Evan T. Lawson

Attorney Contact Info

Phone: 617.439.4990
Fax: 617.439.3987

Professional Bio

Practice Area: civil litigation with experience in federal and state courts in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, the District of Columbia and Florida

"The most satisfying accomplishment of a trial lawyer is to design and implement a strategy that efficiently achieves the client's objective."

Credentials and Current Practice Description

After graduating from the Boston University School of Law in 1967, Evan Lawson devoted his professional life to the art and science of trial work. Since 1967, when he served as an assistant to Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Mr. Lawson has amassed extensive experience in all aspects of dispute resolution and appellate practice. For the past fifteen years Evan's practice has concentrated on civil litigation and state and federal regulation of alcoholic beverages. He has also been the lead attorney in criminal cases as prosecutor and defender, including charges of murder, rape, armed robbery, and white-collar crime.

Evan Lawson's civil practice ranges from issues of antitrust to zoning. It includes land disputes, will contests, complex commercial disputes, intellectual property and trademark litigation, regulatory actions, and personal injury. The million-dollar jury verdict he obtained in a 1984 medical malpractice case in Barnstable Superior Court stood for many years as the highest personal injury verdict in the County.

Evan’s current practice concentrates on civil litigation with an emphasis on trade practices litigation, alcoholic beverages licensing and regulation, supplier-wholesaler disputes, media law and defense of complex professional liability claims, and mergers and acquisitions of alcoholic beverages wholesalers. In the course of his practice Evan has also represented clients on behalf of insurers in the media, marine, engineering and environmental fields. He has been the principal attorney in over 100 appellate cases, including cases involving the relationship between the Commerce Clause and the 21st Amendment, and two in the United States Supreme Court. In 1996 he successfully represented a Rhode Island liquor retailer before the United States Supreme Court in 44 Liquormart v. State of Rhode Island, which established a First Amendment right to advertise alcoholic beverages prices and overturned a previous Supreme Court ruling that the 21st Amendment gave an “added presumption of validity” to state regulation of alcoholic beverages. View Representative Cases of Attorney Lawson.

Evan frequently serves as a panelist for legal education seminars on licensing and administrative law for the National Conference of State Licensing Aauthorities, the National Alcoholic Beverages Control Association and media law. He has published articles on constitutional law and alcoholic beverages regulation, presented a paper on the relationship between alcohol control and restricting advertising to the National Conference of the American Society for Public Administration and is the author of a chapter in the recently published Social and Economic Control of Alcohol: The 21st Amendment in the 21st Century, which has been cited as authority by the New York State Commission on reform of the Alcoholic beverages Laws.

Evan was named by his peers in Boston Magazine as one of the Massachusetts “Super Lawyers” and one of the “Top Lawyers in New England” for trial work, and for the past thirteen years has been recognized by the Woodward/White directory of the “Best Lawyers In America” for First Amendment Law.

Areas of Practice

Personal Injury -- Defense
Personal Injury -- Plaintiff
Alcoholic Beverages Licensing
Family Law
Litigation & Appeals
Real Estate Law
Antitrust Law
Land Use & Zoning
Business & Commercial Law
Intellectual Property Law
Trademarks
Regulatory Enforcement

Education:

Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, 1967

Published Works:

"The Future of the Three-Tiered System as a Control of Marketing Alcoholic Beverages," Social and Economic Control of Alcohol: The 21st Amendment in the 21st Century (Jurkiewicz and Painter, ed., CRC Press 2008); Can Alcohol Consumption Be Controlled By Restricting Advertising? American Society for Public Administration (2006); various other articles on Criminal Procedure, Constitutional Law, and Licensing.

Representative Cases:

Jet Wine & Spirits, Inc. v. Bacardi & Co., Ltd., 298 F. 3d 1(1st Cir. (N.H.), July 18, 2002)

Heublein, Inc. v. Capital Distribution Company, Inc., 434 Mass, 698 (2001)

Cheng v. IDEAssociates, Inc., 2000 WL 1029219, 83 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 884, 6 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 654 (D.Mass., Jul 06, 2000)

Buk Lhu v. Dognoti, 431 Mass. 292 (2000)

Ballarin, Inc. v. Llicensing Board of Boston, 49 Mass. App. Ct. 506

BAA Massachusetts, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 49 Mass. App. Ct. 839 (200)

Chebacco Liquor Mart, Inc. v. ABCC, 429 Mass. 721 (1999)

Murray’s Liquors, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 48 Mass. App. Ct. 100 (1999)
 
Yankee Candle Corp. Inc. v. New England Candle Co., Inc., 14 F. Supp 2d 154 (D.Mass 1998)

Yankee Candle Corp., Inc. v. New England Candle Co., Inc., 29 F. Supp 2d 44 (D. Mass., Dec 03, 1998)
 
Kannankeril v. Terminix Intern., Inc., 128 F. 3d 802, 28 Envtl. L. Rep. 20, 219, 47 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1376, Prod. Liab. Rep. (CCH) P 15,089 (3rd Cir. (N.J.), October 17, 1997)

44 Liquor Mart v. Rhode Island, U.S. S.Ct. 1495 (Sup.Ct. 1996)
 
Smith v. Goquen, 415 U.S. 566, 94 S.Ct. 1242, 39 L.E.2d.605 (Sup.Ct. 1974)
 
Kannankeril v. Terminix Intern, Inc., 128 F.3d 802 (3rd Cir 1997)
 
Jackson v. Harvard University, 900 F.2d 464 (1st Cir 1990)
 
Cappp Hornes v. Duarte, 617 F.2d 900 (1st Cir 1980)
 
U.S. v. Moore, 562 F.2d 106 (1st Cir 1977)
 
Parlane SportswarCompnay, Inc. v. Weinberger, 513 F.2d 835 (1st Cir 1975)
 
LePage v. Picard, 495 F.2d 26 (1st Cir 1974)
 
U.S. v. Webb, 433 F.2d 400 (1st Cir 1970)
 
Stanley v. CF-VH Associates, Inc., 956 F. Supp 55 (D.Mass 1997)
 
Tennaro v. Ryder System Inc., 832 F.Supp 494 (D.Mass 1993)
 
Tricontinental Leasing Corp. V. Cicerchia, 664 F.Supp 635 (D.Mass 1987)
 
Jackson v. Harvard University, 111 F.R.D. 472 (D.Mass 1986)
 
U.S. v. Clark, 470 F.Supp 976 (D.Vt 1979)
 
U.S. v. Bobisink, 415 F.Supp 1334 (D.Mass 1976)
 
Baird v. Devoren, 346 F.Supp 515 (D.Mass 1972)
 
Pinecrest Village, Inc. v. Mac-Millan, 425 Mass 70 (Mass 1997)
 
Hastings Associates, Inc. v. Local 369 Building Fund Inc., 42 Mass.App.Ct. 162 (Mass.App.Ct. 1997)
 
Addis v. Steele, 38 Mass.App.Ct. 433 (Mass.App.Ct. 1995)
 
Catalano v. First Essex Savings Bank, 37 Mass.App.Ct. 377 (Mass.App.Ct. 1994)
 
Tamerlane Corp v. Warwick Insurance, 412 Mass 486 (Mass. 1992)
 
Blake v. Avedikan, 412 Mass 481 (Mass. 1992)
 
Disend v. Meadowbrook Highschool, 33 Mass.App.Ct. 674 (Mass.App.Ct. 1992)
 
Victoria, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 33 Mass.App.Ct. 507 (Mass.App.Ct. 1992)
 
Heublein, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 30 Mass.App.Ct. 611 (Mass.App.Ct. 1991)
 
A.C. Cruise Lines v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 29 Mass.App.Ct. 319 (Mass.App.Ct. 1990)
 
Boston Licensing Bd. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 404 Mass. 1008 (Mass 1989)
 
Com. v. Great Altlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., 404 Mass 476 (Mass 1989)
 
Gage v. City of Westfield, 26 Mass.App.Ct. 681 (Mass.App.Ct. 1988)
 
Seagrams Distillers Co. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 401 Mass 713 (Mass 1988)
 
Pastene Wine and Spirits Co., Inc v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 401 Mass 612 (Mass 1988)
 
Pappas Industrial Parks, Inc. v. Psarros, 24 Mass.App.Ct. 596 (Mass.App.Ct. 1987)
 
Tamerlane Realty Trust v. Board of Appeals of Provincetown, 23 Mass.App.Ct. 450 (Mass.App.Ct. 1987)
 
Johnson Controls, Inc. v. Baynes v. School Committee of Boston, 17 Mass.App.Ct. 1039 (Mass.App.Ct. 1984)
 
Aarco, Inc. v. Baynes, 391 Mass 560 (Mass 1984)
 
Corn v. Gorgon, 389 Mass. 351 (Mass 1983)
 
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co, Inc. v. Board of License Comrs. of Springfield, 387 Mass 833 (Mass 1983)
 
Griffin's Brant Rock Package Store v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 12 Mass.App.Ct. 768 (Mass.App.Ct. 1981)
 
Johnson Controls, Inc. v. Bowes, 381 Mass. 278 (Mass 1980)
 
National Association of Government Emp., Inc. v. Central Broadcasting Corp, 379 Mass. 220, 396 N.E.2d 996 (Mass 1979)
 
Costa v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Framingham, 6 Mass.App.Ct. 872 (Mass.App.Ct. 1978)
 
Healy v. McAbee, 5 Mass.App.Ct. 608 (Mass.App.Ct. 1977)
 
M.H. Gordon & Son, Inc. v. Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, 371 Mass. 584 (Mass 1976)
 
Simon v. Norcross, 4 Mass.App.Ct. 547 (Mass.App.Ct. 1976)
 
J & J Enterprises, Inc. v. Martignerti, 369 Mass. 535 (Mass 1976)

Past Employment Positions

Attorney General Elliot Richardson, Assistant Attorney General
Massachusetts Governor’s Public Safety Commission
Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission

Evan Lawson is an AV rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell

Attorney Lawson was included on the Super Lawyers® list for the following years: