Practice Areas
Business Litigation
Our clients include individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability entities, business trusts, publicly held corporations, close corporations, family businesses, and joint ventures. We assist individuals and businesses of all sizes navigate commercial disputes, including breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair and deceptive trade practices, trade secrets, consumer protection violations, and other business torts. We work with our clients to understand their specific situation and develop a dispute resolution or avoidance strategy to best fit within the client’s business strategy and goals. Often, we accomplish a favorable resolution without a case ever being filed, but when it is necessary to initiate or defend against a lawsuit, we bring to bear a set of proactive, focused, and effective litigation skills.
Land Use and Permitting
Zoning and land use law in Massachusetts can be complicated, and developers often encounter thorny legal issues, intense neighborhood opposition, and other difficult obstacles that can disrupt or even derail the project proposal. Hotly-contested permitting and land use matters can make their way from the town ZBA and Planning Board levels all the way to the Supreme Judicial Court. Our lawyers have handled permitting and land use matters at each of those levels, and know how to navigate the process efficiently to advance the client’s short-term and long-term strategies and objectives. Because of our depth and breadth of experience we understand both sides of real estate and land use disputes and have successfully represented both developers and tenants or buyers of real estate. Because of our expertise in land use law, our clients also hire us to represent them in high-stakes zoning and permitting disputes across the United States.
Real Estate Litigation
We represent property owners, abutters, managers, and investors in a broad array of real estate litigation throughout Massachusetts, with a particular focus on the greater Boston area and the North Shore. We have comprehensive experience in suits involving complex title issues, environmental concerns, adverse possession, easements, petitions for partition, title issues, and even forgery and fraud. We also represent clients in disputes concerning commercial leasing, rights in condominiums, and disputes regarding the enforceability of agreements for the purchase and sale of real estate.
Construction Litigation
We have extensive experience representing owners, contractors, and subcontractors in disputes involving private construction projects. When disputes such as breaches of contract, construction defect claims, or 93A claims of deceptive and unfair conduct arise as part of a construction project or purchase, TDD understands the legal tools to use to help you bring the matter to a successful resolution. We have provided legal counsel to clients working on the most high-profile and complex development projects in the region, but we also have deep experience in much smaller residential construction matters, including on behalf of homeowners. No matter the size of your project, we understand the importance of developing cost-effective strategies to promptly and favorably resolve these matters, often without resort to formal litigation. But if litigation cannot be avoided, we bring the same results-oriented focus on achieving a winning outcome for the client.
Compliance & Investigations
For companies doing business with the government, a careful focus on compliance is an absolute necessity. Whether grappling with complicated federal contracting rules or keeping up with industry-specific regulations, government contractors know that standards are only getting more onerous, enforcement more vigorous, and the consequences for non-compliance more serious. Penalties imposed by government agencies in many highly-regulated industries run from steep fines to suspension or debarment from participation in public contracts.
The implementation of an effective compliance program that deters and detects wrongdoing, with sufficient company resources devoted to run the program, is mandatory under federal law for most contractors – and for the companies for whom such programs are still voluntary, they are a wise investment of risk mitigation dollars. Still, for many smaller contractors it is difficult to spend the money on a full-time Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) to administer an adequate compliance program. Even for companies large enough to have a dedicated compliance department, resources frequently are stretched to the limit in the face of ever-expanding regulatory requirements.
At Tymann, Davis & Duffy, we have the expertise in designing, implementing and monitoring comprehensive and effective compliance programs, enabling us to serve as your “outside CCO” or simply to supplement your compliance department’s capabilities on an as-needed basis when demands become too intense. From setting up programs, to training employees and compliance officers, to conducting targeted compliance assessments, the depth and breadth of our experience, across many regulated industries, is hard to match.
Arbitration
For a variety of reasons, including the speed, efficiency and privacy of alternative dispute resolution, arbitration is often chosen by parties locked in a dispute. We are highly experienced in alternative dispute resolution forums, including and especially in commercial arbitrations. The matters we have been involved in include high stakes commercial, business, employment, and construction and securities disputes. Additionally, we have helped our clients mediate dozens of disputes.
Appeals
Appellate practice is a distinct discipline that often involves nuanced questions of law and requires sophisticated counsel. Our attorneys have clerked with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and have experience and insight into the appellate process and what it takes to preserve and present the best possible arguments to undo an unfavorable judgment or to preserve a hard-fought victory. We have handled numerous appeals in state and federal courts on behalf of existing clients, clients who have come to us for the first time to handle their appeal, and clients seeking to participate in appeals as “friends of the court” in the filing of amicus curiae briefs.
Local Counsel
Law firms from across the country regularly call on Tymann, Davis & Duffy to serve as local counsel when they have matters pending in Massachusetts, including lawsuits in our state and federal courts. TDD’s partners have practiced in courts and tribunals in all 14 of the state’s counties, so we know these venues well and are well-positioned to provide traditional local-counsel services when asked. Our past local counsel engagements have included advising on local laws, rules, customs, and personalities; assisting with court filings and service of pleadings; and covering court appearances. We can also take on a more substantive role as needed, including working with lead counsel to develop strategy, drafting briefs and other documents, conducting discovery, taking local depositions, and handling motion practice as the case proceeds. Additionally, we also regularly assist out-of-state clients in serving and enforcing subpoenas in Massachusetts for use in lawsuits pending outside of Massachusetts.