News + Insights from the Legal Team at Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein

Archives

Published on: | by

Emma Quinn-JudgeEmma Quinn-Judge spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about Robinson v. Town of Marshfield, a case in which a jury found that a firefighter had been retaliated against for making complaints about discrimination his niece experienced in her job for the town. The case went to the Supreme Judicial Court on a question of whether the trial court judge had erroneously instructed the jury on the standard to be used in deciding retaliation cases, and the Court found that although the judge had mixed two different legal theories, the jury had applied the correct law.  CONTINUE READING ›

Published on: | by

Picture of Naomi ShatzAttorney Naomi R. Shatz spoke to the Boston Globe today about the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Sabatini v. Knouse, which held that under the state’s sexual harassment statute, G. L. c. 214, § 1C people who are sexually harassed in the course of their education can sue the individuals who harassed them, not just their education institution. As Attorney Shatz told the Globe, “It’s certainly not fun to be a plaintiff in a lawsuit, especially one that will sort of focus on your personal life and your interactions with people in your professional world . . . But if you can’t sue the person causing that harm, you may not have any way to get relief for the harm you’ve experienced.”

Attorneys Naomi R. Shatz and Niamh Gibbons wrote amicus briefs explaining why G. L. c. 214, § 1C allows for individual liability to both the Appeals Court in 2024, and the Supreme Judicial Court in 2025.

Read the full Globe article here.

Published on: | by

The Boston Globe examined the increasing problem of middle and high school students creating AI-generated nude images of their classmates. Attorney Naomi Shatz shared her thoughts on the issue: “’Education is the best way to address it,’ Shatz said. ‘Because you want to be preventing these situations, rather than reacting to them when they happen.’”

We previously wrote about the Massachusetts law that criminalizes sharing deepfakes.

Published on: | by

Boston UnivePicture of Naomi Shatzrsity has garnered attention for its recent removal of pride flags from professors’ and department’s office windows. Attorney Naomi Shatz spoke to Boston.com about the legal implications of this action, noting that even private universities like BU can be sued under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act if they violate constitutional rights, like the right to free expression, in ways that are threatening or coercive. Naomi also noted that the policy BU claims to be enforcing does not appear to apply outside of the context of on-campus events or demonstrations, and if the university is not applying their policies uniformly, “you’re going to have discrimination concerns and issues that they are censoring people based on the content.”

Read the full story here.

Published on: | by

Last month in Alan L. v. Lexington Public Schools, a federal district court in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction requiring a Massachusetts elementary school to provide notice and an opportunity for a parent to opt his child out of lessons that touch on sexual orientation and gender identity. The decision implemented last year’s Supreme Court decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which held that parents have a constitutional right to opt their children out of exposure to certain materials in the classroom that conflict with the parents’ religious beliefs.

Shatz told Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly that cases like Alan L. and Mahmoud are likely to have a chilling effect in schools: “It seems unlikely that schools will have the resources, both administrative and financial, to deal with individualized opt-out requests from numerous parents on different materials or to litigate legal challenges around those opt-out requests, and instead may preemptively remove any materials that could be subject to challenges or opt-outs from the curriculum entirely,” Shatz said.

Read the full article here.

Published on: | by

Picture of Naomi ShatzAttorney Naomi R. Shatz spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about Sabatini v. Knouse, currently before the SJC, for which the firm wrote an amicus brief in support of the appellant, Dr. Kristin Knouse. The SJC is set to hear oral argument in the case in February, where it will focus on one question: Does the state’s statute prohibiting sexual harassment allow students to sue their harassers, or only their educational institutions?

Shatz told Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly that if the SJC agreed with the appellee there would be a class of harassers who would be immunized from legal consequences for their harassment. “When you’re talking about the Legislature setting up a system to address sexual harassment, that can’t be what they were trying to do,” she said.

 

Published on: | by

David-2Attorney David Russcol spoke to The Concord Bridge about the prosecution of a local resident for violating a harassment prevention order protecting school superintendent Laurie Hunter.  Hunter had obtained a harassment prevention order against John Grace after he engaged in actions over the course of the last few years that targeted her. Last month, Grace was charged with violating that order because he is alleged to have placed makeshift scarecrows around the town with messages including “the hatchet for Hunter” and “fire liar Hunter.” Attorney Russcol noted that signs calling for Hunter’s ouster as superintendent are likely protected speech that cannot be the basis for a harassment prevention order or criminal prosecution. If, however, the messages are deemed to be threats of violence, that would remove the First Amendment protection afforded to speech.

Read the article.

Learn more about restraining orders and harassment prevention orders here.

 

 

Published on: | by

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.

Published on: | by

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/

Published on: | by

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/

Justia Lawyer Rating
Super Lawyers
Martindale-Hubbell
Best Lawyers
Best Law Firms
Chambers Spotlight MA 2026
Contact Information
2 Oliver St #200
Boston, MA 02109
Phone: 617-742-6020Fax: 617-742-3269Email: info@zalkindlaw.com

Please do not include confidential or sensitive information in an email, text message, or voicemail. Although we will maintain the confidentiality of information sent to us by potential clients, we cannot control information that may be transmitted through insecure means. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2026, Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design