Nothing spooky this October. We are pleased to once again celebrate the selection of several of our attorneys as Super Lawyers® or Rising Stars® in their fields. Donna Brewer, Ivria Fried, and Christopher Brown are Super Lawyers in the State, Local, & Municipal practice area, while Ethan Dively and Anthony Riley are Rising Stars in the Land Use/Zoning practice area. We are justly proud that our lawyers’ expertise is recognized by our peers.

More than six years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, litigation arising from pandemic-related employment decisions continues to work its way through the judicial system. While vaccination mandates and other COVID-related workplace restrictions are largely behind us, case law continues to provide guidance to municipal employers on broader issues that remain relevant today. In Jangl v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, decided October 15,

An Act Promoting Rule of Law, Oversight, Trust and Equal Constitutional Treatment (the PROTECT Act), Ch. 163 of the Acts of 2026, signed by the Governor on August 5, 2026, establishes a framework governing interactions between state and local officials and federal civil immigration enforcement authorities. While not exclusively directed at municipalities, numerous provisions of the PROTECT Act affect municipal governments, police departments, schools, and childcare providers,

In a case of considerable interest to municipalities, the Supreme Judicial Court in Town of Nahant v. Northeastern University, decided September 3, 2026, declined to find that the Town acted in bad faith when it took a conservation easement after learning of a property owner’s plan to undertake a large building construction project. Northeastern University, the property owner, contested the taking on the grounds that the Town had taken the interest in the land for the sole, b