Senior Attorney
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 617.654.1774
Practice Areas: Litigation, General Municipal, Data Privacy and Security, Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement
Attorney Roger L. Smerage joined the firm in 2023 as a Senior Attorney after representing businesses large and small in commercial and banking litigation for more than a decade. Attorney Smerage has extensive experience representing clients in state and federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, as well as in arbitration and mediation. He represents municipalities in a broad range of litigation and enforcement matters, including matters involving land use and zoning, construction, contract disputes, and torts.
Attorney Smerage has considerable experience with all aspects of pre-trial civil litigation, including the preparation of pleadings and motions to dismiss, conducting discovery, and summary judgment. Attorney Smerage has also tried cases in both jury and jury-waived settings in Massachusetts Superior Court. Attorney Smerage has significant experience prosecuting and defending civil appeals, as well. He has authored briefs submitted to the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court and various United States Courts of Appeal, as well as worked on briefs to the United States Supreme Court. His appellate experience also includes arguing before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court.
Attorney Smerage is also the Town Moderator in Wenham, a position to which he was elected in 2021. In this role, he has presided over annual and special Town Meetings and also serves as the chair of the town’s FinCom Appointing Committee. Incorporating this experience, Attorney Smerage also advises municipalities on Town Meeting questions, assists them in the preparation of Town Meeting warrants and motions, and counsels them on questions of general municipal law.
Prior to joining the firm, Attorney Smerage was an associate at a Boston-based business law firm and, before that, in the Boston office of a global law firm. In addition to representing clients in litigation, Attorney Smerage has also advised clients on compliance with state and federal statutory and regulatory requirements, including requirements for consumer lending, data privacy, and fair housing. He has assisted clients in the drafting of compliance policies, written information security programs, and contract terms and conditions. He has participated in guiding clients through government investigations, as well.
During law school, Attorney Smerage served as a judicial intern to the Honorable William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and to the Honorable Robert McKenna, Jr., of the Boston Municipal Court.
- Defended town Board of Health’s administrative tobacco enforcement ruling under G.L. c. 270, § 28 and 105 CMR 665 at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Cumberland Farms, Inc. v. Board of Health of Braintree, 495 Mass. 225 (2025)).
- Prevailed against appeal from contempt judgment in favor of town Board of Health in action to enforce pandemic public health restrictions (Town of Oxford, on behalf of Its Board of Health v. Blondin, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 1103 (2004)).
- Prepared brief to Massachusetts Appeals Court in town Zoning Board of Appeal’s successful defense of its decision in property owners’ appeal under G.L. c. 40A.
- Assisted town in resolving dispute with school construction project general contractor and subcontractor over operation of security system without resorting to litigation.
- Represented town’s Historic Commission in litigation alleging Open Meeting Law violations and appealing Commission decision under G.L. c. 40C.
- Argued in defense of appeal to Massachusetts Appeals Court from judgment upholding town Board of Health’s denial of variance from local septic regulation.
- Authored amicus curiae brief to Massachusetts Appeals Court on behalf of town in dispute over enforceability of multi-town settlement agreement with manufacturer.
- Second-chaired two-week jury trial in Middlesex County Superior Court in closely-held business dispute involving alleged breach of fiduciary duty and conversion, then led preparation of post-judgment briefs to Superior Court and Supreme Judicial Court to maintain verdict.
- Led construction company’s appeal from Appeals Court Single Justice order allowing project owner’s untimely appeal from summary judgment on matter of first impression under Massachusetts law.
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- Massachusetts Moderators Association
- Massachusetts Bar
- United States District Court, District of Massachusetts
- United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- United States District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin
- United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
Suffolk University Law School
Juris Doctor, 2009 (summa cum laude)
Boston College
Bachelor of Arts (History/Philosophy), 2004
- Hamilton Wenham Edfund Board – Director (2022-Present)
- Wenham Town Government Study Committee (2021-2022)
- SJC Rules Disgruntled Shareholder Can’t Use Derivative Action to Relitigate Claims, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (September 16, 2021)
- With First-of-Its-Kind Decision, Pennsylvania High Court Identifies Common-Law Duty to Protect Digital Data, Washington Legal Foundation Legal Backgrounder, 34 No. 2 (February 15, 2019) (with Andrew C. Glass and David R. Fine)
- Note, Two for the T, Three for You and Me: The MBTA’s Exception to the Three-Year Statute of Limitations, 42 Suffolk University Law Review 729 (2009)