Orleans Taps Braintree Firm As Legal Counsel

ORLEANS – For the first time in four decades, Orleans has a new town counsel.

The select board on Jan. 21 unanimously voted to enter into an agreement with the law firm Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane (MHTL) to serve as the town’s legal counsel. The firm will operate as counsel through Dec. 31 of this year, after which the board will look at and consider a longer agreement, Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan said.

Michael Ford, who has served as town counsel since 1985, will stay on as the town’s special legal counsel. In a letter to Galligan dated Dec. 8, Ford stated his intention to resign as town counsel effective Jan. 1. 

“I would like to thank all the elected and appointed officials, department heads, town employees, members of boards and commissions, and members of the general public with whom I have had the pleasure to work during my years of service as town counsel,” Ford said in his letter.

Ford said he will serve as special counsel in order to allow for a “smooth transition” for the town.

“He is keeping his practice going,” Galligan said. “So if folks are interested in excellent local service, he’s still got a shingle up.”

Karis North and Michael Maccaro, partners with MHTL, met with the select board prior to the board’s vote last week. Both attorneys have already been serving as special counsel to the town, Maccaro as labor counsel and North on other municipal matters. North and her colleague, Kate Connolly, will serve as the town’s lead counsel on municipal government matters, while Attorney Peter Mello will serve as special counsel for litigation, North said.

North said that for the past 40 years, the firm has provided comprehensive municipal legal services to towns on matters including land use and planning, governance, health and litigation, among others.

“That’s one of the things that I particularly love about the practice,” she said. “It is never boring. It is different every day, and I am always learning things.”

Maccaro said the firm’s wide range of expertise means that the town will have the right person to talk to for any of the town’s specific legal needs.

“Oftentimes there are matters that come up that could start as a labor and employment matter and I realize, ‘You know what, this is a matter where you don’t want to speak to me. You want to speak to someone who has a lot more expertise in that area, and that’s Karis,’” Maccaro said.

Mefford Runyon of the select board said that going forward, he would like to see expanded legal assistance provided to the town’s boards and committees. North said the firm works closely with the boards and committees in the various towns it serves. That includes offering training on the state’s Open Meeting Law, as well as ethics and public records training.

“We supplement and really go beyond the basic training that you take with the state, and really have a conversation about how meetings are run, what happens if somebody does this, what happens if somebody does that, and almost game out various situations,” North said.

The select board last month utilized MHTL in responding to an Open Meeting Law complaint that was filed against it in December, Galligan noted.

North said that the firm also makes itself available for monthly office hours at town hall, where staff and department heads can come in and talk directly with someone from the firm.

“We try to be proactive,” she said.

Runyon also asked what help the firm could give the town in managing public records requests. He said the town clerk’s office and the police department field a high number of requests from members of the public. 

“They’re burdensome to both departments,” he said. North said the firm has staff that can work directly with the town’s public records officers to get responses out in a timely fashion.

The question also was raised about what role artificial intelligence plays in the firm’s work. 

“There’s good uses, but then there’s areas where it’s really not appropriate,” Galligan said.

North said that the firm is working on some “general policies" that in part will govern the firm’s use of AI. But she stressed that while there may be some use of AI, it will only be used to help supplement the work of the firm’s attorneys.

“No lawyer is doing their job properly if they are just throwing something into ChatGPT, getting an answer and not even reading the cases,” North said.

Town Manager Kim Newman said that town staff are working to prepare special recognition for Ford’s service some time in the spring.

“He’s a terrific and very well respected lawyer,” North said of Ford.