
J. Whitfield Larrabee
Mr. Larrabee represents employees, tenants, consumers, patients, and other individuals whose rights have been violated, in their lawsuits against businesses and the government. Mr. Larrabee has represented employees in a variety of different contexts, including race, age, disability and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, racial harassment, wrongful discharge and retaliation cases. He has extensive experience representing employees before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Mr. Larrabee professionally negotiates and communicates every client’s position in order to achieve the most favorable possible settlement. In cases that cannot be settled, he fights with the utmost courage and intelligence to win an outstanding verdict at trial. He has served as lead counsel in more than 80 trials in a wide range of different areas of the law. He has won verdicts for his clients in about 80% of the jury trials that he has handled. Mr. Larrabee has also successfully handled many appeals in both state and federal court.
Mr. Larrabee often responds to law-breakers in business and government with relentless, costly and time-consuming litigation. He conducts expansive and exceptionally intrusive investigations. He joins forces with law enforcement and regulatory agencies, publicizes illegal conduct and uses the media to pressure companies to act responsibly. He uses every available connection, resource, strategy and tactic to hold defendants accountable.
Through his network of seasoned lawyers, experienced experts and forensic consultants, including private investigators, physicians, psychologists, scientists, accountants, economists, and other leaders in business and government, he provides legal services of the highest quality and with excellent results.
After a protracted battle that ended in the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Larrabee achieved a victory for with people with disabilities that has had a nationwide impact. The case of DeCambre v. Brookline Housing Authority, 826 F. 3d 1 (1st Cir. 2016) established that people with disabilities cannot be excluded from the United States Housing Choice Voucher Program (“Section 8”) solely based on a personal injury settlement that is placed in a special needs trust.
Mr. Larrabee is admitted to practice law in all courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. A graduate of the University of Colorado and Suffolk University Law School, Mr. Larrabee has practiced law in the Boston area since 1988.