Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\logo2.gif

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\home.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\practice.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\attorney.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\contact.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\news.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\resource.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\directions.gifDescription: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\nav\blank_nav.gif

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\ethics.jpg

Litigation

Legal Ethics, Professional Responsibility And Malpractice Defense Counsel

Probate and Family Law

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\bolan_title.jpg


Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Stan Hackney\Documents\images\spacer.gif

                                                           JAMES S. BOLAN

                              BRECHER, WYNER, SIMONS, FOX & BOLAN, P.C.                                                                         

                                                           189 Wells Avenue

                                                         Newton, MA 02459

                                                   jbolan@legalpro.com (email)

                                                   www.legalpro.com  (web site)

                                                  

James S. Bolan ‑ Mr. Bolan is a partner with Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan, P.C., an "AV" rated firm with a principal office in Newton, Massachusetts. He represents lawyers and law firms in Board of Bar Overseers and malpractice matters, partnership breakups, departures and law firm litigation. He provides counsel to local, national and transnational lawyers and law firms on professional responsibility, practice and ethics matters, malpractice defense and prevention, and risk management and law firm audits.

           

Mr. Bolan is "AV" rated in Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He has been recognized as one of the top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts, a Massachusetts Super Lawyer by Boston Magazine/Law and Politics Magazine, a New England Super Lawyer in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, a top-rated "10" by AVVO, New England's Best lawyers, 2013, one of the Best Lawyers of America, 2013, 2015 and a 2014 U.S. News Best Lawyers - "Best Law Firm" in Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law practice area.

 

A graduate of Belmont Hill School (1966), Trinity College (1970), and Boston College Law School (1973), Mr. Bolan was admitted to the bar in Missouri (1973-inactive) and Massachusetts (1975). He started practice in Kansas City in 1973 as a legal services lawyer. From 1978 to 1983, he was an Assistant Bar Counsel with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.  From 1983 to 1991, he was with Chaplin & Milstein as an associate and then as a partner.  He started the firm of Bolan & Graeber, PC in 1991, which then became Bolan, Frank & Graeber, PC in 1992.  He joined the present firm in January 1999 where he is the head of the Litigation Department.

 

Mr. Bolan has frequently served as an editor, lecturer and author and participated in seminars and programs for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers in disciplinary, professional liability and litigation matters.

 

He is the co editor with Justice Kenneth Lawrence and co-author of Ethical Lawyering in Massachusetts (MCLE 1992, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2009), the author and editor of The New Rules of Professional Conduct: The Impact on Ethical Practice in Massachusetts (MCLE 1998), and a contributing author to the Massachusetts Attorney Conduct Manual (Lexis Nexis/Butterworths).

 

He has been the Chair (since the inception in 1993) of the biannual seminar sponsored jointly by MCLE and the Board of Bar Overseers entitled, "How to Make Money and Stay Out of Trouble".  He was the Chair of the MCLE seminar entitled, "Practicing Before the Board of Bar Overseers" (1994).  He is the author of an article published in the December 1994 issue of the Massachusetts Bar Journal entitled "Representing a Respondent Before the Board of Bar Overseers".   He is also the author of an article in the May/June 1994 issue of the Boston Bar Journal entitled, "Practice Before the Board of Registration in Medicine". 

 

He was an author and panel member of the MCLE seminar entitled "Handling the Non-Medical Professional Malpractice Case" (1989) and panel member of the seminar entitled "Dealing with the S.O.B. Litigator..." (1990).  He has been a panel chair and member of a number of seminars conducted by MCLE and the Massachusetts Bar Association, including a panel member of the 1995 through 1998 (and Chair of the 1996 and 1997) MBA Annual Meeting Programs on Legal Malpractice.  He is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, former chair of the Attorneys and Accountants Liability sub‑committee of the Business Litigation Committee; former member of the Boston Bar Association's Professionalism and Bench and Bar Committees and former member of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Ethics Committee (1992 - 1996).

 

He is a founding member (1990) of the national Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL), was elected as a Director for a three-year term (1996 - 1998), Treasurer (1998 - 1999), Secretary (1999 - 2000), President-Elect (2000 - 2001) and President (2001 - 2002).  He has been a panel member and chair of numerous seminars presented at APRL meetings, including the following:

 

  • Misdelivered Documents: Fair Game for Adverse Counsel? by James P. Ulwick and James S. Bolan

 

  • To Preclude or Not to Preclude: Should a Lawyer Have Two Bites at the Apple Before Being Thrown Out of the Garden? Or, what is the appropriate use of fact or issue preclusion in disciplinary proceedings? Sarah McShea and James S. Bolan.

 

  • The Rise of "Private Citizen" Discipline and the Demise of DR 1-102(A)(6): A Mystery in Two Parts. James S. Bolan and Robert H. Davis, Jr., Panelists.

 

  • Safeguarding Client Funds for Non-Clients: Who Must the Lawyer Protect? David P. Atkins, Moderator. Panelists: James S. Bolan, Steve Lee, and Elizabeth A. Kohnen

 

  • Opinions of Counsel: The Ways and Means. James S. Bolan and David Ross Rosenfeld

 

  • Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duty. (Shanghai Conference) James S. Bolan, Richard Jacobson and Professor Lu Zhi'an

 

  • Duties to the Courts, Other Persons, and the Legal Profession. (Shanghai Conference) Mark I. Harrison, James S. Bolan and Zhu Hongchao

 

  • Fee and Profit Sharing with Non-Lawyers: The Evolving Definition of the Independence of Counsel; James S. Bolan, Chair, William Wernz and R. Gerald Markle

 

  • Cross-Boundary Advertising: Impossibility of Performance?
    Peter R. Jarvis and James S. Bolan

 

  • The Hazards of Multi-Jurisdictional Practice: Avoiding Disciplinary Sanctions, Fee Forfeitures, and Legal Malpractice Claims. (National Risk Management Conference) William T. Barker, James S. Bolan, Anthony E. Davis, and James J. Grogan

 

  • Managing the Lone Wolf and other partner problems; James S. Bolan and Robert A. Creamer;

 

  • Conflicts and Other Issues For Lawyers With Ancillary Insurance and Securities Businesses: Bad Idea, Wave of the Multi-Disciplinary Future, or Both?
    James S. Bolan and Charles W. Kettlewell

 

  • When Is a License Not a License? Applying MJP Principles to Federal Practice, James S. Bolan, William Barker and Suzanne Westerheim

 

  • Technological Advances in Ethics Research.Diane L. Karpman and James S. Bolan

 

  • Truth and Consequences: Negotiation Ethics  James S. Bolan, Moderator; Richard Perlmutter, George R. Clark

 

  • Ethics of Judicial Elections in the Context of Regulation, Free Speech, Impartiality and Independence: Point and Counterpoint:James S. Bolan, Moderator, Jeremy R. Feinberg, Laura L. Smith, Brian S. Faughnan, andHonorable Cristina Pereyra-Shuminer.

 

  • You Can Run, but You Can't Hide: Epic Encounters/Elusive Ethics in Electronic Discovery:  Mark L. Tuft, Cooper, White & Cooper, LLP, San Francisco, CA (chair/moderator) James S. Bolan, Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan P.C., Newton, Massachusetts, Cynthia K. Courtney, Day Pitney LLP, Hartford, CT and Honorable Andrew J. Peck, New York.

 

  • I See Your Face Before Me:  The Ethics, Practicalities, and Pitfalls of Electronic Networking (a/k/a Marketing) and Virtual Lives; (chair/moderator) James S. Bolan, Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan P.C., Newton, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Clark Tarbert, Ethics Counsel, The Florida Bar and Brian S. Faughnan Adams and Reese LLP Memphis, TN

 

  • Immigration Law and Ethics:  James S. Bolan, Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan, P.C., Newton, Massachusetts, Moderator, Douglas Hauer, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Boston, Jennifer Barnes, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the, General Counsel, Washington, D.C., Rachel McCarthy, Disciplinary Counsel for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Burlington, Vt., and David Ross Rosenfeld, Alexandria, VA.

 

  • Conflicts and Choice of Law:  International Conference in Istanbul, Turkey.  James S. Bolan, Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan, P.C., Moderator; Professor Bruce Green Fordham University School of Law; William Frievogel, James Ham, Pansky, Markle, Ham, LLP.

 

  • The Evolving Practice of Law: Insourced, Outsourced, & Online; Prof. Moderator and Panelist: James S. Bolan, Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan P.C., Newton, MA with Prof. Renee Newman Knake, Michigan State University School of Law, East Lansing,, Kunoor Chopra, Esq. VP at Elevate, Inc. and Daniel Linna, Esq. Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP Detroit, Michigan.

 

He was a panel member at the February 2000 ALI/ABA Program in "Legal Problems in Museum Administration-Attorney Client Privilege for In-House Counsel" and a panel member at the February 2000 MBA Seminar - "Mass. R. Pro. C. Rule 4.2 and Labor Lawyers".   He was a panelist in May 2000 (on issues of conflicts of interest and duties to third persons) at a Conference on Judicial and Legal Ethics in the Peoples Republic of China at Fudan University Law School, Shanghai, China under the auspices of the United States Department of State and the Peoples Republic of China. 

 

He has conducted seminars on ex parte communications for the MBA in June 2000, June 2002 and MCLE in August 2002.  He was co-chair of an MBA Seminar in May 2003 on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, chair of Seminars on Staying Professional in the Practice in June 2003, 2004 and 2007 and participated in the inaugural and subsequent Annual Seminars for "In-House Counsel" in 2003, 2004 and 2006 conferences before the Massachusetts Bar Association on the subjects of the attorney-client privilege, confidentiality rules and ex parte communications (2003 and 2004) and the erosion of the attorney-client privilege (2006). He has also participated in several panels for the MBA on the new IOLTA rules in Massachusetts in December 2003.

 

He provided ethics commentary for MCLE’s inaugural Health Law Manual (2004) and authored an article in November 2004 in the Boston Bar Journal on extrication from an attorney-client relationship. 

 

In addition to chairing the first MCLE panel on the Ethics of Negotiation held in May 2005, he was a speaker on ethics issues at the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts Spring Seminar in May 2005, he spoke on the Ethics of Negotiation with Prof. Richard Perlmutter in an MCLE/Westlaw Webcast in November 2005, and chaired an APRL panel in February 2006 entitled Truth or Consequences: Negotiation Ethics. 

 

He presented two seminars at the MBA Annual meeting in March 2006 on ethics and malpractice.  He chaired the first MCLE ethics panel on Avoiding Attorney Liability in Business Practice in August 2006.   He recently participated in a panel presentation on Advertising and Solicitation at a meeting before the Legal Marketing Association of New England.   He conducted a seminar for the Boston Bar Association in March 2008 on the intersections of the bar discipline process and professional liability actions and spoke at the MCLE Professional Liability Seminar (on the same topic) and, as well, at the Real Estate Bar Association Spring Conference in May 2008 (on multiple client representations).  In 2008, he presented a lecture at Boston University Law School on Legal Malpractice. In 2009 and 2010, he presented seminars before the Boston Bar Association, APRL Annual Conference, the MBA Annual Conference and the Massachusetts Business Lawyers Network on Transcendental Lawyering - Ethics, Cyberspace and Social Networking and advertising.  He has also presented several LOMAP (Law Office Management Assistance Project) webcasts, including one on Legal Advertising (2011).

 

He participated in the Suffolk Law School Advanced Legal Studies seminar in October 2010 on Avoiding Pitfalls in Starting and Running a Law Practice, which presentation was reprised in January 2012.   And, he presented a training seminar of the Licensed Private Detectives or Investigators of Massachusetts on the use and misuse of social media; privacy, data privacy and conflicts of interest. 

 

He was recently on a panel at the ABA/Center for Professional Responsibility Conference in May 2012 on "Old Rules, New Tools: The Challenge Of Social Media For Bar Associations And Lawyers".

 

He was on a panel at the ABA/Center for Professional Responsibility Conference in May 2012 on "Old Rules, New Tools: The Challenge Of Social Media For Bar Associations And Lawyers".


He presented two CLE presentations in 2013 for MyLawCLE and the Boston Association of Legal Administrators of a range of legal ethics, practice and professional responsibility matters.


In 2014, he served on an MCLE Panel legal ethics and malpractice issues in Common and Complex Real Estate Title Issues.


In 2014, Mr. Bolan served as a presenting member of the first Supreme Judicial Court's Program on Practicing with Professionalism through MCLE.


In 2014, he chaired two panels for REBA on "Exit Strategies" - Succession Planning for Solo and Small Firm practitioners.


Also, in 2014, the Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts invited Mr. Bolan to write a standing column in REBA's Newsletter. The column appears as The Lawyers' Counsel".


In October 2013, he received the 2013 Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Scholar-Mentor Award.


He was a member of the Supreme Judicial Court's Advisory Committee on Clerks of Courts from 1997 - 2010 and was a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association's Ad Hoc Committee on Proposed Revisions to the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.  He is a former Instructor of Law at Boston University Law School and New England School of Law. 

 

* Admitted in Massachusetts only.

 

Home | Attorneys | Directions | Disclaimer