Practice:
Bar Admissions:
Massachusetts
Experience:
A seasoned litigator and counselor, Ellen Zucker has successfully litigated and resolved employment matters involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract for both companies and individuals. In 2008, Ms. Zucker secured significant courtroom victories. She represented a plaintiff in a workplace retaliation case, and the jury returned a verdict of $ 4.5 million in favor of her client. She also represented a corporate minority shareholder in a dispute with a majority shareholder. The court found that Ms. Zucker’s client was unlawfully frozen out of participating in the company and subjected to a civil conspiracy.
Over the years, in other litigation matters Ms. Zucker has secured dismissals of federal money laundering charges, state criminal charges of homicide and arson as well as charges of civil RICO and business fraud. Ms. Zucker’s clients include executives and professionals, as well as construction workers, private businesses and public charities. She has been lead counsel for clients with disputes in several jurisdictions. Ms. Zucker served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Nancy Gertner, in Federal District Court in Massachusetts and began her legal career as an attorney at the law firm Dwyer & Collora LLP.
Ms. Zucker is an active member of the legal community and has held leadership positions in local bar associations as well as in national and local advocacy groups. She serves on the Board of Editors for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. From 2006 to 2007, she chaired MassEquality.Org. Ms. Zucker has been on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Bar Association on the Legal Committee of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She served on the national boards of both the National Organization of Women (NOW) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (NACDL). Ms. Zucker is also on the faculty of Suffolk University Law School.
Ms. Zucker has been sought after to comment on matters of politics and law in the following media outlets: The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, ABC, NBC , CBS, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, the New Republic, all local television stations, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and New England Cable News, where she appears regularly as a commentator on legal and political affairs.
Education:
- J.D., Boston College Law School, 1994
- M.S., Political Theory, London School of Economics and Political Science
- B.A., Wesleyan University
Awards:
- Ellen Zucker was named one of the Top Lawyers of the Year for 2009 in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
- In December 2009, Ellen Zucker was featured in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Power List. The Power List is Lawyers Weekly's roster of the state's most influential attorneys.
- Ellen Zucker was named on Boston's Most Powerful People in Boston magazine's 2008 Most Powerful People Extended List.
- Massachusetts Super Lawyer in 2009, 2008 and 2006. The selection of attorneys is based on a poll and internal research done by Law & Politics Magazine and reviewed by an independent blue ribbon panel of their peers. Listed attorneys and finalists consist of the top 5% of attorneys in Massachusetts. The listing appeared in the November issue of Boston Magazine and in New England Super Lawyers Magazine.
Quotes:
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5/8/2010, The Boston Globe - Retrial sought in 2005 killings
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Maria Cramer.
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5/8/2010, Boston Herald - Dorchester killer appeals four murder convictions over juror’s exit
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Laura Crimaldi.
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4/21/2010, The Wesleyan Connection - Zucker ’83 is a Top Massachusetts Lawyer for 2009
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Cynthia Rockwell.
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4/14/2010, Wicked Local Brookline - Brookline resident named Mass. Lawyers Weekly Top Lawyer
Ellen Zucker was mentioned in this article.
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4/2/2010, Wicked Local Cambridge - Lawyer who won $4.5M lawsuit against Cambridge honored
Ellen Zucker was mentioned in this article.
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3/1/2010, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - Amendment could herald additional arbitration reform
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Jack Dew.
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1/4/2010, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - Top Lawyer of the Year 2009
Ellen Zucker was featured in this article as one of the Top Ten Massachusetts Lawyers of the Year in 2009. Ellen received this honor principally from her work in the Monteiro v. City of Cambridge case and the Warfield v. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center case.
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7/28/2009, The Boston Globe - Doctor can take Beth Israel to court
Laura Studen and Ellen Zucker were quoted in this article by Robert Weisman.
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5/5/2009, The Boston Globe - Stop drawing battle out
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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4/28/2009, Law 360 - Mass. Jury's $4.5M Retaliation Verdict Stands
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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4/28/2009, The Boston Globe - Cambridge assessed $4.5m in bias suit
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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4/28/2009, TheBostonChannel.com - Judge Upholds $4.5M Verdict Against Town
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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4/27/2009, Wicked Local Cambridge - Judge: Cambridge must pay city worker wronged in discrimination case
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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9/1/2008, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly - Employment lawyers wrestle with clients' concerns about jobs, profits
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Barbra Rabinovitz.
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8/20/2008, The Phoenix - Women on the Verge
Ellen Zucker was mentioned and quoted in this story for her role as head of the "Zucker Group."
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7/31/2008, The Boston Globe - SJC's longest-serving member to retire
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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5/28/2008, Boston Herald - Canned Cambridge official wins $4.5M in race suit
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article.
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5/28/2008, Boston Globe - Ex-Cambridge city worker awarded $4.5m in suit
Ellen Zucker and Laura Studen were quoted in this article.
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8/13/2007, www.boston.com - Women win bias lawsuit vs. city
Ellen Zucker was quoted in this article by Claire Cummings.
Recent Articles and Publications:
Agreements to Arbitrate Employment Discrimination Claims: Something New Or a Reminder?
Boston Bar Journal, Spring 2010
Get To Know Us...
Boston Spirit Magazine, Seasonal People Issue, May/June 2010
Get To Know Us...
Boston Spirit Magazine, Seasonal People issue, May/June 2009
Emerging Issues in the Changing Workplace
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, February 19, 2009
Ellen Zucker and Kathleen Sullivan were contributing authors to this MCLE publication on the topic of Rights and Responsibilities of the Non-Traditional Workforce.
Roe @ 35 - Reflections by Notable Champions for Choice in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Coalition for Choice, pg. 32, January 22, 2008
Ellen Zucker was a contributor to this book commemorating the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which was published by the ACLU of Massachusetts.
Speaking Engagements:
Effective Openings and Closings in Employment Cases, 12.4.2009
Location: MCLE's Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference
Role: Speaker
Battle of the Lawyers, 11.12.2009
Location: MCLE, Boston MA
Role: Speaker
Ellen Zucker will be participating in Lawyers Weekly's 2009 Battle of the Lawyers, re-creating arguments from the Monteiro v. City of Cambridge case.
SJC Challenges to Enforceability of Arbitration Awards and Mandatory Arbitration Clauses, 9.25.2009
Location: Boston Bar Association
Role: Speaker
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education seminar, "Emerging Issues in the Changing Workplace", 3.9.2009
Role: Speaker
Topic: Rights and Responsibilities of the Non-traditional Workforce
Boston Bar Association, 1.12.2009
Role: Panelist
Topic: Damages in Employment Cases
Greater Boston with Emily Rooney, 11.10.2008
Role: Speaker
Topic: Results of the California referendum that amends the California constitution to ban same sex marriage
Training for the Attorney General’s Litigation Department, 6.13.2008
Role: Speaker
Topic: Litigating of retaliation claims brought under M.G.L. c. 151B