Practice:

• Business Litigation
• Entertainment & Media
• Private Client
• Probate & Trust Litigation

Bar Admissions:

Massachusetts
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Experience:

Prior to joining Burns & Levinson in January 2006, Susan Stenger was for many years a Partner at the firm of Perkins Smith & Cohen LLP. Her practice areas include:

Appellate Practice:

Ms. Stenger has extensive successful appellate experience in many subject areas in both state and federal appellate courts. Her recent victories include:

• US Gypsum Co. v. Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 243 (2007). Ms. Stenger obtained reversal of summary judgment, when the Appeals Court agreed that the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management did not have the discretion to exclude two properties from a Designated Port Area intended for maritime industrial use, and ruled that in any case there was insufficient evidence to support the agency’s decision.

• Quinn v. Mar-Lees Seafood, LLC, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 688 (2007). A favorable verdict for our client was affirmed in a contract dispute regarding seafood distribution. The result was enhanced by our cross-appeal when the Appeals Court in effect granted our client declaratory relief going forward, by stating that the parties’ contract is clear that our client is entitled to a lucrative ongoing royalty from certain seafood sales by the other party.

• Girard v. Allen, 68 Mass. App. Ct. 1110 (2007) (unpublished decision), further review denied, 449 Mass. 1103 (2007). Ms. Stenger obtained affirmance of summary judgment which declared a trust invalid for lack of sufficiently designated beneficiaries where the decedent had left his Caribbean home in trust for "those who were my friends at the time of my death."

• School Committee of Hudson v. Board of Education, 448 Mass. 565 (2007). The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed summary judgment in favor of our charter school client, adopting the argument by Ms. Stenger and her colleagues that the neighboring towns which were contesting the grant of charter on procedural and substantive grounds did not have standing to bring a declaratory judgment action.

Probate Litigation:

Ms. Stenger has handled a wide variety of probate litigation, including will contests, undue influence and lack of capacity cases, fiduciary disputes, trust interpretation matters, spousal elective share claims, pre-nuptial agreement challenges, and constructive trust claims. She has, for example, obtained court approval for early distribution of $19,000,000 in trust assets, obtained permission from the Supreme Judicial Court for cy-pres transfer of significant assets between charities, and won summary judgment in various trust disputes. Ms. Stenger has handled emergency negotiations and immediate trial over the location and religious rites of burial. The Probate Court has appointed Ms. Stenger in various capacities, including Guardian Ad Litem regarding allowance of trust accounts, and Executrix and Special Administratrix of disputed estates.

Entertainment Litigation:

Attorney Stenger's entertainment industry accomplishments include: defeating a Lanham Act recall of a CD of a well-known artist's earliest work; defeating an injunction against a major recording artist's imminent release of a new album; obtaining an arbitration award releasing a band from an independent recording contract; serving as court-appointed Guardian Ad Litem to review children's entertainment contracts; and obtaining injunctive and other relief to protect celebrities' privacy rights. In Ahern v. Scholz, 85 F.3d 774, 796-800 (1st Cir. 1996), a music industry contract and royalty dispute, Ms. Stenger obtained reversal of an unfair trade practices judgment and of a $465,000 attorneys' fees award which had been entered against her client, a multi-platinum recording artist.

Memberships:

• Boston Bar Association
• Co-Chair, Boston Bar Association Arts & Entertainment Committee, 1998-2000
• Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

Additional Information:

• LeadBoston Graduate, program of the Boston Center for Community & Justice, Class of 2009
• Adjunct Professor of Appellate Practice, Suffolk University School of Law, 2000-2001
• Articles Editor, American Journal of Law & Medicine, Boston University School of Law, 1987-1988
• Ms. Stenger speaks French.

Education:

• J.D., Boston University School of Law, 1988
• B.A., International Business and French, Grove City College, 1985

Awards:

• Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly elected Ms. Stenger as one of 2003's "Lawyers of the Year," recognizing her as one of ten Massachusetts lawyers who stood out from the crowd by winning important decisions. Ms. Stenger prevailed before the Supreme Judicial Court in the case of Bongaards v. Millen, 440 Mass. 10 (2003), protecting a deceased client's trust assets from her husband, who had filed a "spousal elective share" waiving the will. The decision is significant because it deems the current spousal election statute antiquated, both in terms of the amount of the elective share and the assets that it may reach. Although all the justices agreed that Ms. Stenger’s client should prevail, the Court was divided 4-3 as to who should modernize the scope of the spousal elective law: the Court or the legislature.
• Massachusetts Super Lawyer for Appellate Practice in 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004. 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.
• Ms. Stenger holds Martindale-Hubbell's AV rating, signifying high to prominent legal ability and a reflection of expertise, experience, integrity and overall professional excellence.

Quotes:

Recent Articles and Publications:

Speaking Engagements: