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Education:
Practice Areas:
Regina Roman has been the firm’s Managing Partner and a member of its Executive Committee since 1999. Her practice focuses
on complex civil litigation matters in the areas of insurance coverage and professional liability, and on business and
appellate litigation.
Insurance Law:
For more than thirty years, Regina has been regularly retained by insurance companies to advise and represent them in
coverage disputes with insureds and with other carriers and in extra-contractual liability and bad faith actions. She has
represented professional liability insurers, excess carriers, commercial and general liability insurers (including carriers
covering large and small businesses, contractors, retailers, non-profits, condominium trustees, and landlords), and
homeowners carriers. She has drafted and revised insurance policies and endorsements for several carriers, provided advice
on internal claims-handling procedures and conducted in-house seminars at insurance companies. She has also advised
individuals and businesses on the selection of policies and negotiation of coverage and has acted as personal coverage
counsel. Regina presently serves as East Coast coverage counsel for a major insurer of attorneys, as New England regional
coverage counsel for a national professional liability carrier, and as primary coverage counsel for the largest homeowners’
carrier in Massachusetts. She also handles the defense of high-profile and major exposure cases for several of her
insurance clients.
Professional Liability and Business Litigation:
Regina frequently advises and represents attorneys in professional liability suits. She has handled such cases for
numerous carriers and has acted as personal counsel for insured attorneys and monitoring counsel for insurers in complex
cases. A number of her cases have included issues of first impression, such as the assignability of legal malpractice
claims and the standard for determining the propriety of business transactions between lawyers and their clients. She has
significant experience in cases involving law firm breakups, partnership disputes, fee disputes and disciplinary
proceedings. Her litigation and counseling work in this area began in the early 1980s with the case of
Meehan v.
Shaughnessy, one of the first cases in the nation to address the fiduciary duties owed between partners in a law firm.
More recent work in this area has included litigation involving fee claims and disputes between counsel arising out of the
national tobacco litigation.
Appellate Litigation:
In addition to her trial work, Regina has extensive experience briefing and arguing matters in state and federal appellate
courts. She has handled appeals in diverse areas of the law including insurance coverage, professional liability, attorney
ethics, product liability, contract disputes, and banking and labor laws.
Significant Reported Cases Include:
- New Hampshire Insurance Company v. McCann, 429 Mass. 202 (1999) (case of first impression in Massachusetts
deciding the assignability of legal malpractice).
- Safety Insurance v. Day, 65 Mass. App. Ct. 15 (2005) (successful representation of excess carrier against
primary addressing elements of estoppel in coverage cases).
- Lally v. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, 45 Mass. App. Ct. 317 (1998) (issue of first impression in Massachusetts
concerning the plaintiff’s burden of proof on the cause of injuries and damages in “crashworthiness” cases).
- Worcester Ins. Co. v. Fells Acre Day School, 408 Mass. 393, 558 N.E. 2d 958 (1990) (case of first impression in
Massachusetts holding no duty to defend or indemnify for claims of alleged physical or sexual abuse).
- Leavitt v. Meizner, Dershowitz, et al., 404 Mass. 81 533 N.E. 2d 1334 (1989) (successful defense of Harvard
professor in an attorney malpractice action).
- Meehan, et al. v. Shaughnessy, et al., 404 Mass. 419, 535 N.E. 2d (1989) (case of first impression nationwide
setting forth appropriate standard of conduct of attorneys to each other in connection with the break-up of law firms and
disputes over clients and fees).
- Frohberg v. Merrimack Mutual, 34 Mass. App. Ct. 462 (1993) (no coverage under homeowner’s policy for bodily
injury resulting from exposure to toxic UFFI and for economic loss resulting therefrom).
- Pollack v. Marshall, 391 Mass. 543, 462 N.E. 2d 312 (1984) (successful defense of attorney against claims of
unfair dealing establishing standard in Massachusetts for financial dealing with clients).
- Driscoll v. Boston Edison, 25 Mass. App. Ct. 954, 518 N.E. 2d 885 (1988) (addressing preemption and labor law
issues).
Regina frequently lectures at continuing legal education programs on insurance coverage, legal malpractice and professional
liability, and trial technique and strategy. She has served as an adjunct member of the faculty for the Harvard Law School
Trial Advocacy Program, and has been retained as a private arbitrator in a variety of disputes.
Recognition:
- The Best Lawyers in America (Insurance Law, Legal Malpractice Law), 2007-2011
- Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America, 2010, 2007
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers (Insurance Coverage), Boston magazine, 2005-2010; Top 50 Female Lawyers in
Massachusetts, 2008-2010; Top 50 Female Lawyers in New England, 2010
Member, Massachusetts's Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct (2009-)
- Hearing officer, Board of Bar Overseers (1998-2004)
- Rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell
Memberships:
Admissions:
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by Regina Roman
