Boston Bar Journal - Boston Bar Association

By Mina Makarious

In 2025, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a total of 101 session laws, well over half of which consisted of “home rule legislation.” This form of legislation is enacted by the Legislature as a whole but applies to only <...

By Cailin Campbell

Does defense counsel have a constitutional obligation to initiate plea negotiations when no formal plea offer has been made by the prosecutor? In Commonwealth v. Mosso, 496 Mass. 768 (2025), th...

By Andrea M. Sullivan

In an effort to provide employees with more flexible benefits, employers often offer “floating” holidays. Depending on the employer’s policy, these floating holidays fall into two categories: those that can be used any day of the year and those that can only be exercised on certain days specified by the employer. Floating holidays...

By Andrea Kramer

Though domestic violence (“DV”) is often framed as a private matter, it also is a pervasive workplace issue, one that affects workplace safety, employee productivity, and employers’ bottom lines. Many employers rightly recognize the importance of addressing DV as a workplace issue, but not all. And, Massachusetts law does not require t...

By Alexandra August

Throughout Massachusetts, facilities licensed and operated by the Department of Mental Health (“DMH”) are gripped by a “bed space crisis,” operating at such maximum capacity that beds cannot reliably be found for patients requiring either evaluation or treatment in a DMH facility. This issue is particularly pressing for patient...