News
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Welcome New Associate
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, LLP is pleased to announce the addition of a new associate attorney. Brendan Collins is a recent graduate of Notre Dame Law School and is currently awaiting results from the Massachusetts Bar Exam. He will be practicing in the Labor and Employment Department at MHTL.
Brendan was born outside San Francisco, California and attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Ma. Prior to law school, Brendan provided legal aid to marginalized communities in San Antonio, TX at Catholic Charities through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. In particular, Brendan was a Court Monitor in Bexar County, which involved checking the wellbeing of adults under legal guardianship, and also a legal assistant for Catholic Charities in their needed work.
While at Notre Dame Law School, Brendan spent three years working to advance the rights of the LGBTQ community at Notre Dame by holding leadership positions on the law school’s LGBT Law Forum. As a 2L, Brendan helped organize an event that hosted Jim Obergefell, a named Plaintiff from the landmark marriage equality case, which was one of the most attended events in the law school’s history. Brendan also was a member of the LGBT Bar Association, and secured funding for eight Notre Dame Law Students student to be able to attend the Lavender Law Career Fair in the summer of 2019. As a 3L, Brendan was the President of the LGBT Law Forum and organized a symposium to discuss Title VII prior to the Supreme Court’s decision Bostock v. Clayton County.
During law school, Brendan spent a semester working in Washington, DC in the Office of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior. Brendan was also a member of the Journal of Legislation and his Note, Back to the Farm: A Call to Re-Invigorate New York City’s Biosolid Program, was published in 2019.
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Partner Prevails in U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Attorney Felicia Vasudevan, a partner at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP, received a favorable decision on behalf of her client, Marshfield Public Schools. The Plaintiff appealed the district court’s judgement that upheld a decision of the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals (“BSEA”). However, as the notice was filed more than 30 days after entry, the First Circuit ultimately dismissed the appeal for being untimely. The Plaintiff also appealed the district court’s order, denying her motion to vacate. Read More
New Features of Public Participation at School Committee Meetings
Following our Alert from March 16, 2023, Civility is Dead – The Supreme Court Rules Municipal Control of Public Speak Limited to Reasonable Time/Place/Manner Restrictions, which discussed the holding to the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Barron v. Kolenda and the Town of Southborough (SJC-13284), we promised to bring you more detailed guidance on developing a Public Speak policy for your public body or municipality. The Barron case involved a constitutional challenge to the Town of Southborough’s public comment policy, which attempted to impose a code of civility on members of the public who participated in public comment before public bodies. In Barron, the court interpreted the state constitution to mean that public bodies may request, but not require, that public commentators be respectful and courteous. Instead, a public body may set restrictions on reasonable time, place, and manner comments to ensure that the meeting retains an orderly and peaceable manner.
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