Neil V. McKittrick
Profile
Mr. McKittrick has extensive trial experience and has represented clients in a wide array of litigation, including the representation of clients in financial services, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, high technology and other industries in trade secret, non-disclosure, non-competition and non-solicitation cases. He also has extensive experience counseling and advising businesses on their compliance with anti-discrimination laws and other employment-related matters, including contract claims, employee privacy rights and workplace security issues. In addition, Mr. McKittrick provides traditional labor law advice and has represented employers in collective bargaining, interest and grievance arbitration, unfair labor practice charges, picketing and other threatened work actions. He formerly served as the Assistant Director of the White House Security Review (1994-95) and as a law clerk to the Honorable Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (1987-88). He was also previously a partner in the Boston law firms of Hill & Barlow and Goulston & Storrs.
Experience
- Summary judgment on behalf of textile manufacturer in a federal court class action alleging WARN Act and state Wage Act violations.
- Summary judgment (affirmed on appeal) on behalf of professional services firm in a disability discrimination claim.
- Summary judgment on behalf of defense contractor in an Equal Pay Act case.
- Summary judgment in a landmark federal class action on behalf of plaintiff class of more than 3,000 adults with developmental disabilities on a waiting list for services to which they were entitled under the Medicaid Act. Case resolved by a court-approved $114 million settlement.
- Counsel of Record on an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the state of Oregon and 58 former commissioners of mental health and developmental disabilities from 36 states in Olmstead v. L.C., a leading Americans with Disabilities Act case.
- Co-counsel on an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 32 national disabilities rights groups in support of professional golfer Casey Martin in his successful Americans with Disabilities Act case against the PGA Tour.
- Motion to dismiss on behalf of public employer defending Title VI sex discrimination claims and alleged due process violations.
- Summary judgment in patent infringement case defeating doctrine of equivalents argument based on patent history estoppel.
- Verdict for commercial landlord in breach of contract case involving enforceability of one million dollar liquidated damages clause. Identified by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the most significant defense verdicts of 1996.
- Verdict for contractor in breach of contract/alleged construction defects case.
- Verdict on behalf of senior executive in breach of contract case involving incentive compensation.
- Arbitration award on behalf of manufacturer against sales representative in breach of contract claim.
Education and Honors
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1987
A.B., magna cum laude, Brown University, 1983
- Order of the Coif
- Virginia Law Review
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Rose Pessin Memorial Award (2012)
- Richard P. Melick Foundation Award (2011)
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating (since 1999)
- Massachusetts Super Lawyer (since 2004)
- American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award (2001)
- Massachusetts Bar Association Access to Justice Pro Bono Publico Award (2001)
- Charles River Arc Benefit Gala Honoree (2001)
- Arc Massachusetts Distinguished Citizens Award (1996)
- Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in the World
Professional Activities
- Federal Bar Association, Massachusetts Chapter (Past President and Executive Committee)
- Boston Bar Association (Employment and Labor Law Section, Former Co-Chair, Labor Law Committee; Member – Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law)
- Editorial Board, Employment Law Strategist
- Northeast Regional Co-Chair, Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, D.C.
- Pretrial Case Conferencer/Mediator, Boston Municipal Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Project
- Massachusetts Bar Foundation (Fellow)
- Chair, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education Commission on Educating a 21st Century Workforce
- Member, Governor Deval Patrick Transition Committee, Education Working Group
- Inside NGO Annual Conference - "Social Media in the Workplace" - Washington, D.C. - June 8, 2011
- Inside NGO - "Social Media in the Workplace" - webinar - November 30, 2010
- Judicial Conference of U.S. District Court for District of Massachusetts - "E-Discovery Amendments to Rules of Civil Procedure" - Boston - June 14, 2007
- MCLE Seminar - "Valuation of Cases" - Boston - October 13, 2006
- MIT Sloan School Innovation Period - "Shifting Standards of Legal Accountability" - Cambridge - March 2006
- Suffolk University Law School Continuing Legal Education - "E-Discovery Seminar" - Boston - 2006
- Biometritech Conference - "Biometrics and Employee Privacy Rights" - New York - June 26, 2002
- Massachusetts Software and Internet Council Legal Issues Series - "Workplace Privacy: Employer Control of Employees’ Activities in Cyberspace" - Waltham - May 1, 2002
- ABA/National Legal Aid and Defender Association 2002 Equal Justice Conference - "Leaders Securing a Better Future for the Legal Profession" - Cleveland - April 19, 2002
- 46th Annual Meeting of the South Norfolk County ARC - "The Successful Challenge to the Waiting List, What It Means to You" - Westwood - May 16, 2001
- Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Association on Mental Retardation - "The Service System beyond the Year 2001: Implications of the Waiting List Settlement" - Westborough - April 27, 2001
- Illinois Conference of Executives of The Arc of Illinois - "Litigation Trends: A National Perspective on System Changes and Their Relevancy to Illinois" - Chicago - February 22, 2001
In The News
- April 2011 - SHRM.org - "Guard Against Informality in Video Interviews"
- August 2008 - ABA Pro Bono Connection - "Neil McKittrick: A Pro Bono Journey from Law School to Law Firm"
- June 17, 2007 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "Employment Bar Debates Summary Judgment Trend"
- February 12, 2007 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "Stats on Opinion Output by USDC Judges Has Some Crying Foul"
- December 11, 2006 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "E-discovery Rules Signal New Era – Federal Practice"
- December 1, 2006 - State House News Service - "Judge in Toll Case Reveals Ties to Defendant Trimarco"
- November 27, 2006 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "The Vanishing Trial: Is Trying a Jury Case Becoming a Lost Art"
- October 25, 2006 - Boston Herald - "Dem’s Coke Contract Was One Sweet Deal"
- July 17, 2006 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "Can Client Disputes Be Forced Into Business Session?"
- October 6, 2003 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "Labor Lawyers Under the Gun"
- August 17, 2003 - Boston Globe - "Blackout Could Play Into Verizon Talks"
- February 26, 2003 - Boston Globe - "Where Would They All Go?"
- May 1, 2002 - Computer World - "Companies Urged to Maintain Privacy, Security or Face Legal Trouble"
- Spring 2002 - Equal Justice Magazine - "Champion of the Disabled"
- November 28, 2001 - Boston Globe - "Defenseless Fight Back"
- January 2011 - Employment Law Strategist - "Second Circuit Strips Pharmaceutical Sales Reps of Their Exempt Status"
- November 2009 - Employment Law Strategist - "Too Much Information? Looking for Employees and Applicants on the Internet"
- November 2008 - Boston Business Journal - "Educating the 21st Century Workforce"
- September 2008 - Employment Law Strategist - "Competing Definitions of ‘Mass Layoffs’ Under the WARN Act"
- March 2008 - New England In-House - "New Massachusetts Ethics Rule Requires In-House Counsel to Report Wrongdoing"
- October 2007 - Employment Law Strategist - "‘Tip Pooling’ and Wage and Hour Laws"
- June 25, 2007 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "New Book Uncovers the ‘Political’ in the Judicial Branch"
- January 8, 2007 - Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - "Voluminous Treatise on Business Cases Worth the Time"
- Summer 2003 - Shopping Center Legal Update - "Balancing Workplace Security with Employee Privacy Rights"
- May/June 2001 - Boston Bar Association Health Law Section Newsletter - "Boulet v. Cellucci: The End of the Waiting List for Adults with Mental Retardation in Massachusetts"
- June 1994 - MCLE Audio Cassette on Criminal Law - "60 Minute Lawyer"
- January/February 1994 - Boston Bar Journal - "The Appeals Court: Balancing the Insurer’s Duty to Defend with the Duty to Settle Third Party Claims"
- 1988 - Fordham Urban Law Journal - "The Homeless: Judicial Intervention on Behalf of a Politically Powerless Group"
Massachusetts
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court


