Neil V. McKittrick

Shareholder | Boston

Mr. McKittrick has extensive trial experience in employment and business disputes. He has represented clients in a wide array of litigation, including (1) allegations of workplace discrimination and harassment; (2) cases involving disputes over trade secrets, non-disclosure, non-competition and non-solicitation covenants in financial services, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, high technology and other industries; and (3) the defense of class and collective actions, with particular experience in the hospitality and retail sectors. 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, and he has conducted numerous evidentiary hearings at the NLRB. He created the firm’s pro bono policy and serves on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. He formerly served as the Assistant Director of the White House Security Review and as a law clerk to the Honorable Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He was also previously a partner in the Boston law firms of Hill & Barlow and Goulston & Storrs.

More About Neil V. McKittrick

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.
Multiple cases involving preliminary injunctions based on restrictive covenants.
Motion to dismiss on behalf of public employer defending Title VI sex discrimination claims and alleged due process violations in connection with a public construction project.
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. Included among Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s 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.
Multiple arbitration awards on behalf of employers in union grievances challenging changes in benefits, work jurisdiction issues, contract interpretation and employee discipline cases.

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.
Counsel of Record on an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 11 immigration rights organizations in the successful challenge to the Department of Homeland Security’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
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.

Education & Admission

Professional Activities

Speeches

Labor Law Solutions – “Union Solicitation, Distribution, and Access to Company Property: What Can Employees, Off-Duty Employees, and Nonemployees Do, and Where Can They Do It?” – Nashville – December 5, 2019
U.S. District Court Conference (D. Mass) – “Employment Law Panel” – Fall 2019
U.S. District Court Judicial Retreat – “Employment Law Panel” – Chatham – November 9, 2018
Ogletree Deakins Workplace Strategies Seminar – “Ethical Considerations of Technology’s Impact on the Attorney-Client Relationship” – San Diego – May 6, 2017
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (moderator) – “In-house Counsel Panel” – Boston – December 2015
Northeastern University Law Journal Symposium – “Data Security” – Boston – March 2015
Inside NGO Annual Conference – “Telecommuting Policies, Legal Considerations” – Washington – July 2014
Boston Bar Association – “Internal Investigations in Securities Matters” – Boston – January 2014
Inside NGO Annual Conference – “Social Media in the Workplace” – Washington, D.C. – June 8, 2011
Inside NGO Webinar – “Social Media in the Workplace” – 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
MCLE Conference – “Elder and Disability Law” – Boston – 2001

Published Works

Media Quotes

April 2, 2020 – Bloomberg Law – “Hospitals Must Consider Accommodation Requests in Pandemic”
July 23, 2015 – Boston Globe – “Court Orders Boston Police to Reinstate Fired Officer”
June 5, 2014 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “Plaintiff's witness strategy at root of verdict for MGH, defense says”
May 28, 2014 – Practical Law Journal – “Employer Can Be Liable Under Title VII for Negligently Permitting a Co-Worker’s Discriminatory Efforts to Cause an Employee’s Termination”
October 9, 2013 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “Mass. Bar Said to be Unprepared for New E-Discovery Rules”
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”
August 27, 2001 – The National Law Journal – “Win for Mass Disabled Sets New Tone”
August 13, 2001 – Boston Law Tribune – “ABA Honors Boston Lawyer”
May 9, 2001 – Boston Globe – “A Breach of Faith”
February 8, 2001 – Chicago Tribune – “Shooting May Forestall Efforts to Re-Open Pennsylvania Avenue to Public”
February 5, 2001 – CBS Marketwatch – “An Infinite Handicap”
January 1, 2001 – Boston Law Tribune – “Pro Bono Heroes”
June 12, 2000 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “Fatigue Syndrome is Basis for ADA Claim”
May 25, 2000 – The Patriot Ledger – “State Undoes Medicaid Change Affecting Services for Retarded”
March 6, 2000 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “New MCAD Regs on Disability Proposed”
November 8, 1999 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “ESQ (Interview): Neil V. McKittrick”
August 19, 1999 – Boston Globe – “Lawsuit Seeks State Action on Housing for Retarded Adults”
August 19, 1999 – Boston Herald – “2700 Families Await Housing for Retarded Kin”
May 9, 1999 – Boston Herald – “Suits Target Care of Retarded”
March 21, 1999 – New York Times – “Suit Seeks to Place Retarded Adults”
March 19, 1999 – Boston Globe – “Suit Seeks Medicaid help for Mentally Retarded”
December 21, 1998 – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly – “Worker in Bias Case Must Disclose Psych Records”