News
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Partner Presents for New England Home Care and Hospice Conference and Trade Show Virtually
Katherine Hesse, a partner with Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP presented for the New England Home Care and Hospice Conference virtually last month. Her topic was “Legal Considerations Moving from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Rachel Mills, an associate at MHTL assisted with answering questions at the end of the session. The topics that Ms. Hesse focused on were employee compensation, flexible schedules and what remote-work policies look like going forward. Potential legal implications agency might face when addressing staff vaccination hesitancy was also discussed. Katherine Hesse ended the session with a segment called “what does the future hold?”, where she outlined possible litigations, claims, policies and more that are likely to happen in the future, before joining a virtual speed networking event with Attorney Mills. Other sessions that were held during this webcast were “Revolutionizing Clinician Retention with a Points Compensation Model”, “Blind Spots of Diversity, Inclusion & Implicit Bias’ Caregiving Responsibilities” and “Implementing a Unique Palliative Care Program”.
Katherine Hesse is one of the founding partners of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP. Ms. Hesse concentrates her practice primarily in labor and employment and employee benefits law serving as counsel to individuals, business, government, and tax-exempt organizations including hospitals, colleges, churches, and major private and public retirement and health plans. She has litigated numerous employment and benefits cases before the state and federal trial and appellate courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators. Ms. Hesse was a recipient of the Cushing-Gavin Award for excellence in providing management labor relations legal counsel. She also heads the team of attorneys that was named the only firm in New England and one of only eleven in the United States on the special ERISA fiduciary litigation panel for one of the world’s largest insurance companies. Ms. Hesse is a graduate of Smith College and the Boston University School of Law. She is admitted to the Bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ms. Mills Ms. Mills practices in the areas of labor and employment and municipal law. In her labor and employment practice, Ms. Mills represents both private and public employers. Ms. Mills has done work in the areas of land use, public records, open meeting law, and conflict of interest law. Ms. Mills has also represented municipalities in various litigation matters, including zoning enforcement and contract disputes. Ms. Mills graduated summa cum laude from Boston College in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in French. She received her Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University School of Law in 2019. During law school, Ms. Mills participated in the Prisoners’ Rights Clinic and was a member of the Law Review. She held internships at the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts working with Magistrate Judge Kelley and at Veterans Legal Services in Boston. Prior to joining the firm full time, Ms. Mills served as a summer associate at MHTL during her time in law school. She is a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association.
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.

Braintree, MA
50 Braintree Hill Office Park, Suite 410,
Braintree, MA 02184
Boston, MA
75-101 Federal Street
Boston, MA 02110
Tel: (617) 479-5000
Tel: (888) 841-4850
Fax: (617) 479-6469
Quincy, MA
Crown Colony Plaza
300 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 410
P.O. Box 9126
Quincy, MA 02169-9126