Karen D. Hurvitz

Education

University Of Pennsylvania
B.A., cum laude, 1972
Major: Russian language, literature and history

State University OF Leningrad
Language Degree, 1972

Georgetown University Law Center
J.D., 1978

Georgetown University Law Center
LL.M., 1980
E. Barrett Prettyman Graduate Fellow

Certified Rule 8 Mediator
2007

Experience

Law Offices of Karen D. Hurvitz, Boston, MA
Principal (8/1999 – present)
Manager of small firm practice with emphasis on criminal defense, commercial litigation, medical malpractice defense, and employment law, in state and federal courts. Plaintiff's lawyer in KPS & Assoc. v Designs by FMC, 318 F3d 1 (1st Cir. 2003), cited as most important consumer protection case of the year by Lawyers Weekly, expanding the reaches of MGLc93A.

Suffolk University Law School Voluntary Defenders Program, Boston, MA
Director (8/1999 – 8/2003)
Director of third year trial practice program in which students represented indigents charged with misdemeanors. Developed curriculum; taught weekly substantive and procedural criminal law classes to defender students; conducted joint skills classes with both defender and prosecutor students; hired, trained, and oversaw all trial supervisors; and expanded the program from 3 to 5 District Courts.

Gaffin & Krattenmaker, P.C., Boston, MA
Of Counsel (9/1995 – 8/1999)
Represented employees and employers, medical malpractice defendants, clients appearing before municipal boards and commissions, and white collar criminal defendants in federal and state courts.

Sinsheimer, Levine & Hurvitz, Boston, MA
Partner (2/1992 –8/1995)
Partner in general civil and criminal litigation practice in federal and state courts, at trial and appellate levels.

Berlin, Clarey, Boston, MA
Partner (2/1985 –2/1992)
Partner, specializing in federal and state litigation. Town Counsel to Town of Townsend 1985 – 1989 (negotiated contracts, provided legal opinions for all departments, boards and commissions, conducted labor negotiations, represented Townsend and its officials in state and federal court and before administrative agencies.)

American Arbitration Association, Boston, MA
Arbitrator (2/1984 – 6/1999)
Arbitrator in sole and multiple member panels in commercial, labor, and negligence cases (accepted appointments while working at law firms herein listed).

Hochberg & Schultz, P.C., Boston, MA
Associate (2/1981 – 2/1985)
Associate with 5 person commercial law firm. Represented businesses and banks in loan documentation and collection, and plaintiffs and defendants in negligence and employment cases. As associate Town Counsel, represented the Town of Townsend in all litigation, with emphasis in labor, zoning, civil rights. Handled all firm’s state and federal criminal work.

Michael Avery, Esq., Boston, MA
Associate (9/1979 – 1/1981)
Associate in general practice concentrating in federal civil rights litigation against police and municipalities, and criminal defense work. Located eye witness who identified the real killer in Com. v. Lawyer Johnson, 13 Mass. App. Ct. 10 (1982) and obtained client's release from prison 10 years post-conviction. Lawyer Johnson was one of the first exonerated defendants in Massachusetts.

National Institute for Trial Advocacy, Durham, N.C.
Attorney (8/1979)
Faculty attorney for intensive trial training program for practicing attorneys.

E. Barrett Prettyman Legal Intern Program, Georgetown Law School
Legal Internship (8/1977 – 8/1979)
One of 4 attorneys selected nationwide for 2-year graduate fellowship. 1st year practiced full-time in federal and local courts representing felony defendants at trial and appellate levels and providing post-conviction representation to inmates at Lorton Reformatory. 2nd year taught law and skills classes to 3rd year students in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and supervised them in their representation of juveniles in CHINS and delinquency cases in District of Columbia Superior Court.

Federal Trade Commission, Antitrust Section, Washington, D.C.
Associate (9/1976 – 8/1977)
Reviewed contemplated mergers and acquisitions in the petroleum industry for antitrust violations; prosecuted monopolization cases.

Phillip J. Hirschkop & Associates, Alexandria, VA
Law Clerk (1/1975 – 5/1976)
Law clerk, civil and criminal cases; investigated cases and drafted briefs in criminal cases and in cases against municipalities for violations of civil rights.

Center for Auto Safety, Washington, D.C.
Law Clerk (5/1974 – 12/1974)
Law clerk for Ralph Nader affiliated auto safety advocacy group: headed Airbag Project, which resulted in mandatory installation of driver and passenger front airbags, and 50 MPH Crashworthiness Project; wrote articles and lobbied for auto safety law reform.

Professional Affiliations

Member, Board of Directors of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice since its inception.  SLJ was formed in 2000 to administer the delivery of criminal defense services to indigent people in Suffolk County. It is a non-profit operating under contract with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS).

Boston Bar Association Mediation Program: Pre-Trial Conferencer and Mediator for civil cases in the Boston Municipal Court

Member, Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Boston Bar Association, American Bar Association

Member of Bars of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, First Circuit, Fourth Circuit, D.C. Circuit, Supreme Court of the United States

Legal Publications

"Law and Tactics of Other Crimes Evidence", Criminal Defense Techniques (1980), Chapter 26A (with William Genego and Eva Nilsen).