Harold L. Lichten is a founding partner of the firm and has been practicing law since 1978. After working as a Legal Aid and Indian rights lawyer in Maine, Mr. Lichten turned to labor and employment law, to which he has exclusively devoted his practice for the last 20 years.

Mr. Lichten has tried numerous jury trials in both state and federal court and has won large verdicts in a number of employment cases involving age, disability, and sex discrimination. In addition, he has argued many appeals before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the Maine Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a frequent lecturer on employment and labor law for the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education organization.

Mr. Lichten represents numerous labor unions, including more than 34 locals of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, and other municipal police unions. He also represents private sector unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (which represents Verizon workers), and the United Steelworkers of America (which represents gas workers at NSTAR and the Bay State Gas Company). In addition, Mr. Lichten has represented numerous individual fire fighters, police officers, and other employees in wrongful termination, employment discrimination, and wage claims.

Major Cases

Quinn v. City of Boston, 325 F.3d 18 (1st Cir. 2003) (striking down Boston’s 30-year-old hiring system for fire fighters as discriminatory)

Dahill v. Police Dept. of Boston, 434 Mass. 233 (2001) (established the legal definition of a disability in Massachusetts and won a jury trial verdict of $1 million for a police officer wrongfully denied hiring because of a disability)

Sprague v. United Airlines, Inc., 2002 WL 1803733 (D.Mass. 2002) (verdict of close to $1 million in an employment discrimination suit based on disability)

White v. City of Boston, 428 Mass. 250 (1998) (establishing the right of disabled police officers to return to employment once they have recovered from their work-related injuries)

Police Com’r of Boston v. Gows, 429 Mass. 14 (1999) (establishing the right of a wrongfully terminated police officer to reinstatement and back pay)

Rozanski v. A-P-A Transport, Inc., 512 A.2d 335 (Maine 1986) (striking down the use of pre-employment x-rays to select truck drivers)

Maine Human Rights Commission v. City of Auburn, 408 A.2d 1253 (Maine 1979) (requiring the hiring of the City’s first female police officer)

In the News

Mr. Lichten was named a 2003 Lawyer of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Judge says firefighter tests biased and unfair
Globe Staff | August, 2006

Organized labor of love
Globe Staff | February, 2005

Education

• New York University School of Law, J.D., 1977
• University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1974

Professional Affiliations

• Member, National Employment Lawyers Association
• Member, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee

Bar and Court Admissions

• Member, State Bar of Massachusetts, since 1986
• Admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit

Harold L. Lichten
Partner

617-367-7200, ext. 213
617-367-4820 (fax)
Harold@prle.com

Practice Areas

Represents labor unions and private-sector unions

Represents employees in wrongful termination, employment discrimination, and wage claims

Staff Assistant

Cindy Nile
cnile@prle.com