Jeffrey J. Pyle

In 2016, Jeff and Prince Lobel partner Hugh Gorman III were recognized as Lawyers of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly for their representation of Federal Concrete, a woman-owned concrete company.  On Federal’s behalf, Jeff and Hugh brought a constitutional and statutory challenge to the Commonwealth’s practice of permitting non-disadvantaged individuals to participate in a construction set-aside program for female- and minority-owned firms.  As a result of a preliminary injunction they obtained, disadvantaged construction companies were given new opportunities to compete for government contracts.

Jeff frequently represents journalists seeking access to public records and court filings.  For example, in 2019, Jeff successfully represented a public radio station in its efforts to unseal a list of the names and addresses of jurors after the completion of a criminal trial, obtaining in a favorable ruling at the First Circuit. The same year, he represented a coalition of news organizations in bringing a successful motion to unseal a complaint alleging that a pharmaceutical company’s actions contributed to the opioid crisis. Jeff also helps reporters negotiate for access and appeal from the denial of requests under the Massachusetts public records law.

Jeff has handled many cases under the Massachusetts Anti-SLAPP law, which protects citizens and writers against lawsuits aimed at intimidating their exercise of the right to petition the government.  In 2012, working as a cooperating attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, he secured dismissal of a defamation claim brought by the owner of a racetrack against a critic of expanded casino gaming, in the first known application of the Massachusetts Anti-SLAPP law to a social media post.

Jeff is an adjunct professor of law at Boston College Law School, where he teaches a seminar called Media Law and Litigation. Jeff graduated magna cum laude from BC Law in 2000, and went on to serve as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael A. Ponsor in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  He joined Hill & Barlow as an attorney in 2001, and in 2003, moved with several other attorneys to Prince Lobel.