact same factual scenario is nonsensical, contrary to 1st Circuit precedent, and I’m surprised the District Court adopted that artificially narrow reading of what ‘clearly established law’ means,” Shatz told the publication. 

Read the full story here.

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On February 13, 2025, Attorney General Campbell and the attorneys general of fifteen other states released guidance for employers about the state of the law on DEI initiatives in response to the Trump administration’s executive order on DEI. Monica Shah spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the guidance, and how it makes clear that DEI initiatives are and remain legal. According to Shah, “They needed to do this because the executive orders coming from the administration are distorting our laws and making it difficult for employers to feel like they can proceed with what have always been lawful practices.”

Read the full article here: https://masslawyersweekly.com/2025/02/28/campbell-other-ags-issues-guidance-in-response-to-trump-dei-order/

 

 

 

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Attorney Naomi Shatz spoke to the Bangor Daily News about President Trump’s executive order prohibiting transgender women from playing sports in schools and athletic organizations that receive federal funding. Maine’s governor and attorney general have stated they will follow state and federal law – including a Maine law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity – rather than the executive order. Attorney Shatz said she expected courts to have to decide the question of whether an executive order purporting to interpret federal law overrides state laws. “I think the answer has to be no, the president cannot dictate that states violate their laws,” Shatz said.

Read the full article here: https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/02/28/politics/washington/untested-legal-theory-donald-trump-title-ix-fight-maine-joam40zk0w/

 

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