At LYNCH & FIERRO LLP, our practice areas include the following. Please click on the links below for more information.
- Legislative and Regulatory Lobbying
- Strategic and Political Counsel
- Legislation and Regulation
- State Budget Advocacy
- Massachusetts Lobbying
- Trade and Professional Association Legal Advice
- Amicus Brief Writing
- Social Service Program and 766 School Siting
- Insurance Law
→ Legislative and Regulatory Lobbying
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Whether our clients want to secure passage of or defeat proposed legislation or regulations, we understand the process. We have extensive experience advocating for our clients. Our services include: monitoring legislation; preparing written testimony, position papers, fact sheets and policy briefs; testifying before legislative committees; meeting with lawmakers and their staffs; and working with state agencies, departments and commissions.
→ Strategic and Political Counsel
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We help our clients develop the best strategies and tactics to achieve their goals, considering their unique situations and the political realities of the moment, as well as the personalities and histories of the people making public policy decisions. We will also assist with the implementation of such strategies, whether it involves dealing with the press or working with public relations firms, coalitions or grassroots efforts.
→ Legislation and Regulation
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We have many years experience with drafting, reviewing and interpreting proposed and enacted legislation and regulations, covering a broad spectrum of subject areas. We have drafted one-page bills that merely change a single word in a statute, and have drafted bills that exceed 100 pages and comprehensively rewrite an entire function of state government. We have the legal expertise to understand and work with the arcane language prevalent in Massachusetts statutes and regulations.
→ State Budget Advocacy
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For our clients that depend on state funding, we are experienced at advocating on their behalf to preserve or increase their funding. We work closely with the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, as well as the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means, to ensure that the justification for your appropriation request — whether $10,000 or $10,000,000 — is understood in the context of the public good and competing budget priorities. That’s critical in times of declining state revenues and yearly budget shortfalls.
→ Massachusetts Lobbying Law Compliance
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We have developed a depth of understanding of the intricacies of the lobbying laws in Massachusetts through study, writing, lecturing and advising. We help our clients understand their obligations under these complicated requirements so they can avoid late fees, civil fines or substantial criminal penalties.
→ Trade and Professional Association Legal Advice
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We have worked closely with various trade associations and professional societies, helping them to develop and implement their legislative agenda. We understand the unique challenges often confronted by association staff when trying to lead a voluntary organization with members who cannot always reach consensus on public policy questions. Our role is often expanded to include providing additional legal services that may include contract review, board governance, ethics and regulatory compliance.
→ Amicus Brief Writing
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In pending legal disputes that involve matters of public policy that may affect our clients, we have experience drafting amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs to the courts in Massachusetts, including the Supreme Judicial Court. An amicus brief is an important opportunity to educate judges about the broader policy implications of their decision. Such briefs do not merely repeat the arguments made by the parties to the litigation, but seek to add new arguments, new information and a wider context for the court’s decision.
→ Social Service Program and 766 School Siting
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We are able to assist our clients understand the federal and state laws relative to the siting in a community of residential and day social service programs serving persons with developmental disabilities, mental illness, alcohol and drug addition and other special needs, including children who have been the victims of abuse and neglect. We can help to explain to municipal officials, abutters, and neighbors the legal right to services and housing afforded to such individuals by state and federal laws such as the Dover Amendment to the Zoning Act, the American With Disabilities Act and the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act.
→ Insurance Law
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We can help our clients with regulatory and legislative matters and assist with other legal issues facing insurance companies and agencies. Our experience encompasses contract negotiation, product drafting, insurance rating, and providing general legal services.