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Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

• Miss Lillian ‘testifies’: Why witness prep is so important December 6, 2025
  Preparing witnesses is one of the most important parts of trial work, yet too often it’s shortchanged or ignored entirely.
• New York Times sues Pentagon over Defense Secretary Hegseth’s media rules December 5, 2025
  The New York Times sued the Pentagon, claiming new media-credential rules violate First Amendment and due process rights by allowing officials to ban reporters.
• Testimony at Brian Walshe murder trial details affair his wife was having before she vanished December 5, 2025
  The focus in the murder trial of Brian Walshe turned on Dec. 4 to an affair his wife was having before he allegedly killed and dismembered her on New Year’s Day 2023.
• Judge voids packaging patents over inequitable conduct December 5, 2025
  A federal judge invalidated Inline Plastics’ entire patent family after finding inequitable conduct and intentional deception in prosecuting tamper-evident packaging patents.
• Insurance – Rental car benefits – Class certification December 5, 2025
  Where plaintiffs who allege that the defendant insurance company breached auto insurance policies by limiting rental car benefits have filed a motion for class certification, that motion should be allowed under 23(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure but denied under Rule 23(b)(2).
• Retirement – Accidental disability December 5, 2025
  Where the Hampshire County Retirement Board denied an application for accidental disability retirement benefits filed by a paraprofessional who was injured while picking up her bag of books, that decision should be reversed.
• Civil practice – Mootness December 5, 2025
  Where a complaint was dismissed as moot following the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, 585 U.S. 878, 930 (2018), a remand must be ordered for the lower court to consider the plaintiff’s argument regarding the bearing of counsel fees on the mootness analysis.
• Criminal – Effectiveness of counsel – Plea negotiations December 5, 2025
  Where a defendant convicted of first-degree murder sought a new trial claiming that his trial counsel ignored his instruction to explore with the prosecutor the possibility of pleading guilty to second-degree murder, an order denying the defendant’s motion for a new trial should be affirmed because the defendant failed to show a reasonable probability that […]
• Arbitration – Interim order December 5, 2025
  Where (1) a Superior Court judge refused to confirm an interim arbitration order in favor of the plaintiff, ruling as a matter of law that he lacked the authority to confirm an interim arbitration order, and (2) a single justice of the Appeals Court, concluding to the contrary that the Superior Court judge had such […]
• Real property – Settlement agreement December 4, 2025
  Where plaintiffs alleged breach of a settlement agreement, a Superior Court judgment in their favor should be affirmed despite the defendants’ contention that performance under the agreement was rendered impossible, or at least was frustrated, by an intervening Land Court judgment.