Kevin engages in an expansive array of litigation matters, including construction, government law practice, real estate, complex business litigation, and institutional class action recovery. He represents and counsels individuals and businesses, both large and small, in all stages of litigation, arbitration, mediation, negotiations, commercial disputes, and contracting. Kevin constantly strives to provide his clients with an efficient, tireless and responsive approach aimed towards avoiding litigation when possible.
With prior experience as a project management operational consultant at a boutique mechanical engineering subcontracting firm and a large commercial real estate company, Kevin understands the inner workings of both large and small companies—providing a well-informed perspective for owner and contractor clients engaged in real estate development, as well as clients facing construction and real estate litigation. From commencement to completion of construction projects, Kevin assists owners, contractors and major subcontractors in the drafting, negotiation and interpretation of project agreements and project documents. Moreover, Kevin has extensive experience in matters concerning Massachusetts’ lobbying and ethics laws, government regulatory compliance, higher education, ballot questions, and state pension eligibility.
Kevin is also actively engaged in Mintz’s pro bono efforts. As Mintz’s chair of the “Lawyer for the Day” pro bono program at Boston’s Housing Court, Kevin provides legal representation in civil matters to low-income tenants seeking resolution of disputes with their landlords.
While in law school, Kevin held the position of Online Editor of the New England Law Review, and was three-time recipient of both the Dean’s Scholarship and the New England Scholar Award. Kevin also ranked highest among his classmates in the courses of Labor Law, Negotiation, Massachusetts Practice and Procedure, Family Law, and Commercial Real Estate Capstone. Prior to law school, Kevin attended Trinity College, where he captained the NESCAC champion Trinity College Baseball Team and graduated as a member of Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences.
Outside of the office, Kevin is a regular participant in the Mintz hockey team’s weekly game, as well as a contributor to local charitable events for the armed services, and juvenile diabetes and cancer research.
Education
- New England Law (JD, magna cum laude)
- Trinity College (BA, Economics)
Experience
Construction Law & Counseling
- Represents owners, contractors and major subcontractors in contract drafting, negotiation and interpretation on a variety of project types and project delivery systems.
- Regularly drafts and negotiates design and construction contracts and advises on construction-related issues in development and leasing agreements.
- Assists contractors and major subcontractors in drafting template contracts and subcontracts for future use on a variety of project types and project delivery systems.
- Represents DivcoWest in all matters pertaining to construction and design documents for its Cambridge Crossing project in Cambridge, Massachusetts and its Peninsula Crossing project in Burlingame, California.
- Advised clients on land use matters, including complex zoning analysis in connection with the purchase and sale of commercial real estate.
Government Law Practice
- Represents government agencies, private and publicly-traded companies, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and individuals on matters regarding ethics, privacy, higher education, government ethics, election law, corporate compliance, conflict of interest laws, public records law, lobbying, campaign finance, open meeting law, ballot questions, and other governmental regulatory areas.
- Assists clients with developing and maintaining policies and systems to ensure compliance with ethics, lobbying, and other political laws.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Represents owners and contractors, both large and small, in mediation and arbitration concerning construction and design defects.
- Represented an international theater venue operator in litigation against contractors, design professionals and a steel testing company for defective design and construction of a theater. Action initiated in state court and successfully resolved in mediation more than two years before anticipated trial date.
- Represented a major real estate developer in the successful mediation of its claims against contractors and design professionals related to alleged construction and design defects.
- Coordinates discovery and expert investigation and analysis in complex class action, securities, and construction litigation and alternative dispute resolution.
- Successfully defended a substantial multi-family landlord-owner in a tenants’ class action case.
- Represented an owner in defense of a claim by a commercial tenant that the facility was not SCIF compliant. Successfully resolved in mediation.
- Represents a wide variety of individuals and commercial entities in connection with alleged violations of M.G.L. ch. 93A.
- Coordinated discovery and trial preparation in connection with a client’s alleged violations of federal securities laws.
Recognition & Awards
- Chambers USA: Massachusetts - Construction Law: Associate to Watch (2022)
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Rising Star - Construction Litigation (2021)
Involvement
- Chair of Mintz’s Pro Bono Housing Court Program
- Participant Captain for the “Lawyers, Bring Us Your Briefs Charity Drive,” providing undergarments to the homeless population of Boston (2015)
- Member, Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society
- Trinity College baseball team representative, Team Impact, a nonprofit that pairs children with life-threatening diseases with local college teams (2011 – 2012)
- Frequent contributor to local charitable events for the armed services (e.g. Boston Marine Corps Honor Run), and juvenile diabetes and cancer research (e.g. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk for a Cure, Pan Mass Challenge, and Boston Marathon)
Recent Insights
Viewpoints
How a Prior DOJ Settlement Doomed a SEC Enforcement Action: A Volkswagen Case Study
September 10, 2020 |Blog
Viewpoints
Two Isn’t Always Better Than One: SDNY Denies Class Certification Where Lead Plaintiff Hired Two Firms
October 21, 2020 | Blog | By Ellen Shapiro
In a scathing decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Court denied class certification of the Allergan securities class action (“Allergan”). See In re Allergan PLC Sec. Litig., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179371 (S.D.N.Y Sept. 29, 2020).
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How a Prior DOJ Settlement Doomed a SEC Enforcement Action: A Volkswagen Case Study
September 10, 2020 | Blog | By Ellen Shapiro
The August 20, 2020 decision in In re: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Mktg., Sales Practices, and Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2672 CRB (JSC) by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (“the Opinion”), dismissing a significant portion of the SEC’s federal securities claims against Volkswagen as having been previously released by the DOJ, serves as an important reminder for why such coordination is important and how defendants may take advantage of the failure to coordinate, as did Volkswagen.
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Second Circuit Summarily Affirms the Attorneys’ Fees Award in the Foreign Exchange Antitrust Settlement after District Court Rejects Class Counsel’s Side Deal with the Objector
December 2, 2019 | Blog | By Joel Rothman
On November 1, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a summary order rejecting the appeal of an objector to the Foreign Exchange Antitrust Settlement. A few weeks earlier, U.S. District Court Judge Schofield had denied a motion filed by the objector and class counsel seeking an “indicative ruling” on their combined motion for approval of an agreement that would have ended the appeal. These two decision clear the way for the remaining distribution from the settlement fund, which totaled over $2.3 billion dollars.
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Connecticut Court Says Intervention Is One Way To Preserve Putative Class Member's Right To Opt Out
October 10, 2019 | Blog | By Ellen Shapiro
Last week, the district court entered an order, granting CalSTRS’ motion for intervention for the limited purpose of tolling the statute of repose. While there is no longer a risk that the complaint will be dismissed (the vast majority of Plaintiffs’ claims have since survived dismissal), CalSTRS has successfully preserved its right to opt out if a class is certified. Allowing CalSTRS (and others) to use motions to intervene to toll the statute of repose rather than forcing such putative class members to choose to forego their rights or file their own opt-out action may preserve resources and encourage efficiency of the courts.
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Judge Rakoff Unseals Documents in Petrobras Securities Class Action To Allow Use in Foreign Arbitration, Bypassing Traditional Requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1782
August 14, 2019 | Blog | By Ellen Shapiro
Years after Plaintiffs brought a federal securities complaint against Petrobras, and more than a year after the case settled for approximately $3 billion, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the unsealing of the majority of documents attached to parties’ summary judgment papers. Cornell University intends to use these documents in an arbitration in Brazil. Not only does Judge Rakoff’s decision come as an important reminder that sealing orders are not intended to last forever, but this decision also demonstrates how a motion to unseal may be used to bypass the traditional requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1782, frequently invoked by entities seeking to use U.S. discovery in foreign proceedings.
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Court Denies Class Member’s Untimely Request to Be Excluded from Class Even Though Class Member Had Previously Filed a Separate Action
July 24, 2019 | Blog | By Joel Rothman
Claimants Need Not Record Complaints to Enforce Lien Dissolution Bonds Under
May 28, 2019 | Blog | By Samuel M. Tony Starr, Kevin Mortimer
In a recent decision, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) has held that a contractor seeking to enforce a lien dissolution bond under G.L. c. 254 § 14 need not record an attested to copy of its complaint with the Registry of Deeds. In City Electric Supply Co. v. Arch Insurance Co., the SJC vacated a decision of Norfolk Superior Court—refusing to apply the recording requirement of G.L. c. 254 § 5 to G.L. c. 254 § 14.
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Supreme Court Denies Opportunity To Clarify Whether The Federal Securities Laws Carry a Duty to Update
May 22, 2019 | Blog | By Ellen Shapiro
The U.S. Supreme Court denied defendants-appellees’ petition for certiorari in Hagan v. Khoja. As set forth in our prior alert, the executives of the now-defunct biotechnology company, Orexigen, sought review of a Ninth Circuit decision, which not only created a departure from other courts in its narrow-approach to incorporation by reference and judicial notice, but according to the petition, also distinguished itself by being the first Circuit Court of Appeal to find that an issuer owes a duty to update a statement of historical fact that was accurate when made. At issue was whether Orexigen had a duty to disclose data that demonstrated interim results from an obesity drug trial were not as promising as once touted. In opposition to the petition for certiorari, respondent argued, inter alia, that “[e]ven if petitioners were correct . . . that this case implicates whether companies have a duty to update earlier statements of historical fact, the interlocutory posture of this case would make it the worst kind of vehicle for considering that question.”
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Teva Putative Federal Securities Class Member Seeks to Toll Statute of Repose with Motion to Intervene
March 12, 2019 | Blog | By Kevin Mortimer, Ellen Shapiro
The United States District Court of the District of Connecticut will soon decide whether a putative class member may intervene “for the limited purpose of tolling the statute of repose.” Statutes of repose place an outer limit on when a claim can be brought. For example, claims brought under Sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 are subject to a 3-year statute of repose, 15 U.S.C. § 77m, and claims brought under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are subject to a 5-year statute of repose. 15 U.S.C. § 1658. Less than two-years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unlike statutes of limitations, which may be tolled by the pendency of a class action, statutes of repose cannot be so equitably tolled. CALPERS v. ANZ Securities. Should the District Court deny the motion, the putative class member, who purchased millions of Teva shares during the proposed class period will be time-barred from opting-out of the securities class action at-issue or asserting its own claims should the action be dismissed.
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Judge Rakoff Highlights the Financial Risk to Objectors of Class Settlements
October 23, 2018 | | By Joel Rothman, Ellen Shapiro, Kevin Mortimer, Alain Mathieu
On August 15, 2018, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York awarded an objector to the Petrobras class settlement nearly $12,000 in attorneys’ fees (click here for the Order). The objector had asked the Court for almost $200,000 to cover 231.7 hours of legal work. Approximately one month later, Judge Rakoff sanctioned another objector to the Petrobas class settlement (click here for the Order). In the September Order, Judge Rakoff issued a grave warning to future objectors and reminded counsel that it is the Court’s duty to “safeguard the ability of objectors to protect class members from abusive settlements while in turn protect[] class members from being abused by the objectors themselves.
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News & Press
Members Peter Saparoff and Robert Kidwell and Associates Joel Rothman and Kevin Mortimer authored this ABA’s Section of Litigation column on the trend of plaintiff investors filing a growing number of class action cases against financial institutions alleging violations of U.S. antitrust laws.