Judy A. Levenson, Attorney

Judy A. Levenson is an associate with Brody, Hardoon, Perkins and Kesten, LLP.  She has appeared extensively in state and federal courts, both trial and appellate, and has appeared before and represented numerous state agencies, including the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Practice Areas

Ms. Levenson's practice areas include ethics law (representing and advising state and municipal officials and employees), employment law, municipal liability, civil rights, land use litigation, professional liability, and administrative law.

Prior Experience

Ms. Levenson joins BHPK following more than six years working as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General in both the Civil Rights Division and the Administrative Law Division.  In the Civil Rights Division, Ms. Levenson handled all phases of civil rights litigation including employment and housing discrimination matters, violations of public accommodation laws and hate crimes.  In the Administrative Law Division, Ms. Levenson represented state officials and agencies in civil litigation concerning the Massachusetts constitution, statutes, regulations, policies and adjudicatory proceedings.  She also served for two years as the Attorney General's Opinions Coordinator, during which time she both wrote and supervised the writing of legal Opinions of the Attorney General and provided legal advice to state officials and agencies, constitutional officers and the legislature.

Ms. Levenson also served for more than four years as General Counsel of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, which interprets and enforces the Massachusetts conflict-of-interest and financial disclosure laws applicable to all public officials and public employees.  She supervised and participated in the work of the Commission's Legal Division, which includes writing legal opinions and giving legal advice to public officials and employees, serving as legal advisors to the Commissioners in adjudicatory hearings and representing the Commission in litigation.

Ms. Levenson also served as a hearing officer - consultant for the Massachusetts Board of Education in all phases of an administrative hearing concerning a commonwealth charter school's application for renewal of charter.  She presided at a five-day adjudicatory hearing and wrote a recommended decision that the Board of Education adopted unanimously.

Prior to entering the public sector, Ms. Levenson worked in private practice for several years where her experience included litigation, education, health care, non-profit and corporate law work.

Representative reported cases in which Ms. Levenson wrote briefs and argued orally include:

• Mongeau v. City of Marlborough, et al. 492 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2007), cert. denied,        U.S.       (2008) (brief with BHPK attorney Deidre Regan)  
• Scaccia v. State Ethics Commission, 431 Mass. 351 (2000)
• Life Insurance Association of Massachusetts, Inc. v. State Ethics Commission, 431 Mass. 1002 (2000)
• Cohen v. Commissioner of Division of Medical Assistance, 423 Mass. 399 (1996)
• Malones v. Civil Service Commission, 38 Mass. App. Ct. 147 (1995)
• Andrews, et al. v. Dubois, 888 F. Supp. 213 (D. Mass. 1995)
• Baystate Medical Center v. Rate Setting Commission, 36 Mass. App. Ct. 345 (1994)
• Board of Education v. School Committee of Quincy, 415 Mass. 240 (1993)
• Young v. Department of Public Welfare, 416 Mass. 629 (1993)

Teaching and Publications

Ms. Levenson was a lecturer on law at Boston University School of Law where she developed and taught a course on Appellate Practice and Procedure.  She also was a Joshua A. Guberman Teaching Fellow at Brandeis University in an Introduction to Law course.

Ms. Levenson has lectured on a variety of topics including housing discrimination, civil rights law and ethics law for both government and private organizations including the following:

• National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Organizations
• Greater Boston Real Estate Board
• Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston
• Office of the Attorney General
• State Ethics Commission

Education

Ms. Levenson graduated, phi beta kappa, from Wellesley College and received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1982.

Professional and Community Affiliations

Ms. Levenson is admitted to the bar in Massachusetts and the United States District Court for Massachusetts.  She is a member of the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association and the Women's Bar Association. She served for several years as a hearing committee member for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.

Ms. Levenson has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Brookline Education Foundation since 2006.  She also served in 2005 as an Advisory Group Member to the Brookline Educational Equity Project. She served for fourteen years as a Trustee of the Charles H. Farnsworth House in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (a non-profit housing corporation for elderly and disabled individuals).

Ethics Practice

Led by Ms. Levenson, BHPK's ethics practice draws on her wealth of experience as former General Counsel to the State Ethics Commission and a former Assistant Attorney General, and the vast experience of founding partner Leonard Kesten counseling government officials, negotiating settlements for governmental entities and successfully trying cases on their behalf.  Together they provide an unparalleled combination of extensive experience providing conflicts of interest legal opinions, representing government clients in Commission investigations, representing clients in public hearings before the Commission and litigating ethics issues in both trial and appellate courts. BHPK advises elected and appointed government officials and employees about a myriad of issues under the state conflict of interest law including:

• What do public employees need to know about changes enacted by the landmark 2009 Massachusetts ethics reform law?
• What is an "appearance" of a conflict of interest and how can it be resolved?
• Under what circumstances is the giving of a gift to or the acceptance of a gift by a government employee unlawful and what
  are the penalties?
• Are consultants hired by a government entity subject to the conflict of interest law?
• Can a former government employee represent a private client before the municipal agency for which he or she worked?