The Sexual Abuse Survivors Law Group

The firm has a national practice representing victims of sexual abuse. The group has represented victims who were abused at a variety of institutional settings, including schools, camps and religious institutions. In addition, the firm also represents victims of sexual harassment. The member of the sexual abuse law group is Roderick MacLeish.

Roderick MacLeish has more than 25 years of experience representing victims of abuse, starting in 1991, when he obtained a $1.6 million judgment after a trial in which the victim testified that he was abused by a man who lurked outside a hockey rink with mini bikes and would offer rides into the woods for unsuspecting boys. Following that case, Mr. MacLeish represented over 100 individuals who had been sexually abused by infamous Fall River priest James Porter from Fall River, Massachusetts. That was the largest priest abuse case nationally at the time and it broke open claims of sexual abuse in other dioceses.

From 2001 to 2004, Mr. MacLeish represented more than 350 victims of clergy abuse, including more than 220 individuals abused by priests of the Archdiocese of Boston. He was lead counsel in the Boston Abuse cases which were ultimately resolved for $85 million and a host of non-financial reforms. Mr. MacLeish's nine day deposition of former Cardinal Law was made into a theatrical production and was considered a major turning point in the litigation against the church. For his work in that case, Mr. MacLeish was named one of ten "winning" trial lawyers in the country by the National Law Journal in 2003.

More recently, Mr. MacLeish represented thirty victims in the landmark case against St. George's School - a case which has led to a significant enhancement of abuse prevention in the private school industry. For his work in that case, Mr. MacLeish was named one of ten "lawyers of the year" for 2016 by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly newspaper.