Joseph D. Steinfield
Partner
Joseph D. Steinfield is a trial lawyer, teacher, and
writer. Over the span of more than four decades, he has represented
clients in a wide variety of cases, including complex business disputes,
First Amendment litigation, construction cases, fraud and chapter 93A cases,
intellectual property disputes, wrongful death cases, section 1983 civil rights
claims, and commercial disputes of all types. Joe has argued many appeals in
both state and federal courts, including the First and Second Circuits, the
Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court, and the New Hampshire
Supreme Court. Many of his appellate cases have established important
precedents under both state and federal law.
Joe has represented the media in libel, copyright,
access, and privacy cases. He represented a well-known magazine in a landmark
case in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a claim of First
Amendment protection for parody. He represented a major Boston newspaper in a
leading First Circuit case granting access rights. On behalf of a New Hampshire
newspaper, he persuaded the New Hampshire Supreme Court to adopt novel
procedures under the state’s “Right-to-Know” law. In 2007, he represented
a television network in a high-profile defamation case, and in 2010 he
successfully represented a public television station in a case under the
Connecticut shield law. Joe is a member
of the Judiciary-Media Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
He has appeared many times in Puerto Rico federal
court. From 1998 to 2000, Joe
represented the Governor of Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico in
two high-profile cases involving claims of political retaliation. In 2007, he
tried a lengthy case on behalf of a businessman against officials of the Puerto
Rico Department of Insurance. The jury returned a $5 million verdict in favor
of his client, which was upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2000, the New Hampshire State Legislature retained Joe
as its special counsel to investigate ethical charges involving three justices
of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Following
the impeachment of the Chief Justice, Joe was named as special prosecutor and
tried the case before the New Hampshire State Senate.
He has extensive alternative dispute resolution
experience, both as a mediator and as an arbitrator. He has been a member of
the commercial arbitrators panel of the American Arbitration Association for
more than 20 years, and he has also been appointed as a neutral under the
federal FIFRA statute. He has also conducted internal investigations, most
recently for a large university.
Since 1993, Joe has taught a First Amendment seminar at
Boston College Law School. Beginning in
January 2012, he will teach a similar course at University of New Hampshire School
of Law. He has also taught in Russia as
a “Senior Lawyer Abroad,” first in 2008 in Maykop, Adygheya, and, in the fall of 2011, at Herzen State
Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg. He has also been a member of the
Practising Law faculty since 1993, both as a principal speaker and as a
panelist at its annual Communications Law program. He has published numerous
articles and book reviews, lectures regularly at litigation and media law
programs, and writes a monthly column for the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript,
published in Peterborough, NH.
Joe has been a fellow of the American College of Trial
Lawyers since 1984 and founded its Massachusetts Superior Court Mediation
Program. He chaired the College's Emil Gumpert Committee, was a member of its
National Trial Competition Committee, and currently serves as chair of the
Sandra Day O'Connor Jurist Award Committee. He served as chair of the
Massachusetts Clients’ Security Board, was the founding chair of the Law
Clerks’ Society of the Supreme Judicial Court, and is a currently a member of
the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Joe
is also co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Senior Lawyers Section.
Bar Admissions- United States Supreme Court
- United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fifth and Federal Circuits
- United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New York
Education- Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1964
- Brown University, A.B., magna cum laude, 1961
Noteworthy- AV® Peer Review Rated
- 2011: Boston Bar Association, Co-Chair, Senior Lawyers Section
- 2011: Named a "Top 100 Super Lawyer in New England"
- 2009, 2011: Named a Massachusetts Top 100 "Super Lawyer" as featured in Boston magazine
- 2007 - 2011: Named in Chambers USA as one of the country’s leading First Amendment lawyers
- 2004 - 2011: Recognized as a "Massachusetts Super Lawyer" in the area of Business Litigation
- 1989 - present: Listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Boston's Best Lawyers (Woodward/White) in the fields of Communications Law, Litigation - First Amendment, and "Bet-the-Company" Litigation
Memberships- American Bar Association
- American Bar Foundation, Fellow
- American College of Trial Lawyers
- American Law Institute
- Boston Bar Association
- Boston Bar Foundation, Society of Fellows
- Massachusetts Bar Association
|
