MICHAEL L. CHINITZ focuses his practice on employment and business litigation, employment law counseling, and the representation of executives in the negotiation of employment and severance agreements. From 2006 through 2008,  Michael was selected a Massachusetts Super Lawyer ( top 5% of the Bar) in the field of employment litigation and he has been awarded a LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell "AV" Rating for the past eight years, which is the highest merit rating.

Michael defends management in employment discrimination cases pending before the MCAD and the EEOC, and handles a wide variety of employment suits in Massachusetts trial and appellate courts and in arbitration. He has defended clients in discrimination suits, wage act claims, breach of contract, defamation, and numerous other claims brought against companies from various industries, including high technology, manufacturing, law firms, food service firms, insurers, lenders, banks and securities firms, and pharmaceutical companies. Among his many successful outcomes, Michael and Alan Rose successfully defended a Boston law firm against claims of handicap and age discrimination, Dziamba v. Warner & Stackpole LLP, 56 Mass. App. Ct. 397 (2002), rev. denied, 438 Mass. 1106 (2003). Michael has succeeded in getting other employment claims dismissed at the motion to dismiss and summary judgment stages.

Michael also has an active practice in restrictive covenant and employee raiding litigation and arbitration. He is New England regional enforcement counsel to Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., Banc of America Investment Services, Inc., and other Bank of America affiliates for employee restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation and arbitration. Michael has obtained temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions throughout New England, and has secured permanent injunctions enforcing restrictive covenants from FINRA arbitration panels. Michael is intimately familiar with the Securities Industry’s Protocol for Broker Recruiting, and has successfully tried a “protocol breach” case before FINRA.  Michael tried successfully a contempt case arising from the defendants’ disobedience of a Superior Court injunction order. Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. v. Clayson, 2005 WL 1009651 (Mass. Super., Mar 14, 2005). Michael is well versed in a wide range of securities industry disputes including employee raiding claims, commission, state wage act claims and other compensation disputes, financial advisor claims of wrongful termination, disputes over unpaid promissory notes and training fees, and Form U-5 and other reporting and disclosure disputes.  Michael has also represented registered securities representatives in NASD/FINRA investigations.

In addition to his work in the financial sector, Michael has represented a diverse client base--both employers and employees--in restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation in state and federal court arising in numerous industries, including computer software and high-technology, medical and dental, manufacturing, insurance brokerage, lending, information technology, recruiting, banking, and other industries.  Michael has obtained many preliminary injunctions and has defeated motions for preliminary injunctions in such cases. Michael has experience working with computer forensic and damages experts.  

Within the field of business litigation, Michael has litigated closely-held corporation and other shareholder disputes, advised majority and minority shareholders as to their rights and obligations, and has counseled clients through business break-ups and stock redemptions.  Michael obtained a defense judgment for a closely-held high tech company and its founders in a derivative and wrongful termination suit brought by a co-founder who asserted claims for wrongful termination, breach of fiduciary duty, and disgorgement of allegedly excessive compensation. Pulsifer v. Bitflow, Inc., 2001 WL 170453 (Mass. Super., Jan. 26, 2001), aff’d, 60 Mass. App. Ct. 1103 (2003), further appellate review denied, 441 Mass. 1103 (2004). He has also litigated various business disputes, including claims for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, claims under Chapter 93A, legal and accounting malpractice, antitrust, joint venture and partnership disputes. 

Michael represents policyholders in insurance coverage litigation and counsels them on coverage issues. Michael is currently coverage counsel to CVS.

Michael is a 1985 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Boston University School of Law (1988), magna cum laude, where he was an Editor of the Law Review and the recipient of the Berger Prize for outstanding academic achievement. Michael worked at Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP from 1988 through 1996. He is admitted to the State and Federal Bars of Massachusetts (1988) and New Hampshire (1993). He lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with his wife Karen and their three daughters.