As a former Suffolk County prosecutor and now as a civil litigator, Erica L. Brody has spent her career demanding justice for hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse, and accountability for perpetrators and the institutions that tolerate such reprehensible misconduct, including many high-profile cases featured in the media. Erica is acutely sensitive to the barriers to reporting sexual misconduct, the re-traumatization that can occur when disclosing abuse, and the courage and time it can take for people who have been exploited to come forward and share what happened to them. Her clients consistently express appreciation for the way she approaches their cases – with empathy, patience, and compassion.

Erica’s unique perspective and experience also benefits the plaintiffs she represents in the employment context, where she is committed to ensuring that everyone, no matter who they are, what they look like, how they identify, or where they come from, have the right to participate fully in a workplace free from sexual harassment and discrimination. When deciding whether to take on a case, Erica is not intimidated by powerful institutions or by the influence of political figures, and she has litigated claims involving religious institutions, multi-million dollar corporations, and powerful government entities. The majority of her practice is focused on eliminating sex and gender disparities in the workplace, and she routinely litigates sexual harassment, race, gender, and pregnancy discrimination, claims to ensure that her clients are given the same dignity and respect in the workplace as their colleagues. She appears regularly in federal and state courts in Massachusetts, as well as before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Erica’s trial experience also prepared her to teach “know your rights” training to companies and municipalities – training that is required by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. She has attended MCAD-certified trainings and has educated companies and towns both at the management and employee levels. She understands how courts analyze the legal issues that arise in these cases, and what they look like before a jury, and uses this experience to help provide valuable insight to workers and employers on how to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace, as well as how to conduct fair, thorough, and thoughtful investigations into reports of misconduct. As a former prosecutor and with over a decade of experience trying cases and conducting complex investigations, Erica has the experience to navigate the often sensitive and intensive fact-finding inquiries required in conducting a equitable, prompt, and effective investigation.

Erica is a volunteer lawyer for the 209A Middlesex District Attorney’s Office Pro Bono Program, providing free legal representation to victims of domestic violence seeking restraining orders against accused offenders. She serves on the board of the Federal Bar Association civil rights section.

She has also consulted news outlets on the topics of child abuse and domestic violence.

At Boston College Law School, she studied abroad in London at King's College School of Law, where she worked for Cherie Blair in her human rights practice group at Matrix Chambers and at her women’s foundation. Following her graduation from law school, Erica spent a year clerking for the Massachusetts Superior Court Justices.

Awards

• Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers 2021, 2022
• National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys 2021 Top 10 Under 40, 2021
• National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40, 2021
• Superlawyer Rising Star, 2020, 2021

Publications

• “Tort Liability of Schools and School Employees,” Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education’s School Law Text (2015-present) (available on Westlaw).

Teaching/consulting

Erica has been hired by municipalities and corporations to train management and employees to help prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace. She has also lectured at Northeastern University on first complaint evidence in sexual assault cases.

News & Results

Erica’s advocacy on behalf of sexual assault survivors and employees who have been harassed or discriminated against in the workplace is frequently featured in the news:

• NBC News Boston, April 27, 2023: "DCF Destroyed Unsubstantiated Reports of Abuse, Erasing Potential Evidence for a Future Case: DCF tells the NBC10 Investigators that up until 2008 the department was required by law to expunge any unproven allegations of abuse and investigation."
• Boston Globe, March 22, 2023, “State board allowed woman accused of abusing foster children to keep nursing license for more than a decade: Nursing board received two complaints about Susan Blouin’s alleged ‘house of horrors’ but took no action.”
• Boston Globe, March 9, 2023: “Allegedly beaten and abused in an Oxford ‘house of horrors,’ former foster children file suit against state social workers, State received more than a dozen complaints, but left children in the home.”
• Boston Globe, January 7, 2023: “Massage therapist at Massage Envy in Medford sexually assaulted two women in three days, lawyers charge, Masseur Gilberto DaSilva facing trial for rape in May.”
• NBC Boston, January 25, 2023: “Missed Warning Signs: Massage Therapist Charged With Rape.”
• Boston25 News, September 22, 2022: “Judge ruled Ricardo Arroyo’s records from past allegations can be made public, with exceptions”
• Dailymail UK, January 27, 2022: “Social worker 'who was groomed, sexually harassed and pressured to perform oral sex on married Boston judge in his chambers' will be paid $425,000 by state trial court before her case goes before a jury in civil case”
• Boston Globe, January 27, 2022: “Trial court to pay $425,000 to social worker who says she was pressured into sex with judge, Ex-judge Thomas Estes still faces federal lawsuit over alleged misconduct."
• WCVB Channel Five, August 13, 2021: “Holyoke Soldiers’ Home employees take legal action against former leaders.”
• Law360, April 1, 2021: “Judge Must Face Clinician’s Discrimination Suit.”
• WCVB Channel Five, December 20, 2019: “Lawsuit filed over Oxford foster home abuse, State accused of ignoring 'red flags' of abuse for years”

• MassLive, December 27, 20219: “Former foster children of Massachusetts couple Susan and Raymond Blouin file lawsuit alleging years of sexual, physical abuse”
• Worcester Telegram, December 26, 2019: Former Oxford foster children file $40M lawsuit against couple, state over “house of horrors.”
• Masslive, December 27, 2019: “After nearly 20 years, secrets in Oxford foster home come to light.”
• Berkshire Eagle, January 25, 2018: “Job lost because of objections to judge's sexual advances.”
• Daily Hampshire Gazette, January 25, 2018: “Court clinician’s lawsuit alleges sexual misconduct in judge’s chambers.”
• Berkshire Eagle, November 18, 2018: “Parties in suit against former drug court judge win confidentiality”