CHARLES P. ("Chic") WAGNER
Chic is a seasoned discrimination lawyer who has been advising individuals and organizations in all aspects of employment, public accommodations, and school discrimination law since 1995. Whether acting as counsel for the plaintiff or defendant, or as a third party mediator, Chic is best known for his creativity and success in bringing complicated and highly charged disputes to meaningful and effective resolutions. He is the consummate "deal maker" fondly referred to by his colleagues as the "counselor’s counselor."
Chic has extensive experience bringing law enforcement matters before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) which often require a broad and creative incorporation of governmental policy considerations that, when done well, offer uniquely equitable solutions the parties could never accomplish in court. Having also built a substantial employer side practice, he brings to the Firm the unique experience of guiding a full range of parties with very different interests through the civil rights law enforcement and statutory conciliation process successfully, and he is highly regarded throughout the bar as one of the foremost practitioners before the Commission.
As a certified mediator, Chic combines all of that very specialized experience and "MCAD know-how" to assist parties and their counsel reach meaningful, well-tailored, and private solutions to what are otherwise very charged and emotionally driven disputes.
Admitted to practice in the state and federal of courts of Massachusetts, as well as the United States Supreme Court, Chic is reported in several seminal decisions governing the applicability of the Massachusetts Fair Employment Practices Act to public employers, extending the statute of limitations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, re-defining rights to a jury trial under G.L.c. 151B, and broadening the protections against SLAPP law suits.
In October 2002, Boston Magazine named him one of the city’s top five employment attorneys, and he was included among the "Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyers" in any area of practice by Law and Politics Magazine in November 2004.
Chic grew up in suburban Buffalo, NY; and he is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and Western New England College School of Law. He served three terms as the male-identified Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association from 2005-2008, where he helped spearhead the recently renewed movement for transgender equality on a state and federal level. He is a former appointee to the Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates and Executive Management Board, and enjoyed a long tenure of bar leadership and service with the MBA Individual Rights & Responsibilities and Labor & Employment Section Councils.
Presently, Chic is involved in a broad array of leadership projects with the Boston Bar Association focusing on diversity bar leadership and advancement of lawyers of difference within the legal community. He is a frequent continuing legal education faculty member and has co-authored numerous publications pertaining to small firm management, employment law, MCAD practice and procedure, and other anti-discrimination related topics.
KATHY JO COOK
Kathy Jo Cook concentrates her practice in the trial and appeal of gender equality, discrimination, civil rights, consumer protection, personal injury and wrongful death cases, including motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, construction site accidents, medical, legal and nursing home negligence, and other general liability cases.
Kathy Jo began her legal career at Lubin & Meyer, P.C. during law school. She joined Keches & Mallen, P.C. thereafter, where she successfully handled complex claims on behalf of injured plaintiffs for 13 years. Kathy Jo litigated the first successful claim in Massachusetts to hold that an insurance company’s meritless appeal of an injured worker’s verdict was a bad faith insurance practice and violated the Consumer Protection Statute, securing the original judgment of more than 3 million dollars and an additional 4.2 million dollar judgment against the insurance company for that practice.
Kathy Jo is the 2008-2009 President of the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts. She is the former Chair of the Judicial Administration Section Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association, and she has been appointed to its Standing Court Management Advisory Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. Kathy Jo is a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and serves on its Board of Governors. She is a member of the Boston Bar Association and serves on its Civil Right to Counsel Task Force. Kathy Jo is also a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. In 1999, she was named by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the top five "up and coming" attorneys in Massachusetts, and in 2007, she became the third lawyer ever to be inducted into the Lawyers Weekly "Hall of Fame." Kathy Jo has been named as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Massachusetts by Law & Politics Magazine (Best of Boston). She has been featured in a number of publications, including the National Law Journal and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
Kathy Jo frequently lectures on substantive legal issues, litigation techniques and gender equality at area law schools, professional conferences, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. She has received numerous first place awards in national writing and trial competitions, including the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National Trial Competition. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including the American Judges Association Journal and the Cleveland State Law Review.
Kathy Jo has received an AV rating, the highest rating, by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. This rating is given only to lawyers who have Very High to Preeminent Legal Ability and who embrace Very High Professional Standards. She has also received a 10 out of 10 rating by Avvo.
About her work Kathy Jo says, "My focus has always been on justice. To me justice means working to promote equality, to protect important civil rights, and to help individual people, workers and consumers to obtain just compensation for injuries caused by the fault of others."
Kathy Jo is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and the University of Houston. She is licensed to practice before all state and federal courts in Massachusetts.
MARC D. FREIBERGER
Marc D. Freiberger is a skilled employment attorney who specializes in contract negotiation, litigation and corporate immigration law. In 2007 and 2008, Mr. Freiberger was named as a Rising Star among labor and employment attorneys in Massachusetts by Super Lawyers - Boston magazine. Mr. Freiberger counsels executives and employers on employment related claims such as discrimination/wrongful discharge, breach of contract, and retaliation. Mr. Freiberger is an experienced negotiator of complex employment agreements, non-competition and trade secret restrictions, and separation agreements. He regularly represents individuals and employers at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, state and federal courts, and federal agencies. In 2007, Mr. Freiberger served as co-counsel in the successful defense of a multinational high-tech services company and its Chief Financial Officer against race and age discrimination and retaliation claims brought by a former senior executive. At the conclusion of an eight-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the employer on all counts.
Prior to founding Wagner Cook Freiberger & Washienko LLC, Mr. Freiberger was associated with Shilepsky O'Connell Casey Hartley Michon Yelen LLP, where he specialized in the representation of executives, litigation, and employment agreements. Before his association with Shilepsky O'Connell, Mr. Freiberger gained significant international legal experience through his service as a Foreign Service Officer for the United States Department of State, where he negotiated foreign policy issues including trade, security and development on behalf of the United States. As Vice Consul, he solely adjudicated applications of U.S. and foreign employers seeking to engage foreign employees in the U.S, as well as foreign corporations seeking to operate in the U.S.
Prior to serving with the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Freiberger was associated with Perkins Smith & Cohen LLP, where he focused exclusively on employment law as a member of the executive advocacy practice group. Mr. Freiberger also has significant commercial litigation experience, honed at Vinton, Nissler, Allen & Vellone, and Cohen, Brame & Smith, where his practice areas included securities, employment and tort law. He began his career as Deputy District Attorney in Brighton, Colorado, where he secured numerous misdemeanor and felony jury and bench trial convictions.
Mr. Freiberger has spoken at various MCLE employment law seminars and authored several articles on employment law issues. Mr. Freiberger is currently serving as co-chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association Immigration Law Section, and co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Public Service Committee of the Labor and Employment Section. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, and Croatian American Bar Association. Mr. Freiberger earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1995 and his B.A. cum laude from Connecticut College in 1992. He is proficient in Croatian and Danish.
PATRICIA A. WASHIENKO
Patty is an experienced employment attorney who represents individuals and companies in a wide range of employment and compensation matters, including the negotiation and enforcement of sophisticated employment, compensation and separation agreements; and the litigation of workplace-related claims, including the prosecution and defense of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. She was named by Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts Rising Star in the field of Labor and Employment Law in 2005, 2006, and 2007; and as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in 2008.
A skilled negotiator, Patty often counsels and represents executives and professionals in complex contract and severance negotiations. She also represents individuals and companies litigating claims of wrongful termination, employment discrimination, and breach of contract. In those areas, she has steered cases to successful (and, at times, precedent-setting) resolution in state and federal courts, governmental agencies, arbitration and mediation. One such case, Stonehill College v. MCAD, 441 Mass. 549 (2004), for instance, was hailed by Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly hailed as the most important decision of 2004.
Committed to service, Patty is an active member of the Boston Bar Association, where she serves on the Steering Committee for the BBA’s Labor & Employment Section; the Massachusetts Lesbian & Gay Bar Association, where she serves as Employment Section Co-Chair; and the Massachusetts Bar Association. She has co-authored numerous amicus curiae briefs in cases raising significant issues in the fields of employment discrimination and civil rights. She is also quite active in continuing legal education: Patty serves on the MCLE Employment & Labor Law Curriculum Advisory Committee and has served as co-chair and frequent panelist of MCLE seminars and conferences. She has also published articles on employment law issues particularly relevant to companies and executives and serves as a quarterly commentator for the Massachusetts Discrimination Law Reporter.
Patty earned an A.B. with honors from Harvard University in 1988; she earned her J.D. with honors from Boston University School of Law in 1998. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.