Louis Scerra, a member of the MBA, has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP as of counsel in the Boston office and will work in the firm's litigation practice.
Scerra is a litigation and intellectual property lawyer with extensive appellate advocacy experience. He has worked on cases across a broad range of industries, including technology, financial services and manufacturing.
Holland & Knight LLP appointed Mark Michalowski, an MBA member, lifelong Bostonian and longtime commercial litigation attorney with the firm, executive partner of its Boston office.
Michalowski succeeds J.D. Smeallie, a litigation partner who has held the position for the past two years, and will now return to full-time client service.
MBA member Deborah Barnard, who focuses her practice in complex civil litigation, was appointed deputy executive partner.
Prior to this appointment, Michalowski was the partner-in-charge of the Boston office's marketing, lateral hire and new business development programs. While he has been with the firm, the Boston office has grown from 40 to 120 lawyers.
Barnard has served and will continue to serve as the national chair of Holland & Knight's Women's Initiative.
Michalowski and Barnard also are graduates of the Lead Boston program - a community leadership training program sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice.
MBA members Richard Snyder, Barry L. Weisman, Stephen Honig and Lance A. Kawesch, formerly of Schnader Harrison Goldstein & Manello, joined Duane Morris as partners.
Snyder practices in the areas of business law, lending, real estate and international law. He serves as legal counsel and advisor to individuals and business entities, including for-profit and nonprofit institutions and domestic and foreign corporations. Much of his practice involves developing business and legal initiatives and supervising large and complex transactions in which large legal teams represent each party.
Weisman practices in the areas of taxation and corporate law. Weisman has experience with obtaining private legislation; private rulings; testifying with respect to proposed regulations; dealing with partnerships and limited liability companies; corporate, individual and estate planning matters; acquisitions, dispositions, and reorganizations; tax workouts; and tax controversies, including representing clients before administrative agencies, the United States Tax Court, the United States District Court and the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.
Honig practices in the areas of corporate law, emerging businesses and securities. His more than 35 years of experience permits application of practical advice to complex problems. He lectures, writes and serves as expert witness on resolution of shareholder disputes, middle market antitrust issues, liability of professionals, state securities law regulations and the cost-effective sale of businesses. Honig has counseled principals of both private and public enterprises in the interface between corporate and personal financial strategies. He has worked extensively in entity formation, resolution of disputes concerning stockholder and business relationships, financing of expanding enterprises, and the business and personal economic planning that often accompanies the realization of business goals.
Kawesch practices in the areas of corporate and securities law, venture capital financings, mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and sales, SEC reporting and securities law compliance. Kawesch handles matters related to life science, software and technology licensing. He represents issuers and underwriters in initial and follow-on public offerings. Before attending law school, Kawesch was a project leader and manager for two Boston-area software and database companies.
MBA member and Boston tax attorney Stephen M. Politi has authored the 2003 Guidebook to Massachusetts Taxes published by Commerce Clearing House. His writings about Massachusetts tax practice are extensive and have been cited as authority in tax litigation proceedings and in professional publications. Politi, an adjunct professor of taxation at Bentley College Graduate School, is former Department of Revenue chief counsel and former counsel to the Joint Legislative Committee on Taxation.
MBA members Michael J. Murray and Randall T. Weeks Jr. have become partners in the Providence, R.I., and Boston firm of Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP.
Murray, who joined the firm in 2000, is a member of the firm's litigation and employment and labor practices groups. He represents clients in general business litigation as well as labor and employment, and in matters before administrative boards, commissions and panels. He has extensive experience in both public and private sector collective bargaining and labor relations, and arbitration. Murray represents clients in state and federal courts, and before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Rhode Island Human Rights Commission, the National Labor Relations Commission, the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents and other state and federal administrative bodies. Murray also provides advice in government procurement and construction matters.
Weeks joined Partridge Snow & Hahn in 1999. He is a member of the firm's litigation and corporate law practice groups, representing clients in general business litigation, employment, intellectual property, products liability defense, construction law and shareholder dispute matters. Weeks has extensive litigation experience in both state and federal trial and appellate courts. He also provides corporate counsel to a diverse client base including manufacturers, business services, medical provider entities, wholesalers, retailers and professional service organizations.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly recently named its Lawyers of the Year 2002, and the list includes MBA members Marc L. Breakstone, Shannon E. Liss-Riordan, Chris A. Milne, Raipher D. Pellegrino and J. Owen Todd. Other attorneys selected include Louis P. Aloise, Andrea J. Cabral, Jeanmarie Carroll, Mitchell Garabedian and Elizabeth A. Zeldin.
The legal publication named 10 lawyers who stood out in 2002 for various reasons, including winning important decisions, being involved in cases that raised challenging legal issues and otherwise furthering the profession's commitment to the rule of law and to justice in the commonwealth.