Katherine A. Robertson

Biography:

Katy Robertson is coordinator of the firm’s appellate practice group and a member of its employment and health law practice groups. She focuses her practice in general civil trial work, with concentrations in business litigation matters, including shareholder disputes, securities litigation, and intra- and inter-company disputes, and in employment litigation, where she has represented clients in federal and state courts, as well as before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also regularly counsels public sector and non-profit clients on strategies to avoid litigation and has conducted training sessions for managers and line employees on compliance with state and federal laws related to employment.

In 2007, Governor Deval Patrick appointed Katy to the Judicial Nominating Commission, a 21-member committee that recommends individuals for appointment as judges at all levels of the state court system. In 2010, the judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts appointed Katy to a Merit Selection Committee, an 8-member committee charged with making a recommendation on the reappointment application of a federal Magistrate Judge. She also serves on the editorial board of the Massachusetts Law Review and on the Advisory Committee to the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court. She has chaired continuing legal education programs for the Massachusetts Bar Association on the discovery of electronically stored information and participated as a panelist in a number of other programs related to discovery and other aspects of civil litigation.

Related Professional Experience:

Following law school, Ms. Robertson worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank H. Freedman, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and for the Honorable John M. Greaney, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Publications:

Co-Author: “Massachusetts Jury Instructions: Civil” (Michie, 1997)

Author: “Civil Law: Coercion Under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act”,
Massachusetts Law Review, Winter 2005

Affirmative Action – Fourteenth Amendment – Public Educational Institutions:  Wessmann v. Gittens, Massachusetts Law Review, Fall 1999

Representative Experience:

Obtained summary judgment for the majority shareholder on a minority shareholder’s claims of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and wrongful termination and on the majority shareholder’s counterclaim for breach of contract and obtained summary affirmance of the judgment on appeal.

Won a defense verdict for a newspaper company in a jury trial in a case involving claims of gender discrimination and retaliation.

Obtained a lack of probable cause determination for a hospital and four individual hospital administrators in a case involving claims of discrimination on the basis of race, religion and sexual orientation.

Obtained a 7-figure settlement on claims of age discrimination and retaliation for an in-house lawyer and labor negotiator employed by a local company whose employment was terminated after some 20 years.

Represented a local company with respect to claims and counterclaims arising from the failed implementation of an ERP system.