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Adam acts as outside general counsel to his clients across a number of sectors, including technology, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, franchises, food distribution, construction, and real estate. Adam works closely with each client to structure solutions that fit their specific needs. He counsels his clients in areas such as:

• Entity formation
• Structuring operating agreements and by-laws
• Buy-sell agreements and shareholder agreements
• General corporate matters
• Contract negotiations
• Employment agreements and restrictive covenant agreements
• Business disputes among owners
• Purchase and sale of real estate
• Drafting and negotiating leases
• Debt and equity financings
• Mergers and acquisitions, on both the buy and sell side

Prior to joining the firm in 2021, Adam was the Managing Director of the corporate department in a well-established North Shore law firm. He also operated his own business law practice and served as general counsel to a technology company he co-founded. He was previously associated with law firms in Boston and Worcester.  Before attending law school, Adam spent several years in public safety. He served as a Trooper with the Vermont State Police in the Field Force division. He was assigned to the Middlesex Barracks in central Vermont. While at the University of Vermont he was a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician, crew chief, and driver with UVM Rescue, a student-staffed advanced life support ambulance service.

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Chris is a civil litigator with extensive experience in both state and federal courts. His practice focuses on the defense of product liability claims on behalf of foreign and domestic manufacturers, distributors, component suppliers, and retailers. He understands the immense effort that is involved in creating and developing a product and appreciates the importance of defending that effort.

In addition to his product liability experience, Chris also advises clients involved in complex business disputes at every stage of litigation, including trial.

Chris is a member of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association, the Defense Research Institute, the Boston Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Bar Association. Outside the office, Chris is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling and trying new restaurants with his wife, Valerie. But, these days, most of his “leisure” time is spent chasing their young son and their corgi.

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Marie is a civil and commercial trial attorney with vast experience representing business clients in the defense and trial of an array of disputes, including wrongful death and catastrophic injuries in complex product liability matters (automotive, medical devices, construction and industrial equipment, building products, consumer, beauty, and recreational products), transportation issues, toxic torts and asbestos litigation, business and franchise disputes, and consequential warranty claims against U.S. and international manufacturers, distributors, and insurers. She has worked with hundreds of general counsel, national counsel, and insurers to develop a strategy for successful litigation defense. Marie tries cases in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Her experience includes a wide variety of jury and non-jury trials, arbitrations, mediations and appeals. Marie also has authored or supervised amicus briefs on important product liability, evidentiary, procedural and constitutional issues in a variety of courts. In all matters, Marie is an experienced leader of defense trial teams and provides strategic advice on litigation strategy and cost management to aggressively defend the client’s interests. Marie’s scientific background helps her develop a deep understanding of the products that are the subject of litigation, and enables her to pursue creative approaches to defend her clients’ interests. She also uses these skills to coordinate closely with engineering and medical experts in the analysis of medical reports, design drawings and specifications, economic and vocational evaluations, accident reconstructions, injury causation analysis, as well as engineering, biomechanics, occupational disability, and rehabilitation theories.

With her trial experience defending allegations of product labeling errors or vagueness, as well as insufficient product warnings and instructions, Marie has the ultimate advantage to protect her clients before any litigation begins.  She applies her knowledge and practice background from hundreds of litigation matters to advise clients on product warnings, labeling, instructions, compliance, and risk assessment to help avoid costly court battles.

In the consumer product area, Marie also provides client advice on product launches, regulatory challenges and compliance, risk management issues, and product recalls.

Marie has served on the faculty of numerous continuing legal education programs, lectured nationally for the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC), Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education – New England, the American Conference Institute, and for internal corporate training programs. She regularly researches and writes in national publications on issues related to litigation.

In her association work and personal commitment, Marie works hard to advance opportunities for women in the law. She is descended from a trailblazer: her grandmother and namesake Marie E. Jessen was admitted to the Ohio State Bar on July 31, 1926 by the famous Carrington Tanner Marshall who served for twelve years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio and was later a judge at the Nuremberg Trials. As of January 2025, Marie is also a member of the Firm’s Management Committee.

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Karen is a technology and outsourcing transactions attorney. During her 30 years of practice, she has focused on representing buyers of technology and outsourced services in transactions that run the gamut from ordinary software license arrangements to complex, multinational outsourcing deals valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Karen’s practice evolved and matured during an unprecedented time in the technology industry. She was there for the dot-com boom in the 1990s, and she was there when the bubble burst. She was there when outsourcing became popular as a way to save money, and she has seen it evolve toward enabling businesses to center on core competencies. She was on the front lines when the automobile industry came together to form an online business-to-business trade exchange. She was in the trenches during the rise and fall of WorldCom. She has witnessed the emergence of today’s household-name technology giants, and she has represented clients in transactions involving many of those technology giants. All of these varied experiences over three decades have lent depth and breadth to Karen’s practice and have made her into both a highly valued legal practitioner and a trusted business advisor. In fact, Karen was named the 2023 Lawyer of the Year in Information Technology Law by Best Lawyers.

Throughout her career, Karen has actively participated in and served on the boards of a number of industry and charitable organizations. She enjoys traveling the world, organic vegetable gardening, and cooking, and she is an avid animal lover and conservationist.

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Dennis J. Gallitano concentrates his practice in information technology for technology association, health care, state government, university and higher education and software organizations. His experience includes general corporate representation, software licensing, cloud services, outsourcing, software development, and mergers and acquisitions.

An East Coast native, Dennis moved to the Midwest to attend Northwestern University, where he pursued his interest in the sciences, graduating in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. Dennis then joined IBM in Chicago, and, while working full-time, went to law school. Dennis became an editor of the law review and graduated 2nd in his law school class.

Dennis’ combined technical, business, and legal skills give him a unique perspective on technology law and business. He enjoys the intellectual challenges of his practice and the personal relationships he has forged with his clients.

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Clients trust her counsel on matters ranging from straightforward cloud services agreements (such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS) to complex, multinational outsourcing transactions. Her experience includes supporting clients’ system modernization initiatives (such as ERP and EHR implementations), and other essential, but high-risk, undertakings that enable clients to transform their businesses and adapt to the ever-changing technology landscape. Heidi’s clients hail from many different industries, including financial services, insurance, healthcare, universities and higher education, and state government.

Heidi’s concentration in technology and outsourcing began during the rise of the Internet and the 1990’s dot-com boom and has expanded and evolved in tandem with the tremendous growth in and dependence on technology in every industry. Now armed with over 25 years of experience, Heidi regularly assists clients in navigating areas of exposure in technology and outsourcing transactions and structuring commercial transactions to include risk mitigation strategies. When needed, she has advised clients in resolving disputes with technology providers, including resurrecting failed projects and getting delayed technology projects back on track.

In addition to working with clients on complex technology and outsourcing matters, she supports clients with high-volume technology needs to develop contracting and governance strategies for procuring technology in an efficient manner. She does this by educating internal resources within the client’s organization and implementing models that may combine client and external resources, each tailored to the client’s unique business needs.

Located in Charlotte, Heidi enjoys exploring the mountains, barrier-islands, and lakes in North Carolina, as well as skiing and pickleball. She has two children in college and can frequently be found cheering on the Tar Heels.

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For over forty years, Neil has been a trusted advisor to small and mid-sized companies and families and high net worth individuals. Neil practices in business law and estate planning, helping clients on a broad range of legal issues to achieve their business and personal goals. He draws on his tax and accounting knowledge to provide clients with comprehensive and strategic advice.

Neil has represented business clients in such matters as mergers and acquisitions of private and public companies, joint ventures, international licensing, corporate governance, financing sources, long-term strategic growth, and day-to-day business issues. He also represents business owners, professionals, and other high net worth individuals with sophisticated succession and estate planning, asset protection, and personal income planning. His clients include companies in such industries as manufacturing, high tech, retail, and financial services.

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Tom began his career as a prosecutor and ran an active litigation practice from 1974 until he retired in 2019. He tried more than fifty cases to conclusion and handled numerous significant appeals. After graduating from Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School, he spent 4 years as a prosecutor, then went on to practice at a major Boston law firm. In 1988, he co-founded this firm with partners Russell Conn, Jim Kavanaugh, and Bob Rosenthal.

Tom was named Lawyer of the Year by the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association in 2013. He served as a Supreme Judicial Court appointee to the Clients Security Board (as chair) and the Board of Bar Overseers (as vice-chair). He also chaired the Board of Trustees at Massachusetts Bay Community College.

Tom was inducted into the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers in 2004 and is currently an Emeritus Fellow.

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She is known for handling cases involving high net worth individuals, complex business valuations and equity compensation. Kirsten has tried cases involving unique custody disputes involving domestic violence, parental alienation and coercive control.

Kirsten has been a Trial Attorney for nearly 30 years in the legal community. She also serves on the Firm’s Management and Allocations Committee. Kirsten is a certified court conciliator and chairs the Plymouth County Conciliation Program for the Probate and Family Court. Kirsten has been appointed as a guardian ad litem to investigate and return recommendations to the Court on issues concerning custody. Her experience also spans into the many areas of probate litigation which include guardianship, conservatorship, and administration of complex estates.

As a prominent member of the legal community, she has served as President of the Plymouth County Bar Association and remains on their Executive Board. Kirsten also serves on the Joint Bar Committee which vets judicial applicants for the Governor’s Office and she sits on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Southeastern Chapter of the American Red Cross. Prior to joining Conn Kavanaugh in 2012, Kirsten ran her own law practice for over 15 years.

 

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