ATTORNEY PROFILES

Michael D. Weisman
Michael D. Weisman has practiced law for more than 25 years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and was chosen in November 2004 as one of the top 100 lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine. Most recently in 2007, he has been selected for inclusion in the 25th anniversary edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.

During a career that has included both federal and state court clerkships, service as a member of the Steering Committee of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and 18 years with the law firm of Hill & Barlow, Michael Weisman has earned a national reputation as a formidable trial lawyer and an active participant in the legal community. Weisman has litigated a wide variety of matters, ranging from complex plaintiffs’ tort and civil rights cases to sophisticated corporate and commercial disputes. He has represented clients in Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Connecticut, as well as in Sweden, Switzerland and France. He is a founding member and former treasurer and president of the Frank J. Murray Inn of Court, an association of judges and lawyers in Boston modeled after the Inns of Court in Great Britain.

While a partner at Hill & Barlow, Mr. Weisman served at various times as chairman of the Trial Department and the Tort Law Practice Group. He has written and lectured extensively on a number of topics, including product liability, Chapter 93A litigation, school finance law and trial advocacy. Among his publications are model product liability and Chapter 93A jury instructions that are part of a compilation of instructions used by trial judges across Massachusetts. He is also a co-author of Massachusetts Civil Practice: Trial, published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.

For more than 15 years, Mr. Weisman served as lead counsel in a suit brought in the Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of Massachusetts public schoolchildren who have not received adequate educational opportunities. In 1993, the Court issued its landmark decision in McDuffy v. Secretary holding that the State has a constitutional duty to provide all public school students with a quality education. The victory in that case was a prime force behind the passage of the Massachusetts Educational Reform Act and has been the subject of national attention. Mr. Weisman is currently lead counsel in an action against the state of Indiana.

In recognition of this work, Mr. Weisman received the “Hero in Education Award” from the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, the President’s Award from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, a Friend of Education Award from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and a Distinguished Service Award from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

Rebecca P. McIntyre
Rebecca P. McIntyre joined the firm in 2001 and became a member of the firm in 2004. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1980 and magna cum laude from Boston College Law School in 1985, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. After law school, Ms. McIntyre completed a one-year clerkship for the Hon. W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts.

Ms. McIntyre began practicing in the litigation department of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett in New York, where she concentrated on federal securities fraud class actions and ERISA litigation. Ms. McIntyre also has an extensive public service record. She worked for six years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Administrative Law Division and the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, where she concentrated on tobacco litigation. She served as one of the lead attorneys in Medicaid reimbursement litigation filed by the State of Massachusetts against the cigarette industry, resulting in the largest recovery ($8 billion) ever obtained in a civil action in the State. Ms. McIntyre also successfully defended the Massachusetts Tobacco Ingredient Disclosure Act against preemption challenges by the cigarette and smokeless tobacco industries, arguing the case both in the United States District Court and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. See Philip Morris, Inc. v. Harshbarger, 122 F.3d 58 (1st Cir. 1997); 1997 WL 106930 (D. Mass. Feb. 7, 1997). Ms. McIntyre also co-conceived and drafted first-in-the-nation regulations using the Attorney General's consumer protection powers to regulate the tobacco industry's advertising and sales practices.

Ms. McIntyre served as co-counsel in the second phase of the school finance case seeking enforcement of the Supreme Judicial Court's 1993 judgment. Ms. McIntyre had primary day-to-day responsibility for preparing the case for trial and was the principal author of the brief submitted to the Supreme Judicial Court in connection with the State's appeal of the trial court's decision finding the State in violation of its constitutional duty to provide all public school students with an adequate education.