Lawrence Kotin graduated from Columbia College in 1962 and Columbia University School of Law in 1966. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1966; Maryland in 1967; and Massachusetts in 1969. Mr. Kotin concentrates his practice in the areas of education and special education law. As a Principal Investigator for the Massachusetts Study of Educational Opportunities for Handicapped and Disadvantaged Children (1971)and then as a Special Assistant for Education and Children's Services to Governor Francis Sargent, he drafted much of the Massachusetts special education legislation (Chapter 766 of the Acts of 1972) with Robert Crabtree, and was instrumental in its passage. He later drafted the regulations for that statute and consulted to the Massachusetts Department of Education in the first years of the law's implementation. He also consulted to the federal government concerning the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, modeled after Chapter 766. Mr. Kotin has also held various posts in the not-for-profit sector, including Executive Director of Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services and Co-Director of the Massachusetts Center for Public Interest Law, Inc. In addition, he served as President of the Boston Education Alliance and as a board member of the Child Care Resource Center, the Harvard Square Defense Fund, the New School of Music, and the Shady Hill School. He taught as an Adjunct Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study of Tufts University for a number of years. He has written and lectured widely, including co-authoring with Mr. Crabtree, Special Education: Past, Present and Future, Boston Bar Journal, March/April 1993 and A Handbook on Legal Rights of Disabled People in Massachusetts, Federation for Children with Special Needs, 1987. He also co-authored with William F. Aikman, Esquire, Legal Foundations of Compulsory School Attendance, National University Publications, 1980 and with Mr. Aikman and Mr. Crabtree, the Legal Handbook for Day Care Centers, funded and published by the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In February, 2005, after twenty-five years of service, he retired from the board of the Massachusetts Advocates for Children (formerly the Massachusetts Advocacy Center), and received special citation for his “effective advocacy on behalf of children” and his “distinguished tenure on the board of directors.” In May 2005, Mr. Kotin was a co-recipient, with Mr. Crabtree, of the Martha Ziegler Founder's Award given by the Federation for Children with Special Needs, recognizing their part in the origins of Chapter 766 and their “decades of dedication to students with disabilities and their families.”
Robert K. Crabtree, who with Lawrence Kotin founded the firm's special education practice, graduated from Bowdoin College cum laude in 1967, from Andover Newton Theological School cum laude in 1971 and from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1976. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977 and to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1980. As Research Director for the Legislature's Joint Committee on Education, he drafted much of the Massachusetts special education law (Chapter 766 of the Acts of 1972) with Mr. Kotin and was instrumental in its final passage and implementation. Mr. Crabtree concentrates his practice in the areas of education law and special education law. He is the author of numerous articles concerning special education law and advocacy and has spoken widely on related subjects. He is a frequent contributor of articles regarding special education law and advocacy law at www.familyeducation.com and at www.wrightslaw.com . He co-authored with Mr. Kotin, Special Education: Past, Present and Future, Boston Bar Journal, March/April 1993, and A Handbook on Legal Rights of Disabled People in Massachusetts, Federation for Children with Special Needs, 1987. With William Aikman and Mr. Kotin, he co-authored the Legal Handbook for Day Care Centers, funded and published by the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1981. Mr. Crabtree also co-authored, with Eileen Hagerty, Special Education: Advocating on Behalf of Students and Parents,” published in MCLE's School Law in Massachusetts (2003; updated version pending 2007). In May 2005, Mr. Crabtree was a co-recipient, with Mr. Kotin, of the Martha Ziegler Founder's Award given by the Federation for Children with Special Needs, recognizing their part in the origins of Chapter 766 and their “decades of dedication to students with disabilities and their families.” Before founding Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Walter J. Skinner of the United States District Court for Massachusetts and worked in the litigation department of Herrick and Smith, a large Boston law firm that has since disbanded.
William S. Strong is the head of the firm's intellectual property practice. He graduated from Harvard College in 1973 magna cum laude and from Harvard Law School in 1977. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977; to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1984; and to the New Hampshire Bar in 1994. He is the author of The Copyright Book: A Practical Guide, now in its fifth edition; of the chapter on copyright in The Chicago Manual of Style; and of the chapter on legal issues in the Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing. His article, Database Protection After Feist v. Rural Telephone Co. appeared in the Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Vol. 42, No. 1, Fall 1994. From 1987 to 1996 he was Adjunct Professor of Copyright Law at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire. For many years, Mr. Strong has been active in the leadership of the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section and he has served on the Section's governing council . He has also been active in the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., serving as a Trustee and as head of the Society's New England chapter. Mr. Strong was a Trustee of the Boston Athenaeum from 1987 through 2004, and a Member of the Cambridge Arts Council Advisory Board from 1993-1999. He is a Trustee of the Charlotte Palmer Phillips Foundation, a Trustee and Treasurer of the Navigator Foundation, and an Overseer of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Dolph J. Vanderpol, Kotin, Crabtree & Strong's Managing Partner, concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate and general business law. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1972 and from Boston College Law School in 1976. Mr. Vanderpol was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977. His practice includes major real estate developments and large commercial lending transactions; he also represents numerous small businesses and individuals. Mr. Vanderpol has participated as a lecturer in several MCLE and other professional conferences concerning issues in real estate law. He is a member of the Real Estate Section of the Boston Bar Association, of the Property Law Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and of the Corporate Banking and Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Abbott L. Reichlin concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate, taxation, and general business law. He graduated with distinction (elected to Tau Beta Pi) from Cornell University in 1968 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1973. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1973. He received his Master's Degree in Taxation (valedictorian) from the Boston University School of Law in 1981. His business practice includes representing and advising technology, sales, manufacturing, service and professional organizations as well as non-profit and tax-exempt entities. Mr. Reichlin lectured at the annual Federal Tax Forum at Bentley College from 1990-1994 and served on the Forum's Advisory Board. He is a member of the Tax Section of the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association, and the Boston Tax Council, and serves on the Section Council of the Taxation Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Mr. Reichlin was the Treasurer and a Board Member of the Marblehead Summer Music Festival from 1991-1996 and has been a member of the Back Bay Chorale since 1989.
Anne L. Josephson concentrates her practice in the areas of employment law and litigation. She graduated magna cum laude from Smith College in 1973, and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated from Boston College Law School cum laude in 1977 where she was Editor-In-Chief of the Industrial and Commercial Law Review (now the Boston College Law Review). She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977. Ms. Josephson served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edward F. Hennessey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and subsequently as an Assistant Attorney General in the Government Bureau. She was a Teaching Fellow at Boston College Law School from 1980 to 1982. She has served on the Steering Committee of the Boston Bar Association's Labor and Employment Section, and as a Section Liaison to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. She completed the MCAD's Train the Trainer Program on Preventing Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace and its Program for Conducting Internal Complaint Investigations. Ms. Josephson has spoken on numerous continuing education panels presenting current issues in employment law. She has served on the Governing Board of the Law Clerks' Society of the Supreme Judicial Court since 2004. She has also served as a Member and Chair of the Atrium School's Board of Trustees and as a Board Member of Wide Horizons for Children. In 2006, she was named to the Wide Horizons for Children Advisory Board.
Joseph B. Green concentrates his practice in civil and criminal litigation, including special education law. He graduated from Yale University in 1969. After completing a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1976 and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977. After working in a Boston law firm, he was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County, where he served for ten years as Chief District Court Prosecutor and Director of Policy and Planning, as well as prosecuting criminal cases in Superior and District Court. Mr. Green also has experience in appellate litigation, having argued cases in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He has taught in the Clinical Program at Harvard Law School and in numerous continuing legal education courses. He has authored a book and several articles on evidence, trial practice and procedure, and criminal law, including Apprehending and Prosecuting the Drunk Driver, Matthew Bender, 1992; The Crime of Parental Kidnapping in Massachusetts: A Discussion of G.L. c. 265, §26A, Massachusetts Law Review, September, 1985; and Hearsay Exceptions When the Declarant is Unavailable and Hearsay Within Hearsay (MCLE 1984). Mr. Green has served on the Governor's/MBA Commission on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children, the Governor's Child Support Commission, the Commission on Violence Against Children, and the Subcommittee Reviewing Department of Social Services Procedures on Substantiation Review, Fair Hearings and the Central Registry. In 2001, Mr. Green was appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court as Special Counsel to the Committee on Responsibility for Clerks of Court. He serves as a volunteer Conciliator for civil cases in the Boston Municipal Court. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
Marie F. Mercier concentrates her practice in the area of commercial litigation, including real estate disputes, non-competition and related matters, personal injury law, and disability insurance law. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1979 and from Boston University School of Law magna cum laude in 1981. Ms. Mercier was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1981 and to the bar of the United States Claims Court in 1982. She is a member of the Civil Litigation Section of Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
Elizabeth J. Bailey heads the firm's estates and trusts practice. A 1967 cum laude graduate of Brown University, she received her law degree from Boston College Law School magna cum laude in 1980 and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1980. Since graduating from law school, she has concentrated her practice on representing individuals and couples in all aspects of planning and administering estates and trusts. She also has extensive experience in assisting parents in setting up trusts and guardianships for their children with special needs. She has served on the steering committee of the Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum and is active in the Boston Bar Association's Trusts and Estates Section.
Nicholas M. Kelley is a litigation partner with a concentration in a wide range of commercial matters, including real estate disputes. He also represents clients in academic discipline and accommodation cases and those seeking accommodations on standardized tests. He graduated from Harvard College in 1971, cum laude, and from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1974. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1974. Before entering private practice, he was a lawyer with Boston Legal Assistance Project and its successor Greater Boston Legal Services. He is a member of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, and the Litigation and College and University Law Sections of the Boston Bar Association. He participates in the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop and the Northeastern University School of Law Civil Trial Practice course.
René D. Varrin concentrates in the representation of small to mid-sized growth-oriented companies, providing the range of business and corporate legal services required for evolving businesses. Mr. Varrin also has broad experience in product licensing and distribution and executive compensation. He graduated with honors from Brown University in 1973 and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1976. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977. Mr. Varrin is a member of the Business Law Sections of the American Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association. He serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the White Mountain Adaptive Snow Sports School and as an adaptive ski instructor for that organization.
Sharen Litwin concentrates her practice in employment law and litigation. She graduated from Yeshiva University magna cum laude in 1972. She attended Columbia University on a University Fellowship in 1972 and 1973, receiving her M.A. in 1973. She graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1977. She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1978 and to the Massachusetts Bar in 1981. Prior to her affiliation with Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, Ms. Litwin was a litigation partner in a large Boston law firm. She has also served both as an Assistant District Attorney and as an Assistant United States Attorney. Ms. Litwin served as Co-Chair of the Boston Bar Association's Labor and Employment Section from September 2003 to September 2005, and served on its Steering Committee for over ten years in various leadership roles. She is currently Co-Chair of the Labor and Employment Section's Equal Employment Opportunity/Individual Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Ms. Litwin has written a number of articles on employment law issues, including co-authoring a chapter in the Massachusetts Employment Law Series on Common Law Claims in the Employment Context and authoring an article in a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education publication on Employees' Right to Privacy in the Workplace (December 2006). Ms. Litwin has also lectured extensively on employment law issues at the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the National Employment Lawyers' Association. Ms. Litwin is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association and the National and Massachusetts Employment Lawyers' Associations. Ms. Litwin completed the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination's Train the Trainer Program on Preventing Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace and its Program for Conducting Internal Complaint Investigations.
Eileen M. Hagerty concentrates her practice in special education law and civil litigation. She represents parents and students at all stages of the special education process, from pre-litigation advice through mediations, administrative hearings, court proceedings, and appeals. Ms. Hagerty graduated with an A.B. summa cum laude in 1973 from the University of Detroit , where she was a member of the Gamma Pi Epsilon (now Alpha Sigma Nu) and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies. She received an A.M. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University in 1974, and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1982. In 1982-1983, she served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Frederick B. Lacey of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar and to the bars of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the United States Court of Appeal for the First Circuit in 1983. Ms. Hagerty is also a member of the bars of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Ninth Circuits. She has worked as a litigation associate in a large Boston firm; as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts; as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston; and she was co-founding partner of a small Boston litigation firm (Kern, Sosman, Hagerty, Roach & Carpenter, P.C.). Ms. Hagerty participates in various public service activities, including serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Advocates for Children. She lectures and writes frequently on topics in special education law, including co-authoring with Robert Crabtree Special Education: Advocating on Behalf of Students and Parents in School Law in Massachusetts (MCLE 2003; updated version pending, 2007). She is also the author of “Pre-Deposition Motions,” in the Massachusetts Deposition Practice Manual (MCLE 2001) and of numerous commentaries in the Massachusetts Special Education Reporter.
Daniel T.S. Heffernan concentrates his practice in personal injury, special education, and commercial litigation. He graduated magna cum laude in 1981 from Boston College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1987. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1987. He has extensive trial experience, representing both plaintiffs and defendants, including individuals with disabilities, in complex personal injury, medical malpractice, civil rights, product liability and commercial litigation, both in Massachusetts and throughout the United States. Prior to joining Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, Mr. Heffernan was a partner in Weisman & Associates. He serves on the faculty of Harvard Law School 's Trial Advocacy Program, instructing law students in trial preparation and trial techniques. Since 1995 he has served as the President of the Board of Directors of the Federation for Children with Special Needs, and in 2002 he received the Dr. Allen C. Crocker Award of Excellence from the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. From 1995 to 2000, he served as the President of the Board of Directors of Community Legal Services and Counseling Center. Mr. Heffernan is a Corporate Member of the Greater Boston Legal Services and has been a Hearing Officer at the Board of Bar Overseers.