Adler, Cohen, Harvey, Wakeman and Guekguezian LLP is always striving to advance the practice of law within our diverse areas of specialty. This section of our website is devoted to sharing news and accomplishments with clients, colleagues and other interested parties.

We are pleased to congratulate our partner, Bernie Guekguezian, who has been appointed by the Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to serve a 4 year term as member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.

Last month, 13 members of our ACHWG team participated in the Lawyers Have Heart 5K hosted by the American Heart Association in the Seaport! A wonderful event for a wonderful cause. Thank you to the American Heart Association for having us.

We are excited to announce that four talented lawyers have joined our firm in April and May 2025. Partner Rich Cheslofska and Associate Calvin Webb have joined the firm's Massachusetts practice and will practice out of the Boston office. Together, Rich and Calvin bring over 25 years of litigation experience to the firm. Their practices will focus on the representaion of physicians and other health care professionals in malpractice litigation and licensing board matters. In April 2025, Partner Michael Lavoie and Associate Brendan McCarthy joined the firm. Mike and Brendan will support the firm's clients in central and western Massachusetts as part of the firm's Springfield based practice. Mike and Brendan will also focus on representation of physicians and other healthcare professionals in litigation, and will also represent contractors in construction claims and employers in employment law matters involving wage and hour disputes and discrimination. 

As published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, “a hard college to get into”:

Attorney John Donovan III was inducted into the American College of Trial lawyers at the spring annual meeting in Hawaii in March 2025 ( Center). To his left is Ellen Epstein Cohen, the immediate past Massachusetts State Chair of the ACTL, and to his right is the current Massachusetts state chair, Nelson Apjohn.  The American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) is the most elite organization in the profession, and only 1% or less of the attorneys in any state are invited for membership based on having an extensive trial practice as well as the highest integrity and civility expected of members of the bar.  


 

It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of our friend and former partner, James (Jim) Anderson who passed on February 8, 2025; Jim was 77 years old. He lived a full and rewarding life leaving many great memories for those who loved him as a partner, husband, father, brother, and friend.
Born in Boston, MA to Dr. Donald G. Anderson and Dr. Erna G. Anderson, Jim attended Phillips Exeter Academy graduating in 1965 having excelled as a scholar and athlete (swimming and lacrosse). He attended Harvard College graduating in 1969. After graduation, he volunteered for the United States Marine Corps where he was commissioned as an officer after completing Office Candidate School. He served in Vietnam in Force Recon in the 1st Marine division, one of his proudest accomplishments. After earning a JD from Boston University in 1975, he pursued a successful career in medical malpractice defense law in Boston. He was a partner at Taylor, Anderson and Travers, and then became a founding partner of our firm which initially was named Anderson, Adler, Cohen & Harvey. Jim vigorously defended innumberable healthcare providers over his long career, and played an important role in teaching the next generation of malpractice defense lawyers. May his memory be a blessing to all who had the privilege of knowing Jim.

Please join us in congratulating Erin Hoefler on becoming a Partner in the firm, effective January 1, 2025. Erin will continue to primarily focus her practice on the defense of healthcare professionals and institutions, both in medical malpractice actions and before the various Boards of Registration.

Awards/Honors

In August 2026, it was announced that Principals Bernie Guekguezian and Noel Dumas were each recognized by the prestigious Best Lawyers List as a “Lawyer of the Year.” In addition, Principals Jim Bello, Michael Barkley, Megan Pimentel and Alex Terry were each named to the prestigious Best Lawyers list for 2027. The annual Best Lawyers list, as published by U.S. News and World Report, is assembled based on an extensive peer review selection process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys, and independent verification. Partner Michael Lavoie and Associate Kelsey Peck were selected by their peers for recognition in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, which recognizes lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.

Ellen Cohen was acknowledged as a “Go-To Lawyer” for professional malpractice by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in its September 29, 2025 publication. The “Go-To” lists are intended to showcase leaders in the Massachusetts legal community by practice area. For more information click here and look for Ellen Cohen in that list.

In August 2025, it was announced that Principal Bernie Guekguezian, was recognized by the prestigious Best Lawyers List as “Lawyer of the Year.” In addition, Principals Ellen Epstein Cohen, Jim Bello, Michael Barkley, Noel Dumas, Megan Pimentel and Alex Terry were each named to the prestigious Best Lawyers list for 2026. The annual Best Lawyers list, as published by U.S. News and World Report, is assembled based on an extensive peer review selection process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys, and independent verification. Partners Lori Vaulding, Caroline Smith, and Michael Lavoie and Associate Kelsey Peck were selected by their peers for recognition in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, which recognizes lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.

In August 2024, it was announced that Principal Bernie Guekguezian, was recognized by the prestigious Best Lawyers List as “Lawyer of the Year.” In addition, Principals Ellen Epstein Cohen, Jim Bello, Michael Barkley, Noel Dumas, and Megan Pimentel were each named to the prestigious Best Lawyers list for 2025. The annual Best Lawyers list, as published by U.S. News and World Report, is assembled based on an extensive peer review selection process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys, and independent verification. Partner Caroline Smith was selected by her peers for recognition in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, which recognizes lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.

We are pleased to announce Michael B. Barkley, Ellen Epstein Cohen, A. Bernard Guekguezian, Jennifer Boyd Herlihy, Megan Grew Pimentel and Alexander E. Terry have been named “The Top Lawyers of 2022” in Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers list. The Top Lawyers list was specially curated to showcase only the region’s finest legal minds. To compile this guide, lawyers were invited to nominate up to three of their peers in a select number of specialties. The top vote-getters in each specialty were then reviewed by an advisory board of select lawyers, chosen for their credentials and the high number of votes they received. The list of the best lawyers in the region—from corporate to criminal—as chosen by their peers. Click here to view the announcement.

Adler Cohen proudly recognizes 8 of its attorneys, who were selected, based on votes of their peers and review by an independent blue ribbon panel, as "Super Lawyers" or "Rising Stars" in 2022, as published annually in Boston Magazine and New England Super Lawyers. Partners Ellen Cohen, Bernie Guekguezian, Jennifer Herlihy, Michael Barkley, and Megan Pimentel, and Associate Mary Azzarito, were each recognized as "Super Lawyers," and Partner Alex Terry was recognized as a “Rising Star.” Ellen Cohen was also recognized as one of the "Top 100 Attorneys" in Massachusetts and "Top 50 Women" in Massachusetts. Bernie Guekguezian was also recognized as one of the “Top 100 Attorneys” in Massachusetts. Associate Sarah Doucett was also recognized as a "Rising Star."

Adler Cohen Harvey Wakeman and Guekguezian is pleased to announce A. Bernard Guekguezian and Megan Grew Pimentel have been named “The Top Lawyers of 2021” in Boston Magazine’s first ever Top Lawyers list. The Top Lawyers list was specially curated to showcase only the region’s finest legal minds. To compile this guide, lawyers were invited to nominate up to three of their peers in a select number of specialties. The top vote-getters in each specialty were then reviewed by an advisory board of select lawyers, chosen for their credentials and the high number of votes they received. The list of the best lawyers in the region—from corporate to criminal—as chosen by their peers. Click here to view the announcement.

On May 21, 2021, the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Associations (MassDLA) presented Principal Ellen Epstein Cohen with their 2020 Lawyer of the Year award. This award is presented annually to one attorney chosen by the MassDLA board and is based on characteristics of the recipient which include the public’s opinion of the attorney, trial and defense experience, contribution to the legal community and the community at large, and contribution to MassDLA and its stated Mission.

On May 19, 2021, the Medical Professional Liability (MPL) Association, a national insurance industry trade organization that represents entities doing business in the MPL arena, presented its 2021 Industry Defender Award to Principal Ellen Epstein Cohen. The MPL Association established this award to recognize individual defense attorneys for outstanding lifelong contributions to supporting MPL insurers and defending physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, and other health professionals and institutions.

In April 2020, Ellen Epstein Cohen was featured in an article published by Boston University School of Law, regarding a successful outcome she on behalf of her clients in the Pelletier v. Boston Children's Hospital matter, which was tried to a successful jury verdict in February 2020.  The article can be found here.

The firm is pleased to announce that Bernie Guekguezian was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in September, 2019.  Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of fifteen years trial experience before they can be considered for Fellowship. Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. There are currently approximately 5800 members in the United States and Canada, including active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, Judicial Fellows (those who ascended to the bench after their induction) and Honorary Fellows. The College maintains and seeks to improve the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice through education and public statements on important legal issues relating to its mission. The College strongly supports the independence of the judiciary, trial by jury, respect for the rule of law, access to justice, and fair and just representation of all parties to legal proceedings. The College is thus able to speak with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal profession and the administration of justice.  Bernie is the second partner of Adler Cohen to be inducted to the ACTL.  Ellen Epstein Cohen was inducated as a Fellow in September 2016.

Adler Cohen congratulates the Sig Adler Lung Cancer Research Fund, recently recognized by The Mass General Cancer Center as one of "The One Hundred" for 2016.  "The One Hundred" is an awareness and fundraising initiative that celebrates hope in the cancer community by recognizing 100 amazing individuals or groups around the globe whose commitment to the fight against cancer inspires us all to take action.  The Sig Adler Lung Cancer Research Fund was established in 2007 to honor one of our firm's founding partners, Sig Adler, and to further the groundbreaking cancer research being performed everyday at MGH.

Adler Cohen in the Community

Adler Cohen is proud to sponsor Lawyers Honoring COVID Caregivers, a fund established by Massachusetts lawyers who are convinced that it is essential that our profession supports the brave and dedicated people who are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19.

Presentations

• On March 30, 2023 Ellen Cohen served as invited faculty on a panel in a continuing legal education course presented by the Social Law Library for attorneys and judges entitled “Anatomy of Medical Malpractice Law 2023” on March 30, 2023. The course covered many important issues involved in malpractice cases, both from the plaintiff and defense perpsectives, and also with input from co-presenter The Honorable Valerie Yarashus.

• On 10/29/22, Ellen Cohen moderated a presentation with a panel of federal court judges in a presentation titled:  “Judicial Independence, Threats to the Judiciary and the Rule of Law” at the Leadership Workshop for the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) in Newport, RI.

• On October 21, 2022, Bernie Guekguezian and Daniel Wu were invited to present at MAIA’s Big Event, the largest insurance industry event in New England. The conference invites the area’s leading insurance agents and brokers to attend and participate in meeting industry leaders and work on their professional development while obtaining continuing education credits. During the three-hour presentation, Attorneys Guekguezian and Wu discussed current and emerging topics on best practices in providing insurance coverage and issues related to errors and omissions professional liability insurance. They also provided real-life examples of cases they have handled and gave advice as to maintaining client relationships, policy issues, and coverage.

• On March 31, 2022, Michael Barkley presented Grand Rounds to the staff of Lemuel Shattuck Hospital. The presentation centered around risk management issues pertaining to electronic medical records and systems tracking and follow-up issues common to medical malpractice claims.

• On February 28, 2022, Michael Barkley, at the invitation of Boston University School of Law, participated for the second consecutive year in a "Bench Meets Bar" panel discussion, held virtually. The panel consisted of a Justice of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, a Justice from the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, a Massachusetts Superior Court Justice, and three practicing attorneys. The program provided an opportunity for BUSL students to direct questions to the panel regarding professional development and career path choices.

• Bernie Guekguezian and Mary Azzarito were invited to speak at the January 2022 meeting of a large group of physicians and mid-level providers. The presentation, “Perils and Pitfalls of the Electronic Medical Record, ”focused on the importance of careful medical documentation and the serious risks of carrying forward old information (or using “copy and paste”) in medical documentation. Two real-life case studies provided dramatic examples of the potentially dangerous impact of inaccurate or missing documentation in the medical record.

• On September 14, 2020, at the invitation of Boston University School of Medicine, Michael Barkley presented at the Radiology Interventions Safety, Quality, and Complications Symposium. This Symposium, attended by interventional radiologists throughout the United States and internationally, was held over a three day period and was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael’s presentation was entitled: “So…you’re Being Sued: What now?” and consisted of legal and risk management advice and data arising from interventional imaging based procedures.

Ellen Cohen was interviewed for a podcast to discuss the jury selection process in civil trials.  You can read the transcript or listen to the podcast here.