July 22, 2014: Attorney Lauren F. Goldberg will present the municipal perspective at a seminar sponsored by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on the topic of "Transparency and Transition: the Public Records Law & Records Retention." Attorney Goldberg will provide guidance based on her years of experience in meeting the special challenges to a municipal records custodian whenever there is a change in the particular elected or appointed person holding that position

June 24, 2014: Attorney Jeffrey T. Blake successfully defended the City of Amesbury in a taxpayer's suit in Land Court seeking to recover more than $230,000 in alleged wrongfully assessed real property taxes. Amesburyport Corp. sought a refund of approximately $230,000 in taxes already paid on the Hatter Point Condominiums. With interest, this claim could have amounted to in excess of $400,000. Now that the appeal period from the decision of the Land Court has expired, the Land Court decision has become final. The City prevailed in its argument that Amesburyport Corp. was properly assessed the tax, and that the corporation's failure to have timely filed an appeal of the assessment could not be circumvented by suing for a declaration of tax liability.

June 17, 2014: Attorney Michele E. Randazzo secured a significant victory in favor of the Town of Dennis in a case involving the ever-challenging issue of wind turbine siting. In the recent decision from the Appellate Division of the District Court Department, Aquacultural Research Corp. & Town of Dennis v. Old King's Highway Regional Historic District Commission, et al., the court ruled that the mere fact that the plaintiff, a property owner who lived in the vicinity of a proposed wind turbine, asserted that she was a "visual abutter" to the project, was insufficient to create the necessary legal standing to allow her to appeal the permit from the Dennis Historic District Committee to erect the wind turbine to which she objected. While the decision is particular to the Old King's Highway Regional Historic District, established under a special act of the State Legislature in 1973, the appellate court adopted long-recognized principles of standing from other similar land use permit statutes to conclude that the neighboring property owner in this instance had failed to prove the type of specific injury needed to qualify as a "person aggrieved," and rejected the asserted status as a "visual abutter" as a legally recognized concept. For news coverage of this case, see http://capecod.wickedlocal.com/article/20140604/NEWS/140608723 and http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140604/NEWS/406040329.

June 2, 2014: Kopelman and Paige attorneys, Jackie Cowin, Janelle Austin, Megan Bayer and Tim Zessin, and executive assistant Kate Welch, participated in the Lawyers Have Heart 5K walk/run in Boston to raise money for the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. This is a significant annual event to benefit two very important causes, this year including more than 2,000 participants. We are very pleased to know that it raised $319,417.

June 2, 2014: Kopelman and Paige's Jonathan Silverstein, who leads the firm's Expanded Gaming and Casino practice, recently secured a victory for the Town of West Springfield in the first ever "surrounding community arbitration" regarding a Casino proposal by MGM Resorts, to be developed in Springfield. Under the Commonwealth's Expanded Gaming Act, casino developer's must enter into agreements with nearby communities that will experience significant adverse impacts as a result of the casino development. If the parties are unable to reach agreement, the issue is to be resolved through binding arbitration, pursuant to regulations adopted by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

After West Springfield and MGM were unable to agree upon the terms of a surrounding community agreement, they proceeded to arbitration before a panel of three retired judges. The parties submitted extensive briefings and evidence and appeared for a full-day arbitration, after which the arbitral panel unanimously found in favor of the town. The result is millions of dollars in additional payments to the Town during the course of the initial license term and the added benefit of many more millions of dollars in additional payments upon renewal of MGM's license. For highlights of the arbitration decision, including the additional payments over those in the MGM proposal, click HERE.

April 25, 2014: Attorney Janet Pumphrey's review of two books on writing as recently been published by the Massachusetts Law Review in Volume 95, number 2. The first book reviewed is entitled Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates, by Ross Guberman, and is written for lawyers, using extensive examples of excellent legal writing. The second book, entitled How to Write a Sentence, by Stanley Fish, is a book about writing for all writers and is as much about how to read a sentence as it is about how to write one.

February 3, 2014: It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Meeting and Trade Show on January 24-25 in Boston. We prepared several new updates for the meeting, which were found at both of our trade show booths. The topics covered a wide range of legal issues, including:

• The Affordable Care ACT ("ACT"), New Employer Mandates, and Impacts on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Plans
  
• An Overview of Energy Management Services Contracts
  
• An Overview of Municipal Aggregation
• Important Changes to HIPAA
• New CORI Requirements
• Price Adjustment Clause Required - Road, Bridge, Water and Sewer Projects
• Use of Social Media by Government Employers
• Use of Social Media - Sample Policy

We hope you will find these materials useful as you meet the coming challenges in 2014, and we look forward to working with you all!

If you have questions, please contact Lauren Goldberg (lgoldberg@k-plaw.com) at 617.556.0007.

January 29, 2014: We were delighted to see so many clients and friends at the MMA Annual Meeting last week and hope you came away with some good information and new insights. It was a pleasure to chat with many of you at the Member Associations Breakfast sponsored by our firm - we are honored to support the MMA in this way each year. We look forward to doing it all again in 2015!

January, 2014: We are thrilled to announce three new Members of the Firm! Jackie Cowin and Brian Maser became Members on January 1, 2014. Over the past years, many of you have worked with Jackie, whose practice focuses on litigation, and Brian, who is a senior attorney in our Labor and Employment Practice. Carolyn M. Murray has also joined the Firm as a Member, effective January 21, 2014. Carolyn was most recently the first Town Solicitor for the Town of Braintree, and has previously been at the Firm as an associate. She will practice in various areas, including Labor and Employment and Land Use. Congratulations Jackie, Brian and Carolyn!

November, 2013: The latest edition of the Massachusetts Law Review has published Attorney Janet Pumphrey’s reviews of two recent books on writing. Both books are valuable reading for all writers of legal documents and decisions, but provide useful guidance, as well, to readers and writers of all writing, legal and otherwise. The excerpts and comments by Attorney Pumphrey are valuable in and of themselves. The first book reviewed, “Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates,” by legal writing expert Ross Guberman, is specifically directed at the legal community, and advances fifty rules for clearer, more creative legal writing. The second book review is of “How to Write a Sentence: and How to Read One,” by literary theorist and law professor Stanley Fish, is of broader interest to all writers of any type, and Attorney Pumphrey’s review explains how this book dissects the basic element of all writing, the sentence, and breaks down this book’s instruction as to how to construct a good sentence.

October, 2013: Following up on their significant victory from just last month, the team of Attorneys Gregg Corbo and Jeffrey Blake successfully defended the Town of Essex against claims for reduction in rents for eight parcels of Town-owned land. Tried as a class action, the plaintiffs were tenants who have built cottages on portions of Town-owned land in a waterfront area known as Conomo Point. The tenants claimed the town violated a special act of the Legislature by charging them rents that exceed the fair market rental values for property. After three days of trial, the Court sided with the Town, finding that the Town's process for establishing rents was "more than fair" and consistent with the Town's statutory obligations. Over the course of two years, the Court's ruling preserves about three-quarters of a million dollars in revenue for the Town.

September 3, 2013: After a six day trial in Newburyport Superior Court, Attorneys Gregg Corbo and Jeffrey Blake successfully defended the Town of Essex against claims for compensation based on allegations that Town officials fraudulently induced tenants to build cottages on Town-owned land. The plaintiffs were a group of tenants who occupy portions of Town-owned property in a waterfront area known as "Conomo Point." Although the Town leased the property to the tenants at nominal rents for many years, they claimed the Town owed them compensation for the value of the cottages at the end of these leases, on a theory that the Town misled them into believing their leases would be forever renewed. The Court sided with the Town and found the sole remedy available to each tenant is the right to remove the cottage at the end of the lease, but only if the cottage is not attached to the Town's land. In the latter case, the Court ruled that the tenants are entitled to nothing. With over 100 expiring leases at issue, the efforts of Attorneys Corbo and Blake assisted the Town in avoiding more than one million dollars in liability.

July 22, 2013: the Attorney General issued a significant decision on a proposed Town of Westborough zoning bylaw amendment regulating medical marijuana-related uses. The decision includes important guidance to municipalities regarding the limits of permissible zoning regulation on registered marijuana dispensaries and hardship cultivation. To read the decision of the Attorney General on the Westborough zoning bylaw amendment, click HERE.

June 6, 2013: Plainville Asphalt Corp. v. Town of Plainville, 83 Mass.App.Ct. 710 (2013): in a complicated and vigorously litigated case regarding the status of bituminous concrete production operation, the plaintiff appealed the decision of the Land Court on cross-motions for summary judgment that the operation was not permitted as-of-right under the Town of Plainville Zoning Bylaws and not protected as a pre-existing nonconforming use under G.L. c.40A §6. In a noteworthy victory for municipalities, the Appeals Court ruled that an ongoing commercial operation could not be grandfathered through from an amendment to the Zoning Bylaws to allow the termination of legal pre-existing nonconforming uses not only upon abandonment, but also upon the mere discontinuance of the pre-existing nonconforming use. In doing so, the Appeals Court rejected the plaintiff's request to extend to commercial uses the Supreme Court's ruling in Rourke v. Rothman, 448 Mass. 190 (2007) that residential lots could be protected from amendments to the grandfathering provisions of local zoning bylaws.

June 2013: Attorney Patricia Cantor's article entitled, "Medical Marijuana Law - What We Know Since the November Election" was published in the June 2013 issue of the Massachusetts Lawyers Journal, a publication of the Massachusetts Bar Association. This article updates readers on zoning developments at the local level by communities adjusting to the new law, as well as an explanation of the recently issued implementing Regulations of the Department of Public Health. To read the article, click here.

March 21, 2013: In 2012, the outstanding legal defense provided by attorney David Doneski to the Town of Holliston resulted in the landmark decision by the Supreme Judicial Court in Barr Incorporated v. Town of Holliston, 462 Mass. 112 (2012). The importance of this decision is underscored by the featured section in today's City and Town publication of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Division of Local Services, which notified all cities and towns of the Commonwealth of the high significance of this decision. In Barr, the Commonwealth's highest appellate court confirmed that municipal construction contract awards are not confined in all cases to the lowest bidder, and that awards may be based on other information in addition to the bidder's certification file maintained by DCAM and the information listed in the bidder's own update statement submitted with its bid. To read DOR's analysis of this decision, click HERE and scroll down to the section entitled, "Independent Investigation of Bidders Permissible."

March 13, 2013: Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers - Today, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth issued two notable decisions affecting local planning for addressing concerns resulting from Chapter 369 of the Acts of 2012, "An Act for the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana" (Enacted as Question 3 of the November 2012 state ballot).

We are pleased to announce that the Attorney General approved a temporary moratium voted in Burlington, which employed the reasoning and the wording that Kopelman and Paige provided in order to create a zoning moratorium extending from January 28, 2013 until June 30, 2014. In doing so, the Attorney General determined that "Such a temporary moratorium is clearly within the Town's zoning power when the stated intent is to manage a new use, such as medical marijuana treatment centers, and there is a stated need for 'study, reflection and decision on a subject matter of [some] complexity...'." To read the decision of the Attorney General approving the Burlington moratorium, click HERE.

In contrast, the Attorney General today also disapproved a total ban enacted by the Town of Wakefield. The deficiencies noted in a total ban included that such a ban would frustrate the purpose of the Act as expressed by the voters who approved Question 3, and have the negative result of "throwing off" a controversial use to another town.... "To read the decision of the Attorney General disapproving the Wakefield total ban, click HERE.

June 28, 2014: Attorney Elizabeth "Betsy" Lane will present an "on-demand" workshop for the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Randolph and officials from other communities, entitled, "Roles & Responsibilities of Planning & Zoning Boards." Sponsored by the Citizen Planner Training collaborative, this event is divided into two modules, with the early morning segment addressing concerns of new board members and building inspectors, and the second session being more advanced, with focus on the Open Meeting Law, Public Records law and the Conflict of Interest Law.

June 9, 2014: Attorney Brian Riley will present a seminar at the Mass. Collector/Treasurer Association's in Hyannis entitled "Taking the Mystery Out of Bankruptcies." Attorney Riley will address a variety of subjects common to Collector/Treasurers, including the filing of Proof of Claims forms to preserve a municipality's rights to collect taxes and other charges, and will provide guidance on handling issues with dischargeability of liens, restrictions on enforcement of claims during bankruptcy and other challenges created by bankruptcies.

June 7, 2014: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will present for the third time a session on Public Records Law, at the Massachusetts Selectmen's Association New Selectmen Training Session on Saturday, June 7, 2014, 9:30 a.m. More information on the event and registration can be found here.

June 6, 2014: Attorney Ilana M. Quirk will once again present the popular segment on "Recent Court decisions" at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors held in Amherst at the historic Lord Jeffery Inn. Attorney Quirk will highlight the court decisions of relevance and interest to municipal planners that have issued from the Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court and land Court since the 2013 annual conference. For additional information about this two-day event, click HERE.

June 5, 2014: Attorney John W. Giorgio will be presenting a talk on legal strategies for implementing regional wastewater solutions as part of the two-day Second Annual Cape Coastal Conference entitled, "State of the Cape: Implementing Strategies to Improve Water Quality and Build Coastal Resilience." This event is co-sponsored by the Wasquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Cape Cod Commission and held at Cape Cod Community College, Tilden Arts Center on June 5th and 6th.

May 19, 2014: Attorney Michele Randazzo will present a program on CORI Reform at the Massachusetts National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) Annual Conference and Exhibition, in Hyannis, MA. This is in follow up to the recent webinar Michele and Attorney Janelle Austin presented, entitled "What Municipalities and Public Entities Should Know About CORI Reform in Massachusetts. That webinar and materials from the webinar are available by clicking the links located on the left hand side of this page.

May 8, 2014: Attorney Elizabeth A. Lane will present a training session at the 10th Annual Building Officials Educational conference held on May 7 and 8 at the Taunton Holiday Inn. Attorney Lane will outline the basic law in the area of agricultural uses under G.L. c. 40A, the Zoning Act, as well as recent changes to the law and answers to frequently asked questions.

April 17, 2014: Attorney Michele Randazzo will lead a discussion on CORI Reform, at the next meeting of the Small Town Administrators in Massachusetts (STAM), in Lanesborough, MA. This is in follow up to the recent webinar Michele and Attorney Janelle Austin presented, entitled "What Municipalities and Public Entities Should Know About CORI Reform in Massachusetts." That webinar and materials from the webinar are available by clicking the links located on the left-hand side of this page.

April 10, 2014: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will be the Guest Speaker at the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce Municipal Breakfast. The Breakfast will be held between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Attorney Goldberg will be speaking on the subject of Data Security.

March 15, 2014: Attorneys Patricia Cantor and Carolyn Murray will be presenting at the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative Annual Conference.

Attorney Cantor will speak on the subject of: "Medical Marijuana: One year In, What to Expect?" Since the Medical Marijuana Act, Chapter 369 of the Acts of 2012, went into effect on January 1, 2013, the Department of Public Health has issued comprehensive regulations and approved 20 Registered Marijuana Dispensaries. Many municipalities have voted moratoria and substantive zoning bylaws and ordinances and otherwise acted to implement the state law. This session will provide a review of developments in the last year. We will discuss the DPH regulations, local responses, the Attorney General's position on local regulation, and current zoning and other local issues regarding dispensaries.

Attorney Murray will present: "Introduction to the Zoning ACT". For newer board members, this course addresses the history and purposes of zoning, adoption of zoning bylaws, variances and special permits, public hearing and voting requirements and other key procedural requirements.

March 11, 2014: Attorneys Michele Randazzo and Janelle Austin will host a complimentary webinar on the topic of "What Municipalities and Public Entities Should Know about CORI Reform in Massachusetts". Please join them for an informative discussion of the recently-expanded Department of Criminal Justice Information Services Criminal Offender Record Information ("CORI") regulations, 803 CMR 2.00, et seq. During the webinar, they will explore the use of the "iCORI" web database to perform CORI checks; notification to individuals prior to conducting a CORI check; notification to individuals of information contained in their CORI; and the secure and confidential maintenance and destruction of CORI.

This webinar will be held between noon and 2:00 P.M. To register, you can email kopelmanandpaigepc@k-plaw.com no later than noon on March 8th, 2014.

March 4, 2014: Attorney Patricia Cantor will present as a panelist at a Boston Bar Association CLE program: "Implementing the Medical Marijuana Law: What Lawyers Need to Know." The presentation will be held between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm at the Boston Bar Association, 16 Beacon St., Boston. The panelists will discuss the regulatory system that is being developed and implemented by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to review applications and grant licenses to "dispensaries." Registration for the event is through the Boston Bar Association.

February 6, 2014: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will again present a seminar at the City and Town Clerks Associations Winter Meeting. A frequent speaker at the Clerks Associations meetings, Lauren always looks forward to seeing past and present clients, as well as clerks she worked with when she served as legal Counsel to the State Elections Division. This Thursday, Lauren will revive "oldie but goodie," a training session on all things recount-related. Lauren, and Burlington Town Clerk Amy Warfield, will also run a "practice" recount to demonstrate the practical issues that arise with the conduct of a recount. Feel free to contact Lauren with any questions at 617.556.0007 or at lgoldberg@k-plaw.com.

January 24-25, 2014: We look forward to seeing many of you at the MMA Annual Meeting on January 24 and 25, this upcoming Friday and Saturday.

Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, you will find many familiar faces at the Kopelman and Paige main booth (Booth 1027) and at the labor and employment booth (Booth 827). Stop by our booths to see scenes from around Massachusetts, pick up memoranda about legal issues prepared exclusively for the MMA, and, of course, say hello! We will also be holding a raffle for five great prizes, so be sure to visit us to find out more.

If you would like to speak to a particularly attorney, feel free to let someone know at either booth, or contact us directly during the trade show at lgoldberg@k-plaw.com, and we will make it happen.

We are also delighted to once again sponsor the Member Association Breakfast on Saturday morning from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. We eagerly anticipate enjoying breakfast with you before you head off to the day's many activities. We hope to see you there!

January 15, 2014: Attorneys Jeanne McKnight and Shirin Everett will host a free webinar on the topic of Public and Private Ways: Navigating Your Way through the Law on Highways and Byways. The webinar will address, among other things, the establishment, discontinuance, maintenance, improvement, and use of public and private ways. Traffic regulation and placement of utilities will also be discussed. To register for this free webinar, please contact kopelmanandpaigepc@k-plaw.com no later than noon on January 14th. All you need to participate is a computer with internet access and a telephone.

January 14, 2014: Attorney Janet Pumphrey will be a speaker at the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminar “Effective Appellate Advocacy, Doing More With Less.” This event is presented live and by webcast, and is aimed at assisting attorneys by acknowledging the financial hardships for all participants in the appellate system which have been created by the current economic climate, and will present methods for working within such limitations so as to accomplish justice. The distinguished panel of presenters also includes five judges from the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court.

December 17, 2013:  Attorney Gregg J. Corbo will be the featured speaker at the Middlesex Town and City Clerks Conference to be held at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center in Westford, Massachusetts.  Attorney Corbo will making a presentation to explain the 2012 changes to the Commonwealth’s animal licensing and control laws.

December 18, 2013: Attorney Jonathan Silverstein will be a speaker at the Massachusetts Continuing Education Program “Surrounding Community Agreements Under the Massachusetts Gaming Act, ” to be held at the MCLE Conference Center from 9:00 AM - noon at 10 Winter Place, Boston, and available by webcast for viewing at the same time. This program will focus on tips and possible pitfalls in negotiating with casino applicants and navigating the Massachusetts Gaming Commission process under the new Expanded Gaming Act. Jonathan is highly qualified to advise clients about this new area of the law, since he has already represented 16 municipalities for negotiation of their surrounding community agreements, and has fully completed the negotiation process leading to the execution of advantageous agreements for a number of surrounding communities. Jonathan also has the unique perspective of having represented a number of potential host communities in negotiating with casino developers, resulting in the execution of five host community agreements. For more information about the seminar, click HERE.

October 30, 2013: Attorney John Goldrosen will be speaking at a Citizen Planner Training Collaborative at the Old Colony Planning Council in Brockton from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. The workshop, "Roles & Responsibiliteis of Planning and Zoning Boards, Part 2," is designed to discuss advanced topics for new board members of building inspectors. It will focus on the Open Meeting, Public Records, and Conflict of Interest Laws.

October 9, 2013: Attorney Joel Bard will be speaking at a Citizen Planner Training Collaborative at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments in Greenfield from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.. The workshop," Vested Rights and Nonconforming Structures and Uses," will clarify the difference betwewen a nonconforming structure, lot and use; explain the difference between a nonconforming and noncompliant structure; familiarize board members with issues regarding alternation to nonconforming structures or uses, and describe separate and common protection, as well as vested rights for subdivision and ANR plans.

October 7, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle will be speaking at a Citizen Planner Training Collaborative workshop at the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments regarding the implementation of the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana Act passed in November, 2012, the Department of Public Health Regulations that went into effect on May 24, 2013, the latest developments in the application review process at the Department of Public Health, and amending local zoning or general bylaws or ordinances to address medical marijuana-related uses, as well as other local regulation of medical marijuana.

October 3, 2013: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will be speaking at the Massachusetts City and Town Clerks Association Fall Conference at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, MA on the topic of "The Mysterious World of Municipal Finance."

September 25, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle spoke at a Citizen Planner Training Collaborative Workshop at the Old Colony Regional Planning Council regarding the implementation of the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana Act passed in November, 2012, the Department of Public Health Regulations that went into effect on May 24, 2013, the latest developments in the application review process at the Department of Public Health, and amending local zoning or general bylaws or ordinances to address medical marijuana-related uses, as well as other local regulation of medical marijuana.

June 14, 2013: Attorney Elizabeth Lane will co-chair the Town of Plymouth's full-day Leadership Retreat for Town employees in "leadership" positions, including department heads, board Chairs, town meeting precinct chairs and others with highly visible public-contact positions. The session will assist the Town in continuing its implementation of the "Guiding Principles" that were recently adopted by the Board of Selectmen to serve as the consensus basis for the Town's service and the relation between Town employees and the public they serve.

June 8, 2013: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will be a featured speaker at this year's annual New Selectmen Training Seminar sponsored by the Massachusetts Municipal Association/Massachusetts Selectmen's Association, to be held at the Town of Natick Senior Center. This seminar will provide training in Open Meeting, Public Records and Conflict of Interest law, as well as budgeting basics and tips for effective service by newly elected selectmen.

June 6, 2013: Attorney Lauren Goldberg will once again provide training to city and town clerks as part of the MTCA & MCCA 2013 Summer Conference program "Essential Roles of the Municipal Clerk" held at Sea Crest Beach Hotel, Falmouth on June 5-7, 2013. Lauren will co-present this training with the Director and Legal Counsel to the Massachusetts Elections Division, Michelle Tassinari. This program will focus on Hearings Before the Board of Registrars/Election Commissioners, as well as address a "potpourri of election issues" that have recently presented the greatest challenges to local election officials.

June 6, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle will be speaking at the Annual Conference of the Massachusetts Planning Directors regarding the implementation of the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana Act passed in November, 2012, the Department of Public Health Regulations that went into effect on May 24, 2013 and amending local zoning or general bylaws or ordinances to address medical marijuana-related uses, as well as other local regulation of medical marijuana.

May 29, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle will be speaking at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments regarding the implementation of the Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana passed in November, 2012 and amending local zoning bylaws or ordinances to address medical marijuana-related uses, as well as other local regulation of medical marijuana.

May 28, 2013: Attorneys and staff from Kopelman and Paige will once against participate in the Annual Lawyers Have Heart 5K road race to benefit the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. To learn more about this event, click HERE.

April 12, 2013: Attorney Jack Dolan will present Human Resources 101 (or the Alphabet Soup Survival Guide) at the meeting of the Southeast Coast Chapter of the International Public Management Association for Human Resources, where he will explain to municipal managers and department heads the intricacies and practical requirements of the various laws affecting employment and human resources, commonly kown by their acronyms, ADA, ADAAA, ADEA, COBRA, FLSA, FMLA GINA, PDA. MORE...

April 5, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle will deliver a presentation on the implementation of the new Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Law as part of a panel discussion sponsored by the Real Estate Section of the Boston Bar Association. For additional information concerning this event, please click HERE.

April 2, 2013: Attorneys Tom McEnaney and Jeff Blake will present a seminar on Appellate Tax Board practice and procedure at the Middlesex County Assessors' Association Legal Roundtable. The seminar will address jurisdictional and procedural issues, discovery and recommended best practices, and will include a discussion of Open Meeting Law issues applicable to Boards of Assessors.

March 21, 2013: Attorney Lauren Goldberg hosted a comprehensive webinar entitled "Everything You Want to Know About Town Meeting But Might be Afraid to Ask." In this "soup-to-nuts" presentation, every facet of town meeting was covered and Lauren answered all questions submitted by the participants. The webinar topics covered a wide range, from the colonial history of town meeting, to preparation for the meeting, how to make and amend motions at the meeting, and what happens after the dissolution of the meeting, including the process for review and approval of zoning and general bylaws by the Attorney General and the referendum process in connection with votes taken at representative town meetings. We understand that there is interest in an encore presentation," so Lauren will be scheduling another opportunity for those who missed today's program. Watch for an invitation in the very near future!

March 16, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle will be participating in a Citizen Planner Training Collaborative program on the subject of "Planning and Zoning for Medical Marijuana." Also participating will be Town of Billerica Director of Planning Tony Fields. Together, Kay and Tony will discuss the novel planning and zoning issues presented by the new law, medical marijuana and associated uses and offer ideas and guidance for navigating this uncharted legal territory. For additional information about the new law and the regulations being prepared by the State Department of Public Health, click HERE.

March 13, 2013: Attorney Joyce Frank will participate as a municipal law expert in the 11th Annual Municipal Conference sponsored by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. ("MCLE") and the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association. Attorney Frank will draw on her extensive experience to instruct municipal attorneys on the topic of "Insurance in the Public Sector." The faculty for this even also includes such experts as Retired Appeals Court Judge John M. Greaney, Kathleen Colleary, Chief of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Bureau of Municipal Law, and representatives of the Attorney General's Division of Open Government. For additional information on this program or on MCLE, click HERE. To read an excerpt from the program book, Chapter 19, "Insurance for Municipalities," click HERE.

March 12, 2013: Attorney Kay Doyle obtained a decision in Essex Court dismissing a complaint for civil contempt brought by the operators of Ingaldsby Farm and the Town of Boxford Building Inspector. The decision in Nissenbaum v. Price, et al., ESCV2008-00541, is the first court ruling to examine what level of documentation may be required of farm stands to demonstrate compliance with the agricultural exemption in G.L. c. 40A §3 since the exemption was amended in 2007 and 2010. MORE...

March 6, 2013: By invitation of the Mayor of the City of Peabody, Attorney Lauren Goldberg will present a comprehensive "tutorial" on the Open Meeting Law to members of the City Council and staff and members of the City's many multiple-member boards. Attorney GOldberg will explain the fundamentals of the "new" Open Meeting Law, including new definitions, quorum requirements, deadlines, changes in the requirements for contents of meeting agendas, and will provide many practical tips for avoiding common pitfalls and explain the role of the Division of Open Government and other changes in the law that went into effect on July 1, 2010.

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