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Partners Michael Maccaro and Katherine Hesse of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP  presented at the Massachusetts Municipal Human Resources (“MMHR”) Annual Fall Conference on September 21, 2023. Their presentation, titled “Getting to Yes: Collective Bargaining Fundamentals”, outlined the essential steps to take when preparing for and negotiating collective bargaining agreements.

Attorney Maccaro’s practice is focused on the areas of labor and employment in the public and private sector, litigation, and employee benefits. Prior to joining Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP, Mr. Maccaro served as Associate General Counsel for a large public sector labor union.  He has litigated numerous matters, negotiated hundreds of contracts and has argued before various state courts, appellate courts, and administrative agencies throughout New England.  Mr. Maccaro has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Massachusetts School of Law where he has taught legal writing and appellate advocacy. He is the 2019 recipient of the Cushing-Gavin Award for excellence in providing management labor relations legal counsel. Attorney Maccaro is also involved with training new lawyers on arbitration best practices. He graduated from Bates College in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Chemistry and received his Juris Doctor in 2004 from Northeastern University School of Law.

Ms. Hesse practices primarily in labor, employment and employee benefits law. She serves as counsel to Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses, government, tax-exempt organizations and large Taft-Hartley and governmental trusts. She advises clients on employment and benefits issues, and has litigated employment and benefits cases before state and federal trial and appellate courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators. Ms. Hesse also served as a professional trustee for public and Taft-Hartley trust funds and as an expert witness, mediator and arbitrator of benefit fund disputes. She led her team of attorneys to be named the only firm in New England and one of only 11 in the United States to the special ERISA fiduciary litigation panel for one of the world’s largest insurance companies. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Foundation and as Chair of its Government Liaison Committee, and sits on the editorial board of Benefits Quarterly and speaks and writes regularly on employment and benefits issues. Ms. Hesse, a CEBS Compliant ISCEBS Fellow, was inducted into the ISCEBS Hall of Fame in 2018. She received her B.A. degree from Smith College and her J.D. degree from the Boston University School of Law.