VALERIE A. YARASHUS
Valerie Yarashus concentrates in plaintiff's trial practice, including premises liability, motor vehicle liability, construction site liability, medical malpractice, nursing home litigation and a wide variety of other general liability cases. Valerie graduated from George Washington University (summa cum laude, 1987) and Harvard Law School (cum laude, 1990). While at Harvard Law School, she served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Valerie joined Sugarman and Sugarman, P.C. following law school in 1990 as an associate and became their first woman partner in 1996. She was a principal in that firm from 1996 to 2008. She is now delighted to be one of the founding partners of Yarashus, Wagner, Cook, Freiberger & Washienko, LLC.
Valerie was listed by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in 1997 as one of the "Rising Stars" in the legal profession in the Commonwealth, in their first annual survey of attorneys in practice for less than 10 years. In October 2004, Valerie was named by Law and Politics magazine ("Best of Boston") as one of the "Massachusetts Super Lawyers," as selected by her peers, and has been listed every year since that time. She was selected by this Best of Boston survey as one of the Top 50 Female Lawyers in Massachusetts from 2005 - the present. Lawyers Weekly inducted her into the "Up and Coming Lawyers Hall of Fame" in 2006; this honor has been awarded to only two other Massachusetts lawyers (including Kathy Jo Cook, another partner in this firm). Valerie is also listed in the 2005-present editions of Best Lawyers in America.
Valerie has received an AV rating, the highest rating, by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. This rating is given only to lawyers who have Very High to Preeminent Legal Ability and who embrace Very High Professional Standards.
Valerie will become the President-Elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association on September 1, 2008. She is currently Treasurer of the MBA, Chair of their Budget and Finance Committee, Co-Chair of their Monthly Leadership Roundtable, Co-Chair of their Diversity Task Force and a past Chair of their Health Law Section. She is serving as Co-Chair on a special bench-bar task force for Plain English Jury Instructions. Valerie is an Oliver Wendell Holmes Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, and has served on their grant advisory committee. She is a past President of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (MATA)(2002-2003), as well as a member of their Executive Committee and Board of Governors. She served as Chair of State Legislation for MATA from 1998-2001. In both 2000 and 2002, she was awarded a prestigious Weidemann Wysocki "Citation of Excellence," from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) (an organization with 60,000 members, now renamed the American Association for Justice) for her commitment to the civil justice system. She has served on national committees for ATLA, including Legal Affairs. Valerie has served as a speaker or moderator at two previous national conventions sponsored by ATLA. Recently, she has been elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Valerie is a frequent speaker and writer for continuing legal education. She is the editor of the 2004 - 2008 editions of "Massachusetts Personal Injury Law Sourcebook," published annually by the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. She co-authored a law review article together with Paul Sugarman entitled, "Admissibility of Managed Care Financial Incentives in Medical Malpractice Cases," which appeared in the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Law Journal. Valerie also co-authored, together with Paul Sugarman, the sample jury instructions for the chapters on "Personal Injuries" and "Wrongful Death" in Massachusetts Superior Court Civil Practice Jury Instructions, published by the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.
Valerie enjoys mentoring young people who are interested in becoming an attorney, and particularly enjoys working with people from diverse backgrounds.
CHARLES P. ("Chic") WAGNER
Chic is a seasoned discrimination lawyer who has been advising individuals and organizations in all aspects of employment, public accommodations, and school discrimination law since 1995. Whether acting as counsel for the plaintiff or defendant, or as a third party mediator, Chic is best known for his creativity and success in bringing complicated and highly charged disputes to meaningful and effective resolutions. He is the consummate “deal maker” fondly referred to by his colleagues as the "counselor’s counselor."
Chic has extensive experience bringing law enforcement matters before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) which often require a broad and creative incorporation of governmental policy considerations that, when done well, offer uniquely equitable solutions the parties could never accomplish in court. Having also built a substantial employer side practice, he brings to the Firm the unique experience of guiding a full range of parties with very different interests through the civil rights law enforcement and statutory conciliation process successfully, and he is highly regarded throughout the bar as one of the foremost practitioners before the Commission.
As a certified mediator, Chic combines all of that very specialized experience and "MCAD know-how" to assist parties and their counsel reach meaningful, well-tailored, and private solutions to what are otherwise very charged and emotionally driven disputes.
Admitted to practice in the state and federal of courts of Massachusetts, as well as the United States Supreme Court, Chic is reported in several seminal decisions governing the applicability of the Massachusetts Fair Employment Practices Act to public employers, extending the statute of limitations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, re-defining rights to a jury trial under G.L.c. 151B, and broadening the protections against SLAPP law suits.
In October 2002, Boston Magazine named him one of the city’s top five employment attorneys, and he was included among the "Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyers" in any area of practice by Law and Politics Magazine in November 2004 and 2005.
Chic grew up in suburban Buffalo, NY; and he is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and Western New England College School of Law. He is currently serving his third term as the male-identified Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association and is a proud appointee to the Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates and Executive Management Board. Chic has also enjoyed a long and diverse history of bar leadership and service with the MBA Individual Rights & Responsibilities and Labor & Employment Section Councils. He is a frequent continuing legal education faculty member and has co-authored numerous publications pertaining to small firm management, employment law and other anti-discrimination related topics.
KATHY JO COOK
Kathy Jo Cook concentrates her practice in the trial and appeal of personal injury and wrongful death cases, including motor vehicle accidents, construction site accidents, medical, legal and nursing home negligence, products and premises liability and other general liability cases. She also represents individuals in consumer protection and insurance bad faith claims.
Kathy Jo began her legal career at Lubin & Meyer, P.C. during law school. She joined Keches & Mallen, P.C. thereafter where she successfully handled complex claims on behalf of injured plaintiffs for some 13 years. Kathy Jo litigated the first successful claim in Massachusetts to hold that an insurance company’s appeal of an injured construction worker’s verdict was a bad faith insurance practice and violated the Consumer Protection Statute, securing the original judgment of more than 3 million dollars and an additional 4.2 million dollar judgment against the insurance company for its practices.
Kathy Jo is the 2008-2009 President of the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts. She is the Chair of the Judicial Administration Section Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and she has been appointed to its Standing Court Management Advisory Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. Kathy Jo is a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and serves on its Board of Governors. She is a member of the Boston Bar Association and serves on its Civil Right to Counsel Task Force. Kathy Jo is also a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. In 1999, she was named by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the top five "up and coming" attorneys in Massachusetts. In 2007, she became the third lawyer ever to be inducted into the Lawyers Weekly "Hall of Fame." Kathy Jo has been featured in a number of publications, including the National Law Journal and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
Kathy Jo has been invited to lecture on a variety of legal issues including medical negligence and litigation techniques at Suffolk University Law School, Southern New England School of Law and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. She has published in the area of evidence and has received numerous first place awards in national writing and trial competitions, including the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National Trial Competition. Her writing has been published by multiple organizations, including the American Judges Association and the Cleveland State Law Review.
Kathy Jo has received an AV rating, the highest rating, by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. This rating is given only to lawyers who have Very High to Preeminent Legal Ability and who embrace Very High Professional Standards.
About her work Kathy Jo says, "My focus has always been on justice. To me, justice means helping patients, workers and consumers collect damages for injuries caused by the fault of others; it means working to make changes in systems and standards to prevent future injuries; and it means making the legal system and the practice of law better through bar association leadership."
Kathy Jo is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and the University of Houston. She is licensed to practice before the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
MARC D. FREIBERGER
Marc D. Freiberger is a skilled employment attorney who specializes in contract negotiation, litigation and corporate immigration law. In 2007, Mr. Freiberger was named as a Rising Star among labor and employment attorneys in Massachusetts by Super Lawyers - Boston magazine.
Mr. Freiberger counsels executives and employers on employment related claims such as discrimination/wrongful discharge, breach of contract, and retaliation. Mr. Freiberger is an experienced negotiator of complex employment agreements, non-competition and trade secret restrictions, and separation agreements. He regularly represents individuals and employers at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, state and federal courts, and federal agencies. In 2007, Mr. Freiberger served as co-counsel in the successful defense of a multinational high-tech services company and its Chief Financial Officer against race and age discrimination and retaliation claims brought by a former senior executive. At the conclusion of an eight-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the employer on all counts.
Prior to founding Yarashus Wagner Cook Freiberger & Washienko LLC, Mr. Freiberger was associated with Shilepsky O'Connell Casey Hartley Michon Yelen LLP, where he specialized in the representation of executives, litigation, and employment agreements. Before his association with Shilepsky O'Connell, Mr. Freiberger gained significant international legal experience through his service as a Foreign Service Officer for the United States Department of State, where he negotiated foreign policy issues including trade, security and development on behalf of the United States. As Vice Consul, he solely adjudicated applications of U.S. and foreign employers seeking to engage foreign employees in the U.S, as well as foreign corporations seeking to operate in the U.S.
Prior to serving with the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Freiberger was associated with Perkins Smith & Cohen LLP, where he focused exclusively on employment law as a member of the executive advocacy practice group. Mr. Freiberger also has significant commercial litigation experience, honed at Vinton, Nissler, Allen & Vellone, and Cohen, Brame & Smith, where his practice areas included securities, employment and tort law. He began his career as Deputy District Attorney in Brighton, Colorado, where he secured numerous misdemeanor and felony jury and bench trial convictions.
Mr. Freiberger has spoken at various MCLE employment law seminars and authored several articles on employment law issues. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, and Croatian American Bar Association. Mr. Freiberger earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1995 and his B.A. cum laude from Connecticut College in 1992. He is proficient in Croatian and Danish.
PATRICIA A. WASHIENKO
Ms. Washienko is an experienced employment attorney who represents individuals and companies in a wide range of employment and compensation matters, including the negotiation and enforcement of sophisticated employment, compensation and separation agreements; and the litigation of workplace-related claims, including the prosecution and defense of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. She was named by Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts Rising Star in the field of Labor and Employment Law in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Ms. Washienko primarily counsels executives and professionals in complex contract and severance negotiations, but also represents individuals and companies litigating claims of wrongful termination, employment discrimination, and breach of employment contract. When it has been necessary, she has litigated cases to successful (and precedent-setting) resolution at state and federal courts and governmental agencies. One such matter was Stonehill College v. MCAD, 441 Mass. 549 (2004), a landmark discrimination case that Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly hailed as the most important decision of 2004.
Ms. Washienko is an active member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association, and has served on the Steering Committee for the BBA's Labor & Employment Section. She has co-authored amici curiae briefs in several employment cases and she is quite active in continuing legal education, serving as co-chair and frequent panelist of MCLE seminars and conferences. She has published articles on employment law issues particularly relevant to executives and serves as a quarterly commentator for the Massachusetts Discrimination Law Reporter.
Before launching Yarashus Wagner Cook Freiberger & Washienko LLC, Ms. Washienko was in solo practice; prior to that, she was associated with Perkins Smith & Cohen LLP, where she practiced in that firm's Trial and Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Departments. Ms. Washienko also served as a law clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
Ms. Washienko earned an A.B. with honors from Harvard University in 1988; she earned her J.D. with honors from Boston University School of Law in 1998. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.