BENNETT & BELFORT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair MCLE Panel on Successfully Trying & Negotiating Employment Cases
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the Massachusetts Bar Association
- Member of the New England - Canada Business Council
Craig is an active member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He sits on the MBA's Labor and Employment Section Council and is a former member of the Civil Litigation Section Council. Craig co-founded and co-moderates the MBA's "Feed Your Mind: Legal Lunch" series, a monthly brown bag lunch discussion of complex commercial litigation topics.
Craig is also a member of the New England-Canada Business Council, an organization that helps facilitate relationships between businesses in New England and Canada.
Job Titles:
- Founding Member
- Managing Partner
David Belfort is a founding member and managing partner of Bennett & Belfort, P.C. David has been licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1996, with privileges in both state and federal court. He is also licensed in the District of Columbia. David was elected president of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association (MELA) for two terms, serving from 2012 to 2014. David is rated AV Preeminent® in his field, the highest available peer-based ranking afforded by Martindale-Hubbell. From 2006 through 2017 David was selected as "Super Lawyer" based on peer nominations, evaluations and research; additionally, from 2014 through 2017, David was named a Massachusetts "Top 100 Super Lawyer." From 2016 through 2018, based on peer review surveys, David was recognized as a New England "Best Lawyer" in the categories of Labor and Employment and Individual Representation in Employment Law.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Founding Partner
- Partner
Todd Bennett is a founding partner of the firm, and is admitted to the Bars of: the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the United States District Court - District of Massachusetts; the State of Florida; and the United States District Court - Middle District of Florida. He is a 1993 graduate of the University of Florida and a 1996 graduate of the University of Miami School of Law.
Todd has been quoted in U.S. News and World Report, the Boston Globe, the Boston Business Journal, and Lawyers Weekly, and has given presentations on a wide range of legal issues, including: misclassification of employees v. independent contractors; the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) FairLaborStandAct.pdf, overtime laws, the Massachusetts Payment of Wages Act (Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 148, Sections 148-150) https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section148; sexual harassment; non-compete agreements; discrimination; employment handbooks; severance agreements; misclassification of employees; various business litigation matters and contract issues; taking and defending depositions; use of social media in employment law; real estate litigation issues; and construction litigation. He is a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association and the Florida Bar; The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (an organization dedicated to community service, history and historic preservation, and support for the military and veterans); and ProVisors and USA 500 Club, two organizations that promote the collaboration and mutual education of practitioners in a variety of professional fields.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Member of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association
Zak earned his law degree at the University of Miami School of Law where he graduated cum laude in 2013. In law school, he was a research assistant for Professor Kunal Parker, aiding in the publication of Making Foreigners: Immigration and Citizenship Law in America. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in French History from Bard College in 2010.
Zak grew up in the Pioneer Valley, and he now lives outside of Boston with his wife, daughter, and dog.
Zak is an active member of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association (MELA), the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF), and the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA). He is co-Chair of MELA's Development Committee and sits on its Executive Board. He is currently a foundation fellow for the MBF and serves on its grant review committee. In 2022 and in 2023, he was a fellow in the MBA's Leadership Academy. From 2017 to 2022, he was a director in the MBA's Young Lawyers Division, and in 2020, he was the YLD's delegate to the American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division annual meeting.
Prior to joining Bennett & Belfort, P.C., Zak practiced employment law and civil litigation at two other Boston-area law firms. He also practiced complex commercial and personal injury litigation in South Florida before returning to Massachusetts.
*Negotiated a favorable separation of employment with continuation of salary and benefits for university athletic coach.
*Obtained sizeable settlement for a staffer subjected to disability discrimination and retaliation by her municipal employer.