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Attorney Karis North from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP recently presented a training for the Massachusetts Select Board Association (“MSA”). The training, held in Devens, targeted newly elected select board members, although any select board member was welcome to attend for a refresher or to network with colleagues. Members of the MSA Board of Directors began the training with an informal roundtable discussion titled “You’ve Been Elected, Now What?”, during which, veteran select board members shared their experiences and took questions from attendees. Attorney North’s presentation focused on an introduction to Open Meeting and Public Records Law. Additional sessions included “Municipal Finance and Budgeting 101” presented by the finance director for Westwood, and “Collaborative Decision Making” presented by the town manager of Arlington.

Karis L. North is an attorney at the Firm and has been practicing municipal and public sector law since 2006 and has over twenty years of experience counseling and resolving complex disputes for public clients. She is also an experienced litigator on behalf of municipalities and municipal agencies, private parties, and non-profit organizations. Her practice is focused on counseling and advocacy on behalf of municipal governments and agencies. She is the Town Counsel to the Town of Natick, and Special Counsel to the Towns of Dartmouth and Cohasset. In addition, she represents the Towns of Norwood, Milton, and Danvers, among others. Ms. North has a B.S. from Cornell University and received her J.D. cum laude from Vermont Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Vermont Law Review.  She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Massachusetts, Maryland, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. Active in the community, Ms. North is Vice President of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyer’s Association and a member of the Vermont Law School Board of Trustees, where she chairs the Governance Committee.  She was also appointed to the inaugural Plymouth County Commission on the Status of Women and elected to the position of Chairwoman by her sister Commissioners.