Christopher L. Brown
Christopher L. Brown joined the firm in 2022 as Counsel and brings over 16 years of experience to our team. Chris focuses his practice on labor and employment law and municipal law. He has handled hundreds of litigation matters in his prior experience as municipal counsel and an insurance defense attorney, including the defense of public records appeals and open meeting law complaints, labor agency proceedings before the Department of Labor Relations and the Joint Labor Management Committee, grievance arbitrations on both disciplinary and contract interpretation issues, defending police and fire bypass and disciplinary appeals before the Civil Service Commission, defending employers before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, defending bid protests both in court and before the Attorney General’s Bid Protest Unit, construction disputes with contractors and design professionals, including defective design and installation, environmental issues and workplace injuries, eminent domain, insurance coverage and other various matters.
In addition to his labor experience with arbitration and agency proceedings, Chris has represented municipal employers in collective bargaining as well as health insurance coalition bargaining under G.L. c. 32B §§ 19 and 21-23, serving as principal negotiator for his municipal clients for over a decade in negotiations with public safety and other unions. His experience also includes advising both public and private employers with regard to a wide array of employment issues, including review and development of personnel policies, employment agreements for town managers, police and fire chiefs, termination and severance agreements, performing investigations of personnel misconduct, advising employers regarding personnel records management, ADA compliance, FMLA compliance, FLSA classification of exempt and non-exempt employees, Massachusetts Wage Act issues, USERRA compliance with regard to the hiring and reemployment of military service members and veterans, public employee involuntary retirement and pension forfeiture issues, and workers’ compensation issues. Chris also provides advice to school districts regarding a number of education specific issues, including FERPA compliance, and defended and advised clients facing alleged Title IX violations.
His general municipal law experience includes advising Massachusetts public clients regarding contract procurement and disputes under G.L. c. 30B, §§39M and 149 (including contracts with state and federal grant requirements), and issues arising under the Public Records Law, the Open Meeting Law and the Conflict of Interest Law. He has drafted and negotiated hundreds of contracts during his career, some with significant levels of complexity, and regularly assists our clients in developing and refining contract and procurement templates to streamline municipal procurement operations. He is regularly consulted by other attorneys on insurance, indemnification and public procurement issues, and has presented on these topics on many occasions to the municipal bar over the course of his career.
A graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Northeastern University School of Law, Chris is a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Massachusetts. He is also a proud military veteran, serving as a field artillery Lieutenant and Captain in the U.S. Army, where he deployed to Germany and Kosovo while on active duty. He is currently serving on the Executive Board of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association and on the Board of Directors for Leadership MetroWest. Chris lives in Framingham with his wife and their two children.