Biography

Mr. Brooks is chairman of the Litigation Department in Boston, co-chair of the national Real Estate Litigation group, and a member of the Distressed Asset Resolution Team. His practice includes civil and business litigation, real estate acquisition, partnership and financing litigation, and zoning law and land use. Mr. Brooks also regularly represents secured lenders in the enforcement of commercial real estate agreements. Mr. Brooks has tried over 50 cases to a judgment or verdict in the state and federal courts. He also represents interested parties in administrative hearings on zoning, subdivision approval and wetlands permitting, and serves as a member of his local Planning Board.

Some of Mr. Brooks’ more recent representative matters include:

• Obtained a complete defense verdict for an international accounting firm in a multimillion dollar accounting and auditing malpractice claim after a three-week jury trial.
• Obtained a jury verdict for a property owner in the defense of several multimillion dollar claims for property damage.
• Representation of a landlord in the successful eviction of a tenant for cigarette smoking, a case that received national recognition as the first of its kind establishing cigarette smoking as a legal nuisance. 
• Obtained a jury verdict after a month-long jury trial in an action by a home builder against a local municipality under federal and state civil rights laws, for the wrongful denial of permits obtaining a judgment in the amount of approximately $4 million dollars.
• Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a retailer on claims of unfair business practices by a competitor.
• Obtained a jury verdict in a minority stockholder breach of fiduciary duty suit and had the subsequent appeal dismissed on account of the appellant’s failure to provide post-trial discovery.
• Obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial between two business partners in which the plaintiff sought to enforce the terms of a stock repurchase agreement.
• Overturned, on First Amendment grounds, the charitable solicitation laws in four states.

Education

J.D., Boston College Law School, cum laude

Order of the Coif

A.B., Dartmouth College, magna cum laude

Admissions

• Massachusetts