Massachusetts Lawyer Blog

Recent Posts from Massachusetts Lawyer Blog

• Beware, LinkedIn Reviews and Employment Law Issues

  Sarah Randag, recently posted on the ABA Journal a labor and employment law post, LinkedIn Reviews Can Come Back to Haunt Employers, Lawyers Say, which opens with,Management-side employment lawyers are advising their clients against writing…

• Self-Employment Income and Massachusetts Child Support in Divorce or Divorce Modification, Not Always What You Think or Report to the IRS or MA DOR

  Modification of a MA child support order was recently discussed in the Massachusetts Appeals Court case, Kenneth R. Whelan vs. Kathleen A. Whelan. One of the issues discussed in this case involved self-employment income as…

• Kevin Whitaker featured in Patriot Ledger for Blog on Privacy Law and Policy

  Thank you to the Patriot Ledger and Reporter Julie Onufrak for covering my Privacy Law and Policy Blog in today's business section, Weymouth lawyer blogging about the Internet and privacy. It was a pleasure to…

• U.S. Supreme Court Allows Defendants to Confront Forensic Analysts Preparing Reports for Trial

  The U.S. Supreme Court in, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (PDF), concludes, "[t]he Sixth Amendment does not permit the prosecution to prove its case via ex parte out-of-court affidavits[.]" Thus, MA defendants and defense attorneys will now…

• Anectdotal Evidence and Local Statistics Indicate We Haven't Reached the Bottom Yet In and Around Boston, MA

  Law and business clients often ask, "Have we reached the bottom, yet?" The number of bankruptcy inquiries, loan workout requests, short-sale questions, employment termination calls, and divorce consultations our law firm is receiving makes me…

• The word "Irrevocable" in a Trust is Not Enough to Protect Assets from Medicaid

  A recent MA appeals court decision found that an irrevocable trust that states the trustees, under no circumstances, were to make distributions of principal from the trust to the settlor, may still count as a…

• MA Medical Negligence and Recent SJC Opinion on Third Party Liability Limits

  In Coombes v. Florio, 450 Mass. 182 (2007), a physician owed a duty of reasonable care to those foreseeability put at risk by a doctor’s failure to warn the patient of the side effects of…

• Massachusetts Divorce Agreement and Reasonable College Expenses

  Does your Massachusetts divorce agreement have a provision that addresses disagreements regarding the college selection process or does it tightly define what are reasonable education costs? Perhaps it should. With a number of colleges now…

• Privacy Law and Policy Blog Up

  My new Privacy Law and Policy blog is underway. This blog examines privacy law issues that include:Privacy RightsPrivacy InvasionsSecurity Breaches and CrimesOpen GovernmentI help individuals in civil and criminal matters and represents municipalities and businesses…

• Beneficiary Forms and Divorce: Plan's Payout To Ex-Spouse Proper Despite Contrary Divorce Decree

  During a divorce, spouses often enter into an agreement which becomes a court order pertaining to their assets and property rights. Some agreements include a waiver of certain future retirement benefits or other payments. This…