By Kimberly Dougherty
Most lawyers like me are no strangers to feelings of overwhelm. Add a heaping of personal obligations such as our families, friendships, philanthropic and community pursuits, and professional development, and our already full plates can easily become overflowing and unmanageable.
APRIL 8, 2025
Justice Law Collaborative was named to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly‘s 2025 list of “Up in Coming Law Firms.”
The inaugural list, released in April 2025, spotlights rising Massachusetts-based law firms launched in the last 10 years and strongly positioned for continued success. Read More
MARCH 17, 2025
Justice Law Collaborative (JLC), Attorney Tyler Fox, and advocates for victims of sexual assault and personal injury, earned a legal victory last week when Suffolk County Superior Court found a former medical assistant employed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH/Brigham) guilty of sexual assault. Read More
MARCH 6, 2025 |
JLC partner Kelly Guagenty and former associate Martha Carol were interviewed by The Guardian for a feature story about former residents of Arizona-based Re-Creation Retreat (RCR), advertised as a teen rehab facility. Attorneys at Justice Law Collaborative are representing “survivors of abuse” at RCR; however, no legal action had been filed against the facility as of yet.
Read the story here.
After struggling for eight years to have a baby, Shannon Petersen and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2022. Their fertility doctor recommended a test that sounded like exactly what they needed. It promised to help Petersen, then 42, avoid miscarriages and get pregnant faster by determining which of the couple’s embryos were most likely to result in a healthy baby.
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MARCH 4, 2025
Two Justice Law Collaborative partners have been named to the list of the nation’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers by Lawdragon. Firm co-founders Kim Dougherty and Paula Bliss were recognized by Lawdragon’s editors based on peer nominations, third-party research, and extensive editorial evaluation. Read More
FEBRUARY 27, 2025 – Justice Law Collaborative, along with co-counsels Constable Law, and Berger Montague, filed class action lawsuits in the United States against multiple genetic testing companies for misleading consumers about the efficacy of Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A).
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FEBRUARY 24, 2025
Paula Bliss, Kim Dougherty, Kelly Guagenty and Laura Yaeger traveled to Miami last week to attend the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Winter Convention 2025 – the largest national gathering of top trial lawyers.
Dougherty and Yaeger were tapped as speakers, to educate and share updates on their areas of expertise including sexual assault litigation and law firm marketing, operations, and growth.
At the start of 2025, Justice Law Collaborative and Yaeger Law announced their merger, joining together two, female-founded and led law practices. The leaders of both firms have successfully collaborted on numerous, nationwide cases and have served on professional committees together for more than a decade.
JLC’s newest partner Laura Yaeger also officially announced her interest in becoming the next AAJ parliamentarian. Over the last several weeks, her campaign efforts have intensified – resulting in a bevy of endorsements and vocal support from AAJ members.
As part of her campaign effort, Yaeger hosted a flamingo-fabulous “Cocktails & Conversations” event at AAJ Convention during which she was able to connect with fellow AAJ members and share what she intends to bring to the role of parliamentarian should she earn their vote come July 2025.
Networking with fellow AAJ members was just one piece of the team’s trip. Partner and Justice Law Collaborative co-founder Paula Bliss was named co-chair to the newly-formed AAJ Fertility Litigation Group alongside fellow IVF attorney and advocate Allison Freeman (managing partner of Constable Law) to represent and advocate for patients undergoing fertility treatment.
Last October, Justice Law Collaborative, Constable Law, and Berger Montague filed class action lawsuits against multiple genetic testing companies for misleading consumers about the benefits and capabilities of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A). PGT-A is advertised as a genetic test that purports to analyze the chromosomal makeup of fertilized human embryos by screening for chromosomal abnormalities.
Consumers undergoing IVF treatment are frequently sold PGT-A as an add-on test costing thousands of dollars and not typically covered by insurance. The lawsuits allege that the defendants make certain assertions concerning the accuracy of their respective tests which remain unreliable and inaccurate – information that is not disclosed to vulnerable consumers charged with making critical decisions about which embryos to transfer based on the test results.
Companies that store and work on embryos created during the IVF process have already experienced backlash when storage tanks have broken – ultimately destroying viable embryos. Most recently, litigation was brought against Coastal Fertility Specialists for transferring the wrong embryo to a patient – who birthed another person’s baby after receiving IVF treatment. What made the circumstances even worse for the mother was that the true biological parents of the child she birthed demanded custody, forcing the distraught mother to give up the 5-month-old boy to avoid a legal fight she could not win.
Bliss said, “Given the increased attention on IVF from the incumbent administration, there will no doubt be an increased need for oversight and protections for patients pursuing a family through IVF treatment. The desire to start a family, combined with unexpected, monumental hurdles to achieving that family, creates emotional and financial hardships that cannot be overstated. As attorneys, we must not only be aware of the constantly changing IVF landscape, we may be in a position to create new legislation to protect the very people IVF purports to help.”
FEBRUARY 20, 2025
Justice Law Collaborative not only provides legal support for its clients, it extends its advocacy efforts beyond the courthouse steps to the chambers of state and federal legislatures. The firm co-founders have participated in creating and amending state and national laws impacting the rights of citizens – a differentiating cornerstone of the firm.
Most recently, JLC co-founder and troubled teen industry attorney Kim Dougherty testified in a Maryland Judiciary Committee hearing alongside celebrity and advocate Paris Hilton in support of a new bill aimed at protecting young adults from trauma-inducing experiences associated with the troubled teen industry (TTI). Additional participants included government representatives, disability and human rights advocates and TTI survivors, among others.Read More
FEBRUARY 19, 2025
In 1972, Congress enacted Title IX, a federal law to prevent sex-based discrimination in schools. Over time, court cases have interpreted the law to require schools to protect students from sex-based harassment and sexual violence and ensure that neither impedes a student’s access to education. Frequently, those who experience sexual assault are more likely to earn lower GPAs, struggle with emotional self-regulation, and drop out of school altogether.
In the last few weeks, the newly installed Trump administration initiated a flurry of executive orders causing seismic shifts across various federal, educational, and support service landscapes. Included in the mix is the Trump administration’s decision to roll back expanded protections in Title IX, instituted by the Biden administration, returning them to 2020 regulations.
During Biden’s term in office, his administration expanded Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students and also updated the type of behavior considered sexual harassment — a reversal of the DeVos policy. The regulations expanded the categories of conduct, thus protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
The reversal of Title IX to its 2020 iteration, as of January 2025, once again narrows the definition of sexual harassment and the scope of cases academic institutions must address. It also reduces the liability of colleges and universities, holding them accountable only if they acted with “deliberate indifference.” Finally, it effectively eliminates protections for gender identity in schools and governs how misconduct complaints are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts will be enforced. Among the most controversial changes is a rule requiring colleges to hold ‘live hearings’ where accused students could cross-examine their accusers through an advisor. The Biden rules eliminated this requirement–making live hearings optional.
The retroactive law is being condemned by victims’ rights groups who believe sexual assault survivors will now be in a position to be retraumatized – a circumstance that often deters many from coming forward to report the assaults altogether. As a law firm with deep roots supporting survivors of sexual assault and abuse, Justice Law Collaborative sees the legislative reversal as a tragic setback.
“We are outraged by the recent shift in Title IX enforcement,” shared Kelly Guagenty, sexual assault attorney and partner at Justice Law Collaborative. “Forcing survivors to appear at live hearings and endure cross-examination by the accused is not just cruel – it is a blatant attempt to intimidate and silence victims. This retraumatizing process will only discourage survivors from coming forward and sharing their truth.”
The firm believes that narrowing the definition of sexual harassment and limiting institutional responsibility will deepen the barriers faced by survivors seeking justice and sends the dangerous message that a victim’s trauma is secondary to protecting the accused.
Guagenty continued, “This Title IX policy shift is nothing but a step backward – straight into the dark ages for those who have suffered abuse. As a legal advocate and mother of two college-aged daughters, this backward shift is beyond maddening. The very policies meant to protect survivors are being used to silence them. It is beyond frustrating to see the government prioritize the rights of the accused over the dignity of sexual abuse survivors.”
Even so, the team at Justice Law Collaborative remains steadfast in its efforts to seek justice for the survivors and the dignity and respect they deserve. The firm’s mission is to provide unwavering advocacy through survivor-centered legal practices, compassion, zero judgement, and a trauma-informed approach regardless of regressive policies.
— Attorney Kelly Guagenty is a partner at Justice Law Collaborative, a law firm devoted to supporting and advocating for survivors of abuse.