Partner

Kevin M. Kinne

p: (413) 553-0409
f: (413) 553-0331

Kevin Kinne takes a personalized approach to working with his clients that includes getting to know their needs and working with them to creatively address challenges and turn difficult issues into positive results.

After practicing for several years at one of Boston’s largest law firms, Kevin returned to his home in the Berkshires. A strategic thinker and effective communicator, he has decades’ worth of experience in representing educational institutions, businesses and individual clients on a broad range of legal issues.  Kevin’s work in state and federal courts and his successful advocacy before arbitrators and administrative agencies have resulted in substantial monetary awards and settlements, and his cases have been profiled in national and international legal publications and newspapers.

Kevin regularly conducts independent investigations for public and private colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.  Massachusetts state universities and schools in the Ivy League and NESCAC have relied upon Kevin’s expertise as an unbiased investigator. Academic institutions requiring investigations of Title IX, Title VII, civil rights, and other matters trust Kevin because he is thorough, fair, detailed, and treats all participants in the process with respect.

In addition to investigations, Kevin has done substantial work as an outside consultant effectively conducting assessments and reviews of academic, athletic, campus safety and administrative departments at educational institutions throughout New England.

He has also aided a wide variety of individual and corporate clients in employment law, including the preparation of employee handbooks and policy manuals, employment agreements, separation agreements, hiring documents, and related forms. Kevin is dedicated to protecting the rights of employees and also assists employers in trade secret protection, workforce reductions and restructuring, disability accommodation, family leave law compliance, insurance coverage, workplace privacy, electronic monitoring, and employee evaluation.

A dedicated volunteer, Kevin has served on the boards of several nonprofit and other organizations in the Berkshires, where he and his wife, Cathleen, have raised their family.  Kevin has run (slowly) many marathons in the United States.  He now enjoys backpacking on the Appalachian Trail and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and has been fortunate to watch all four of his children play college sports.

Experience Highlights

  • Settled a wage and hour class federal court lawsuit for $6.5 million against a supermarket chain regarding payment of overtime to department managers.
  • Recovered a $7.8 million settlement for 279 Latin American investors who lost money in the Madoff Ponzi Scheme.
  • Achieved a $1 million settlement against a state agency in a sexual harassment case.
  • Won $1.145 million, plus interest, for an individual investor in an arbitration case tried in Manhattan against a national asset management company that was represented by one of the country’s largest law firms.
  • Following a two-day mediation in New York City, multiple defendants agreed to pay a $10 million dollar settlement to Kevin’s clients.
  • Achieved a $1.5 million settlement against a bar/tavern in a wrongful death and personal injury case arising out of drunk driving incident in which the front seat passenger was killed and the back-seat passenger was severely injured.
  • Negotiated a half-million-dollar settlement for a client who was injured when she slipped and fell outside of an apartment.
  • Mediated a settlement with an insurance company and recovered a quarter-million dollars for a client who was injured when his car was hit by a garbage truck.
  • Settled cases involving motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall accidents, and securities fraud ranging from $100,000 to more than a million dollars.
  • Won more than $300,000 in arbitration in Puerto Rico for a Uruguayan couple in a case against Merrill Lynch.
  • Won a $250,000 award in a sexual harassment case tried before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
  • Successfully defended corporations and small businesses in numerous employment discrimination cases before state and federal courts and administrative agencies.

Education

  • Amherst College, B.A., cum laude
  • University of Massachusetts, M.S.
  • Northeastern University School of Law, J.D.

Areas of Practice

  • Education Law
  • Employment Counseling
  • Employment Litigation
  • Personal Injury

Bar Admission

  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit

Memberships

  • Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Berkshire Bar Association

Professional Recognition

  • Named to list of Best Lawyers in America
  • Massachusetts Super Lawyer
  • Two-time Western Massachusetts Lawyer of the Year for Litigation – Labor and Employment