Formed 25 years ago, the attorneys at Morisi & Oatway, P.C. are recognized for solid counsel, effective representation and an unflinching willingness to take litigation to trial when warranted. Our Boston business attorneys are just as talented at Boston business transactions as they are business litigation. With experience stretching over a cumulative 60 years, they can draw on each other for specific knowledge to enhance their handling of client legal matters.
Contact us today to learn more about how our business attorneys in Boston can put their experience to work for you.
Andrew C. Oatway, Managing Partner
ATTORNEY ANDREW C. OATWAY is the President and managing attorney of Morisi & Oatway, P.C. Attorney Oatway’s practice focuses on business, real estate, and probate litigation.
Attorney Oatway represents businesses and individuals negotiating and litigating commercial disputes, in court and in arbitrations, involving closely held corporations and partnerships, general employment, departing employee, noncompete and trade secrets, contract, construction, fraudulent conveyance, business torts, and Chapter 93A. Attorney Oatway represents developers, condominium associations, management companies, businesses, and individuals in negotiating and litigation real estate disputes, in court and in arbitrations, including specific performance and real estate contracts, joint ventures, easements and boundary disputes, adverse possession, zoning appeals, commercial leases, construction defects, and condominium-related matters.
Attorney Oatway is also admitted to practice law in the State of Connecticut and the Federal District Courts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Attorney Oatway has been practicing law since 1992. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame in 1987, Attorney Oatway obtained his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1992. Attorney Oatway was a member of the Boston College National Administrative Law Moot Court team.
Attorney Oatway was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Urman v. South Boston Savings Bank, 424 Mass. 165 (1997), in which the SJC addressed the Chapter 93A liability of a commercial seller of real estate who failed to disclose material facts regarding hazardous waste on an adjacent parcel of real estate. Attorney Oatway was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in First Enterprises, Ltd. v. Cooper, 425 Mass. 344 (1997) in which the SJC addressed the scope of the trade or commerce requirement of c. 93A. Attorney Oatway was trial counsel for Valenti v. Lubin & Meyer, P.C., et al., a $6.25 million plaintiffs’ verdict in a legal malpractice case brought in the United States District Court in Boston. The Valenti case was reported to be the largest legal malpractice verdict in Massachusetts and it was one of the top five verdicts in Massachusetts in 1998. In 2008, Attorney Oatway was trial counsel and obtained a $750,000 jury verdict on a counterclaim leading to an approximately $1,300,000 judgment in the Norfolk County Superior Court in Granite Telecommunications, LLC v. Patrick Nee, involving Granite’s breach of its agreement to furnish equity in the start up business to one of its founding employees.
In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Attorney Oatway was named as a Massachusetts Superlawyer®, New England Superlawyer®, and was previously named a Superlawyer® Rising Star. This honor, which is bestowed on less than five percent of all eligible attorneys, reflects a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement for attorneys.
ATTORNEY ADAM P. WHITNEY is a skilled and resourceful business attorney in Boston who has earned the utmost respect of his peers by bringing substantial civil business litigation in Boston and trial experience to the firm. Attorney Whitney has practiced law since 1997. A graduate of the University of Maine, he obtained his J.D. Cum Laude from Suffolk University Law School in 1997 where he graduated in the top 10% of his class, won awards for oral advocacy and brief writing, and was a member of a national moot court team. Attorney Whitney is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Maine, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Prior to joining Morisi & Oatway, P.C., Attorney Whitney practiced at the Boston firms of Roach & Wise and Donovan Hatem, LLP. Attorney Whitney was co-counsel on an Americans with Disabilities Act case in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Quint v. A.E. Staley, Mfg. Co., 172 F.3d 1 (1999), reported in the National Law Journal as one of only a few plaintiff victories under the ADA in the United States Courts of Appeal nationwide. Attorney Whitney also worked on a high profile police misconduct action against the City of Boston, the subject of several Boston Globe “Spotlight” articles and a Dateline NBC episode.
Attorney Whitney has represented architects and engineers related to a variety of projects, including many commercial, multi-million dollar construction projects. He also performed substantial work related to the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the “Big Dig”) where claims of upwards of $160 million were at issue before the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court. Attorney Whitney has also successfully defended employers at the MCAD and in the courts against claims alleging: employment discrimination; unpaid wages; sexual harassment; and whistleblower claims. Mr. Whitney has also represented attorneys while at Donovan Hatem, most notably, in the First Circuit Court of Appeals case Novinsky v. Kehoe, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 10306.
In 2005, 2006, and 2007 Attorney Whitney was named as a Rising Star Super Lawyer® in a poll of Massachusetts attorneys. This honor, which is bestowed on 2.5% of all eligible attorneys, reflects a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement for attorneys under the age of 40 or in practice up to 10 years.
He has served as a mock trial judge for area law school competitions and the Citizen School middle grades competition. He enjoys mountain biking, hiking and kayaking and is a member of the Moose Hill Community Farm in Sharon.
He lives in Randolph with his wife Uyen and their daughters Emily and Sophia.
Paul C. Bijkersma, Senior Counsel
ATTORNEY PAUL C. BIJKERSMA has been practicing law since 1985. He worked at the Boston law firms of Goldstein & Manello from 1985-1989 and Shapiro, Israel & Weiner from 1989-1993, and then started his own law firm before joining Morisi & Oatway, P.C. in 1996. Attorney Bijkersma has been head of the Transactional Department of Morisi & Oatway, P.C. since 2002, and serves as the firm’s Director of Information Technology as well.
Attorney Bijkersma has extensive experience negotiating, documenting, and closing a wide variety of business and real property transactions, representing lenders in a broad range of financings and workouts, and advising clients in general business, corporate, computer law, and contract matters. He is a member of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce, where from 1998 until 2006 he served as General Counsel and sat on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Attorney Bijkersma has also served on the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee and was founding chairman of the Legislative Committee.
Attorney Bijkersma has represented buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions of high-tech, manufacturing, retail and service companies. He has acted as bond, bank, borrower’s and underwriter’s counsel for tax-exempt bond financings, Attorney Bijkersma negotiates and drafts a wide variety of technology licensing, distribution and value-added reseller agreements for clients in the software, hardware and Internet industries. He also advises clients in general business, corporate and contract matters, including drafting and negotiation of shareholders’ purchase and redemption agreements; employment, non-competition and confidentiality agreements; asset and stock acquisition documents; joint venture and partnership agreements; software development and reselling agreements; and corporate documents of all kinds. Attorney Bijkersma represents buyers, sellers, developers, and management companies in commercial and residential real estate transactions. Finally, as lender's counsel, he has represented numerous commercial banks as well as such nonprofit organizations and quasi-public agencies.
Attorney Bijkersma is also fluent in Dutch and lives in Sharon with his wife Judi.
ATTORNEY PETER M. GERAGHTY is a diligent and decisive Boston business law attorney who has successfully handled a wide variety of general business and real estate litigation in numerous state courts.
Mr. Geraghty received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1996 and a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2002. At Wake Forest, Mr. Geraghty received the CALI Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law. After graduating from law school in 2002, Mr. Geraghty moved to Washington, D.C., where he practiced in the field of commercial litigation, with a focus on antitrust cases.
Mr. Geraghty is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and Virginia. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and the Virginia State Bar Association.
A native of Scituate, Mr. Geraghty returned to Massachusetts and joined Morisi & Oatway, P.C. in January, 2006.
Attorney Geraghty enjoys golf, traveling and spending time with his family. He and his wife, Mary Kate, live in Boston.
ATTORNEY CANDICE M. O'NEIL is the newest addition to the Morisi & Oatway, P.C. team. An honors graduate of Assumption College, Candice L. O’Neil achieved her law degree from Northeastern University in 2006. Prior to attending Northeastern, Candice completed her first year of law school at the Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, where she was a Dean's Scholarship recipient and appointed an Associated Editor of the Penn State Law Review. She earned admission to the state bar of Massachusetts in 2006 and the State bar of New Hampshire in 2007. She is currently a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association. Prior to joining Morisi & Oatway, P.C., Attorney O’Neil worked as a Boston small business attorney at a estate planning firm in Needham and a wealth management firm in Weston, specializing in estate planning for high net worth clients.
Attorney O’Neil's practice is focused on corporate, business and real estate transactions, and estate planning. Attorney O’Neil is currently studying to obtain her LLM in taxation from Boston University with an emphasis in estate taxation. Attorney O’Neil's expertise in estate planning brings a new dimension of service to the clients of the firm. In addition to business planning, we are now able to advise our client in sophisticated estate and tax planning to make sure that more of their assets remain with them and their families.
Attorney O’Neil lives with her husband Corey in Newburyport.
Francis V. Kenneally, Of Counsel
Attorney Francis V. Kenneally has experience in appellate matters, real estate transactions including the representation of lenders, buyers and sellers of residential and commercial properties, and toxic tort, products liability and premises liability litigation.
Since 2002, Attorney Kenneally has been Principal of the Kenneally Law Office. From 1997 to 2002, Attorney Kenneally served as an Assistant Clerk in the Single Justice session at the Supreme Judicial Court where he assisted the Associate Justices in a variety of cases before the Single Justice including complex civil and criminal appeals, and drafting memoranda of law particularly regarding the superintendence power of the Court in addition to public utility appeals, board of registration appeals, bail reviews, and gatekeeper petitions.
Notable case experience: McDuffy v. Board of Education (continued single justice oversight of state funding for education); Commonwealth v. Louise Woodward (jury instructions); Bates v. OCPF (clean elections); Mihos v. Swift (Executive authority over the Turnpike Board); In the Matter of F. Lee Bailey (compliance with rules of conduct and attorney discipline); Bradford v. Knights (authority of judge to rehear clerk magistrate’s denial of application for criminal complaint).
Prior to serving as an Assistant Clerk, Attorney Kenneally was associated with Church & Houff, P.A. in Baltimore, Maryland where he represented numerous insurers, and corporations in the defense of civil claims including asbestos and lead paint cases. In 1989, he served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas Ward of the Circuit Court for Baltimore.
Attorney Kenneally is also admitted to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia. A graduate of Fairfield University in 1985, Attorney Kenneally received his law degree from Catholic University in 1989 where he was a member of the National Trials Team, a member of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy and author of Agent Orange & Asbestos: A Case for Federal Common Law, 5 J. Contemporary Health L. & Pol'y 200 (1989).
Attorney Kenneally is a Member of the Weymouth Zoning Board of Appeals and has served as an Adjunct Professor at Eastern Nazarene College.
Attorney Kenneally lives in Weymouth with his wife Catherine and his children Kate, John, Emily and Caroline.
PARALEGAL CAITLIN E. EBBS has been working as a legal assistant and paralegal at Morisi & Oatway since 2003.
Caitlin has extensive experience as a paralegal in all facets of civil litigation, including preparation of litigation documents, such as pleadings, discovery, and correspondence. Caitlin has assisted the litigation department with various aspects of trial preparation and has attended and supported our attorneys from beginning to end in several trials. Caitlin frequently interacts with all courts, registries and public agencies.
Caitlin received her BA in Political Science from Assumption College in 2003, with a double minor in Philosophy and Theology. She graduated cum laude as a Lyceum Scholar and was on the Dean’s List.
Caitlin lives in Quincy.
OFFICE MANAGER DEBRA LYONS has been working with Morisi & Oatway since 2000 and has been working in the legal field since 1990. Debra handles the administrative duties of running the law firm, handling billing, bookkeeping, and relationships with vendors.
Debra lives in Milton with her husband Steve and their four children.
Angela Fruzzetti, Receptionist
RECEPTIONIST ANGELA FRUZZETTI has been working with Morisi & Oatway since 2006. As the person whom answers the phone and greets visitors to the office, Angela is the friendly and responsive face and voice of the firm. She provides considerable administrative support to all the members of our firm.
Angela lives in Easton.
The firm works with other Boston business law attorneys to provide specialized legal services to clients, as needed.
Contact our office today at 617-479-0400 to discuss your business needs with one of our experienced business law attorneys in Boston.
