Attorney Profiles

When Leo V. Boyle talks about courts and trials, he sounds like a man with an addiction. He's fixated, he readily admits, on courthouses and the dramas they contain. "If I'm on vacation or traveling and I have the time, I'll just stop in and look at courthouses, " he says. "I am fascinated by what happens there. There's a combination of order and discipline on the one hand and the potential for dramatic change in people's lives on the other hand. As a trial lawyer, you can rock the boat in a courthouse from within the system. It's where I get to do what I like to do best."

What Boyle likes to do best is to advocate for injured people. His mission is to convey, through carefully assembled evidence, artful examination of witnesses and, most of all, his own carefully chosen words in argument, what it truly means for a client to have suffered tragedy or injustice. Boyle has had extraordinary successes. He can take credit for some of the largest settlements and verdicts in Massachusetts. But when Boyle talks about his craft - his addiction - the big wins are not the measure that he uses to evaluate his career. "I mostly treasure the opportunities I've had to represent some incredibly courageous people. The satisfaction I get from my work is not related to size of the case so much as whether I've been able to make a difference in a deserving person's life."

From the outset of his career in 1971, following his graduation from Boston College Law School, Boyle was attracted to trial work and pursued every chance to go to court. After trying his first district court case, he knew he was hooked, and it didn't take long for him to convince his firm that he should be groomed as a trial lawyer. He was fortunate in his mentor, Jim Meehan.

Since the founding of Meehan, Boyle, Black & Bogdanow, in 1985, Boyle has practiced exclusively as a plaintiffs' trial lawyer and has developed a national reputation. He has been actively involved in the Association of Trial Lawyers of America for many years and has held national office in that organization since 1996, including the position of President 2001-02. Boyle also served as president of the Massachusetts Bar Association in 1990-1991. He is a fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers and has been chosen for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. Boyle's commitment to his clients and his profession extends beyond his cases

He also makes the time to work within the state and federal political systems on issues of importance to consumers and personal injury victims. He does so because, as a trial lawyer, Boyle considers himself to be especially privileged. "It's a remarkable job that lets me get inside people's lives and go to bat for them. There's nothing else like it in the law."