KROKIDAS & BLUESTEIN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Board of Advisors of the Burbank YMCA
Allison is an Associate in the firm's litigation practice group, primarily representing institutional health and human service providers, licensed practitioners, charter schools, and other educational institutions. In her practice of representing health and human service providers, she advises clients such as long-term care facilities and community health centers on a variety of matters, including, but not limited to, subpoenas and other record requests, government investigations and audits, administrative appeals, employment, survey matters, and compliance. She also represents licensed practitioners in matters involving the various boards of registration.
Allison is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Burbank YMCA in Reading, Massachusetts, a branch of the Greater Boston YMCA. Allison has been named a Massachusetts Super Lawyers "Rising Star" in Health Care by Thomson Reuters in 2018 - 2021. She has also been selected to participate in the 2021 Boston Bar Association's Public Interest Leadership Program.
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Member of the Firm
Anthony Leccese, a member of the firm's transactional group, concentrates his practice in real estate and general business matters, representing for-profit, non-profit and public entities.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the Boston Bar Association
Emily is a member of the Boston Bar Association, Health Law Section, Legislative Committee. Emily has written and lectured on a wide variety of subjects spanning corporate compliance, Medicare, HIPAA, and health care transactions for several professional and trade organizations including, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, Massachusetts Senior Care Association and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.
Emily has been named a "Best Lawyer in America" in Health Care Law, by U.S. News & World Report since 2019. Emily has been named a "Rising Star" in the practice of Health Care Law, a New England Super Lawyer in Health Care Law and listed in the Super Lawyers Women's Edition by Thomson Reuters. She also served as a member of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program's Emerging Leaders Board.
Emily is a 2001 graduate of Tufts University and a 2006 cum laude graduate of Suffolk University School of Law where she also obtained a concentration with distinction in Health and Biomedical Law.
Gabriel Balzano-Brookes joined Krokidas & Bluestein in 2015. Gabe concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial real estate, corporate and nonprofit law.
Janet Steckel Lundberg has concentrated her practice in the areas of civil litigation, appellate practice, and administrative law, and business. She has also advised non-profit and for-profit entities and professionals in contracts, regulatory compliance and other areas.
Prior to joining Krokidas & Bluestein, Janet served as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in the Appellate Section of the Land and Natural Resources Division, where she provided appellate representation in the federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, and as assistant counsel to the Attorney General for Professional Responsibility. She also worked as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Energy, focusing on regulatory litigation.
Janet is a graduate of Smith College and George Washington University Law School. Following law school, she worked as a law clerk at the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals. Janet has served as Clerk and member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Arts in Natick, and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Chorus pro Musica, Inc. of Boston, with which she also performed.
Jason Curtin joined the firm in 2014 and focuses his practice on the litigation and resolution of business and real estate disputes.
Jason has represented nonprofit and for-profit entities in a variety of disputes in both federal and state courts, including disputes in the areas of contracts, unfair trade practices, land use, commercial property management and development, and healthcare.
Jason's litigation experience also includes employment matters. He has handled claims relating to noncompetition agreements, the Wage Act, wrongful termination, and discrimination. He has significant experience managing e-discovery, having worked on several large, sophisticated e-discovery projects in private litigation.
Jason is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and has brought cases to trial in both states. His jury trial experience includes both federal and state courts.
On a pro bono basis, he has represented victims of domestic violence through a partnership with the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.
Prior to joining Krokidas & Bluestein, Jason practiced litigation in the Boston office of Robinson & Cole LLP.
Jason received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Jason has been listed as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer "Rising Star"in Litigation since 2015 by Thomson Reuters and Boston Magazine.
Jennifer is a 1987 magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University and a 1991 graduate of New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar.
Jill Brenner Meixel heads the Firm's Employment practice and is co-head of its Litigation practice. Over the course of more than twenty years, Jill has accumulated a broad skill set that has enabled her to effectively and efficiently guide clients towards favorable outcomes in employment and litigation matters. Jill's diverse client base includes the representation of individuals and entities across the areas of health care and human services, social services, real estate and education.
Jill's employment practice is robust, and includes a mix of litigation, advisory and transactional matters. She routinely represents employers and employees in actions involving discrimination and retaliation, wage and hour disputes and contract matters. Jill is frequently asked to advise employers as outside counsel on compliance and transactional matters, and to provide guidance on the vast and complex array of state and federal employment laws, including wage and hour laws (the Massachusetts Wage Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act), pay equity laws (the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act), leave laws (the Family and Medical Leave Act and Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Act), OSHA matters, and a host of other employment laws. Jill counsels employers on a wide variety of issues that routinely arise during the life cycle of employment including offer letters, employment contracts, implementation and compliance with internal policies and procedures, employee disabilities and accommodations, leaves of absence, employee discipline and performance improvement, protection against sexual harassment in the workplace and negotiations of separations and terminations.
Jill has a comprehensive litigation practice, with substantial experience litigating commercial and business disputes. Jill litigates cases in state and federal court and regularly appears before administrative agencies, local boards, and in mediation and arbitration. Jill also has expertise in zoning litigation, specifically in representing businesses servicing disabled individuals in claims against municipalities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Massachusetts Zoning Act (the Dover Amendment), and the Fair Housing Act, with regard to the siting of such businesses.
Prior to joining the Firm, Jill was an attorney at both a boutique Boston litigation firm and a large Boston law firm.
Jill received an A.B. in Government from Harvard University, cum laude, and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. Jill is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is a member of the Boston Bar Association, Women's Bar Association, and Massachusetts Bar Association, and previously served as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Hearing Committee.
Jill has been named as a 2023 Go To Employment Lawyer by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Since 2016, she has been named as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters, and she is included in the Super Lawyers Women's Edition.
Maria Krokidas founded Krokidas & Bluestein with Richard Bluestein in 1982, and oversaw the firm's transactional group until her retirement in 2016. Full Bio »
Until his retirement in 2015, Richard Bluestein led Krokidas & Bluestein's litigation and labor and employment practices. Full Bio »
Maria Krokidas founded Krokidas & Bluestein with Richard Bluestein in 1982, and oversaw the firm's transactional group until her retirement in 2016. Maria represented for-profit, nonprofit and public entities in real estate, finance and corporate matters. Maria also counseled nonprofit, for-profit and quasi-public entities regarding corporate organization and operations including statutory and regulatory compliance and implementation. She currently serves as Chair of the State Ethics Commission, to which she was appointed in October 2016.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Associate Attorney in the
Megan Kira, is an Associate Attorney in the Krokidas & Bluestein Health and Human Services Practice, focusing on general regulatory matters including state and federal licensure, survey and certification, Medicare and Medicaid compliance, fraud and abuse, health information privacy, and health care contracting, transactions, administrative law and litigation matters.
Megan joined Krokidas & Bluestein in May 2021 as a Law Clerk and was later promoted to Associate Attorney. Prior to joining the firm, she served as a Legal Extern for the Beth Israel Lahey Health Office of the General Counsel. Megan also worked as a Judicial Intern for Hawaii State Intermediate Court of Appeals.
Megan is a magna cum laude graduate of University of Hawaii and a graduate of Boston University School of Law with a concentration in health law. She was president of the Boston University Health Law Association and Managing Editor of the American Journal of Law & Medicine.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the American Arbitration Association 's National Panel of Employment Arbitrators
- Special Counsel
Paul Holtzman joined the firm in 1992. Paul's litigation practice is comprised of a mix of trial work and alternative dispute resolution in employment law, sexual harassment, wage and hour, civil rights, commercial and partnership disputes. He also maintains an active practice as a mediator and arbitrator.
Paul has litigated dozens of discrimination, non-competition, overtime compensation, wage and hour, misclassification, contract and tort cases for employees as well as employers in federal and state courts. Discrimination cases that Paul has litigated have involved allegations of discrimination on the basis of disability, race, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, retaliation and sexual harassment. He has litigated wage and hour class actions.
Other practice areas include contract, commercial and partnership disputes, claims under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as public accommodation claims. On behalf of organizations operating group homes for disabled individuals, and substance abuse programs, he has successfully challenged a variety of neighborhood and municipal obstacles to the siting and operation of such programs, invoking the Dover Amendment and civil rights laws.
Paul has served as special counsel in the investigation of numerous harassment matters. He also consults with attorneys and litigants on the availability of insurance coverage for employment and civil rights claims.
Paul has an active transactional employment practice negotiating severance agreements, employment contracts and non-competition and non-disclosure agreements.
Building on his decades of experience as an advocate, he serves as a mediator in employment and other disputes for the American Arbitration Association and through a private mediation practice. Paul has successfully resolved about two hundred cases involving claims of discrimination, employee misclassification, overtime disputes, non-payment of wages and commissions, failure to accommodate disabilities, non-competition agreements, contract and partnership disputes, as well as commercial cases.
As a member of the American Arbitration Association's National Panel of Employment Arbitrators, Paul serves as an arbitrator on a wide variety of employment disputes. He has handled matters ranging from wage and hour class actions to individual cases involving claims of sexual harassment, breach of contract and disability discrimination.
Paul advises employers in the prevention of discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. He has developed personnel policies and training programs aimed at both preventing and properly handling harassment and discrimination complaints for a wide range of public, non-profit and for-profit institutions. He has also conducted audits to identify areas for improvement in human resource practices. Finally, he has advised employers on best practices to promote gender and racial equity, including the design of workplace climate surveys and affirmative action programs.
Among his public service activities, Paul served on the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal and as Co-Chair of the Labor & Employment Section of the Boston Bar Association. He filed an amicus curiae brief in the landmark marriage equality case of Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, where he argued on behalf of a coalition of national civil rights organizations.
He served as an Adviser to the American Law Institute (ALI) on the 2015 inaugural Restatement of Employment Law. He has published a number of articles on employment law for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and other publications and is frequently quoted in articles on workplace issues.
In 2019, he chaired panel presentations on employment law at the Judicial Retreat and Bench-Bar Conference of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is also the co-author of "Availability of Insurance Coverage for Employment Claims" in the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) treatise entitled "Massachusetts Employment Law."
Paul is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and a graduate of Yale Law School, where he served as a senior editor of the Yale Law Review. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Pierre N. Leval in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He also practiced in Washington, D.C., at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Robert Keough joined the firm's transactional group in April 2022, and concentrates his practice in the areas of affordable housing, real estate finance and development, and general corporate law.
During his thirty-year career, Bob has represented clients in all facets of the acquisition, financing, development and disposition of commercial and residential real estate. Bob has extensive experience representing private and non-profit developers in structuring complex affordable housing transactions using a combination of public and private financing sources, including bond financing and federal and state low-income housing and historic tax credits. He also has significant experience in representing private and public lenders in affordable housing and general commercial real estate financing transactions, as well as in representing both landlords and tenants in commercial leasing transactions. Bob's practice also includes the negotiation and oversight of commercial construction contracts, and the restructuring and work out of troubled real estate assets.
Bob began his practice at Peabody & Brown (now Nixon Peabody) in the equity syndication department. Prior to joining Krokidas & Bluestein, Bob practiced for many years with the firm of Cumsky & Levin LLP, a boutique commercial real estate firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bob earned his J.D from the Boston University School of Law in 1993, and was an editor of the Boston University International Law Journal. Bob holds a B.A. from Tufts University, as well as an M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Bob serves on the Board of Directors of the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation, a South Boston-based non-profit corporation that develops affordable housing.
Job Titles:
- RETIRED
- Retired Managing Partner
Robert Griffin joined Krokidas & Bluestein in 1985 and retired in 2020. He was the firm's Managing Partner and founder of the firm's Health & Human Services practice group. While Bob is no longer practicing law, he remains committed to the success of the firm and that of our clients.
Bob is an active community participant and presently serves as Chairman of the Boards of Directors of St. Patrick's Manor, Marian Manor for the Aged and Infirm, and Carmel Terrace. He is President of the Board of Manet Community Health Center.