Resume

Law Office of Paul H. Merry, Esq.;
50 Congress Street, Suite 1000
Boston, MA 02109

Office: (617) 720-2400

FAX: (617) 742-1887

2000- Present

Law Offices of Paul H. Merry, Esq.;

Civil Litigation concentrating in Employment Law, discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge before all state and federal courts and administrative agencies in Massachusetts.

Adjunct Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School

President, Massachusetts Employment Lawyers' Association

Employment Law Specialist, University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. Curriculum design, training and consultant on employment law issues for public sector employers.

A-V Rated

1998- 2000

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. General and Special Counsel; chief of Enforcement Division.

Advise three Commissioners on all legal matters affecting state anti-discrimination agency; supervise and train seven commission counsel and some 25 investigative personnel. As special counsel, conduct public hearing, pre-hearing certification conferences, appeals from single commissioners and hearing officers.

1996-1998

Law Office of Paul H. Merry, Esq.

Civil litigation in all Massachusetts courts, United States District Court, and administrative agencies of the Commonwealth, concentrating in employee-side age, disability, sex and race discrimination, wrongful discharge and other employment law claims.

1990-1996

Garrity, Levin & Muir

Civil litigation with emphasis on employee-side employment discrimination in Federal District and Superior Courts, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; appeals to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, United States First Circuit Court of Appeals.

1983-1990

Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Massachusetts Department of Attorney General.

Housing abuse, adoption service fraud, education and employment counseling abuse prosecutions. Auto repair and sales fraud prosecution. Bankruptcy practice. Multi-state cooperative enforcement. Extensive negotiation, motion, trial practice.

1980-1983

Assistant Attorney General, Division of Public Charities, Massachusetts Department of Attorney General.

Deceptive charitable solicitations prosecution, including police solicitation. Guardianship litigation. Special prosecutor, Norfolk and Essex County Civil and District Court criminal trials. Health care law.

1979-1980

Law Clerk to the Justices, Superior Court Department, Trial Court of the Commonwealth. Legal research, litigation support and opinion drafting for some twenty trial court judges.

EDUCATION

J.D., Cum Laude, Suffolk University Law School, June, 1979; Dean's List, top fifteen percent of class. Member, Suffolk University Law Review.

B.A., Harvard College, 1966: English.

PUBLICATIONS

"Developing Electronic Evidence," Practical Litigator, Spring, 2003

MCAD Citator 2003, (Co-editor)Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, December 2002

"Stalking the Elusive Electron: Developing Electronic Evidence," Annual Convention, American Bar Association, 2002

"Two Years of Living Dangerously: Life as General Counsel of a state Anti-Discrimination Agency," Employee Rights Quarterly, Aspen Publishers, Inc., Spring, 2002.

"Change in Court Rules would Assure Preservation of Electronic Evidence," Massachusetts Lawyers’ Weekly, Feb. 12, 2001 at B3,(29 M.L.W. 1331)

"Changes are needed in the discovery rules to maximize benefits from electronic communications," Federal Discovery News, LRP Publications, December 2000.

"Advising Workers Who Are Being Discriminated Against by Their Current Employers," 2 Inside Employee Rights Litigation 1 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) November, 1997

"Gold for the Golden Years? Evaluating Possible Age Discrimination Claims," Representing WorkersUnder the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, National Employment Lawyers’ Association, November, 1997

Survey of recent disability law decisions, "Employment Law UpDate 1997", Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, October, 1997

"How to Evaluate an Age Discrimination Claim," The ElderLaw Report, February, 1997

"Just Cause Termination: The Employee’s Viewpoint", Massachusetts Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Newsletter, March 1996

"Notes on Deposition Practice," in Civil Deposition Practice: Winning Before Trial, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, Inc., 1990

"Fourteen States Bring AAMCO Transmissions’ Unfair Practices to a Grinding Halt," National Association of Attorneys General Consumer Protection Report, March, 1987

"Protecting Consumers from Business Failure: Should a Business be Required to Disclose its Financial Distress?"; with Prof. Dwight Golann, Suffolk University Law School; Boston Bar Journal, 1986

"Recoupment of AFDC Overpayments Permissible Where ‘Disregarded’ Income Available to Offset Assistance Reduction," Case Comment, 13 Suffolk U. L. Rev., Spring, 1979

BAR

Admitted to practice before the Supreme Judicial ADMISSIONS Court and all courts of the Commonwealth (1979) and before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

BAR ASSOCIATIONS

National Employment Lawyers’ Association

National and Massachusetts Chapters; Massachusetts Bar Association

Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation

HONORS

Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Class of 2001

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

President, Board of Trustees, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, 2001-2004

Vice-chair, Massachusetts Employment Lawyers’ Association, 2002-2004

Member, Board of Trustees and chair of Program Committee, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, 1994-Present

Member, Massachusetts Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee Subcommittee for Drafting MCAD Parental Leave Guidelines, 1998

Member, Steering Committee, Labor and Employment Law Section, Boston Bar Association, 1997-1999

Speaker, Trends in MCAD Discrimination Decisions, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, December, 2002

Speaker on ethics and electronic communications, American Bar Association Labor and Employment Section, Technology Committee, Mid-year Meeting, May 15-17, 2002, Boston, Massachusetts

Panelist, Recent Developments in Federal Employment Law, Massachusetts Bar Association, October, 2001

Panelist, Conference on Rules to cover Computer-based Discovery, Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure, United States Courts; Brooklyn, N.Y., Oct. 2000

Panelist, MCAD Mock Trial Program, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, April, 2000

Panelist, MCAD Certification Training Program, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, December, 1999

Panelist, MCAD Regulations Training, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, 1999

Speaker, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Sexual Harassment Seminar, October, 1999

Panelist, Recent Developments in Disability Law, American Bar Association, October 22, 1998

Chair, Sexual Harassment Update Program, Massachusetts Bar Association, October, 1998

Panelist, MBA Lunchtime seminar on Duty of Fair Representation, December, 1998

Panelist, Employment Discrimination Update 97, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, 1997

Co-chair, Taking Depositions Workshop, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation, 1995-2000

Co-Editor, Labor and Employment Law Section Newsletter, Boston Bar Association, 1996-98

Member, Massachusetts Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee Subcommittee for Drafting MCAD Disability Law Guidelines, 1996

Chair, Legislative Committee, Massachusetts Chapter, National Employment Lawyers Association 1991-1996

Chair, Massachusetts Bar Association Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, 1992-94

Chair, Consumer Rights Committee, Massachusetts Bar Association, 1990-1992

Member, Drafting Subcommittee, Legislative Commission on Psychotherapist Sexual Abuse, 1990-1992

Panelist, Massachusetts Bar Association Annual Employment Law Conference, May, 1992.

Chair, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Foundation Seminar on Age Discrimination Law, 1992

PRIOR EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE

Chief, State House Bureau; Weekly Columnist; Courts, Middlesex County Reporter, Editor of Life Department, The Sun, Lowell, Massachusetts 1976-1979

Reporter for Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union, Waltham News-Tribune; Correspondent for Boston Herald 1970-1975

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Elected Member, Town Meeting, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 2002-04

At-Large Member, Executive Committee, Wellesley Democratic Town Committee, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 2002-present

Member, Personnel Committee, St. Andrews’ Parish, Wellesley, 2000-Present

Program Committee, World of Wellesley, 2002

Asst. Leader, Parish Youth Group, St. Andrews’ Parish, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1997-2000

Vestry, St. Andrews’ Parish, Wellesley, MA 1993-4

Past Commodore, Luders 33 Association

Past Commodore, New England Triton Association

Member, New Bedford Yacht Club

Wellesley Choral Society 1990-present

Wellesley College Collegium Musicum, 1996-99; 2002-present

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Wellesley: substitute bass soloist, 2001-present

Roman Music Festival Chorus, 1997-2001

Troop Committee, Troop 186, Boy Scouts of America 1991-1994

MISCELLANEOUS

Vertrauensanwalt (Referral Attorney), Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, Boston

Fluent German, French; functional Spanish

05-03