Lisa G. Arrowood, founding partner of Arrowood LLP, has more than thirty years’ experience practicing law in the areas of business litigation, employment disputes, medical malpractice, personal injury and legal malpractice. Prior to Arrowood LLP, she was a founding partner of Todd & Weld LLP and a partner and associate at Hale and Dorr.
Well known for her expert ability to try to a jury, judge or arbitrator, Lisa has litigated cases in state and federal courts in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, Rhode Island, Nevada, and Connecticut.
Her extensive jury trial experience resulted in her induction into fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2000 and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 2014. She has been described in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a “dynamic courtroom attorney” and “a force of nature” with “tremendous talent” in cross-examination.
Experienced in all types of business litigation, Lisa has handled breach of contract and misrepresentation disputes; disputes concerning non-competition agreements and other restrictive covenants; breach of fiduciary duty cases; and unfair business practices cases. She has successfully tried to resolution numerous business dispute cases, and has represented both publicly traded corporations and family businesses. Her experience includes disputes within the financial services industry, including venture capital and private equity.
Widely known for her accomplishments in medical malpractice cases, Lisa has represented plaintiffs in virtually every type of medical malpractice action, ranging from birth injury to failure to diagnose cancer, heart attacks, and stroke. In 1998, she won the third largest jury verdict in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a medical malpractice case.
Lisa’s successes in personal injury claims are well documented in Massachusetts as well as in local and federal courts across the United States. She has achieved settlements in the millions of dollars, representing plaintiffs in suits involving injuries suffered in construction accidents, automobile accidents, industrial accidents, and products liability claims.
Experienced in employment litigation, Lisa has successfully represented employers across all major industries in cases involving sexual harassment, gender and race discrimination, handicap discrimination and other claims. She has obtained settlements for employees in the high six and seven figures and skillfully negotiated complex severance packages and employment agreements on behalf of financial, marketing and sales executives as well as physicians.
Lisa’s extensive expertise also encompasses legal malpractice matters. She has represented individuals and corporations in legal malpractice claims against their lawyers and law firms. Additionally, she has represented attorneys against whom malpractice claims have been made. Lisa has worked on matters involving mistakes made by corporate lawyers, employment lawyers, estate planning lawyers and other specialties. Although she has successfully tried cases to verdict, she usually achieves pre-trial settlements in legal malpractice matters.
Throughout her career, she has represented a diverse list of prominent clients including Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the ZONE Diet, Staples, Inc., Fidelity Investments, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, the New York Times, Meredith Corporation (publisher of Better Homes and Gardens magazine), Ropes & Gray, as well as several other law firms, and many other individuals and businesses of all types and sizes.
An active member of the Boston Bar Association for many years, Lisa served as BBA president from 2015-2016. She was also a member of BBA’s Executive Committee from 2010-2016 and the BBA Council from 2009-2016. She has also held leadership positions in the American College of Trial Lawyers and was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers from 2009-2015.
Lisa held a three year appointment (2010-2013) as the First Circuit Representative to the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. The 15-member Committee evaluates all nominations of Article III judges to the federal district courts, circuit courts of appeals and the United States Supreme Court, as well as various territorial district courts.
Notable Cases
• With Arrowood LLP partner Jed DeWick, obtained a preliminary injunction on behalf of an international financial services company prohibiting a former high-level employee from competing with the company or soliciting its customers (May 2011).
• With partner Jed DeWick, represented a former private equity partner in claims against his former firm, winning the case after a week-long arbitration (August 2016).
• Won the third largest jury verdict with a $10.5 million judgment in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for a family in a medical malpractice case involving a neurological injury, known as kernicterus, to a newborn (1998).
• Obtained settlements for plaintiffs in kernicterus cases in the millions of dollars in cases filed all over the country.
• With partner Jed DeWick, obtained a multimillion dollar judgment against an obstetrician in a case involving the death of a pregnant mother from cardiomyopathy of pregnancy (2009).
• Won a multimillion dollar verdict against an internist involving the death of a 21 year old college basketball player suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, known as HCM (2010).
• With Arrowood LLP partner, Raymond Ausrotas, won the 10th largest jury verdict in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on behalf of a severely injured autistic boy. The case was brought against his school’s medical director and various administrators who had failed to supervise the child’s caretakers, and against several teachers who had physically and emotionally abused him. The $2 million judgment was delivered following a six week jury trial (2006).
• With partner Jed DeWick, obtained a defense verdict for her financial industry client in a disability discrimination case after a three week jury trial in Suffolk Superior Court.
• Won a gender discrimination case against Dana Farber Cancer Institute after a three week jury trial (2011).
• Successfully defended Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the ZONE Diet, when he was sued for breach of contract in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The case was voted among the “Biggest Defense Wins of the Year” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in 2003.
Lisa has also handled various novel cases and cases of first impression both at the trial court level and on appeal including:
• Pettengill v. Morrison, Mahoney & Miller (426 Mass. 253 [1997])
• Darius v. City of Boston, (433 Mass. 274 [2001])
• Gladu v. Boston IVF, (Mass., Middlesex County Super. Ct., No. 98-4189, Jan. 30, 2004)
• First Enterprises, Ltd. v. Cooper, (425 Mass. 344 [1997])
• Driscoll v. Milton Academy, (70 Mass. App. Ct. 285 [2007])
Honors and Awards
• Named one of “The Best Lawyers in America” for Commercial Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law and Personal Injury Litigation, Best Lawyers, 2002-present
• Named as a “New England Best Lawyer” for Commercial Litigation, Labor and Employment Law, Medical Malpractice Law and Personal Injury Law, 2018
• Inducted into the Circle of Excellence by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Top Women of Law, September 2018
• Selected as a “Most Powerful Employment Lawyer,” Lawdragon, 2016 to Present
• Selected as one of “The 500 Leading Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon, 2015 to Present
• Recognized as one of the “Top Ten Massachusetts Super Lawyers,” 2013-present. Number 1 point earner in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2014; number 2 point earner in 2013 and 2015; and number 3 in 2016.
• Named to Super Lawyers “Massachusetts Top 100,” 2004-present; “Massachusetts Top 50 Women,” 2004-2005 and 2007-present; “New England Top 100,” 2009-2019; and “New England Top 50 Women,” 2007-2019.
• Named a “Top Attorney in Business Litigation,” Corporate Counsel Edition, Super Lawyers magazine, 2008 to present.
• “Recommended in Litigation,” America’s Leading Lawyers in Business, Chambers USA, 2006 to present.
Publications and Lectures
• Lecturer, Medical Malpractice, Brown University, March 20, 2019
• Panelist, “Does Gender Matter in the Courtroom?”, Women’s Leadership & Advancement Forum, Boston Bar Association, February 11, 2019. Interview with Lara Bazelon, author of “What it Takes to Be a Trial Lawyer if You are Not a Man.”
• CLE Teacher, Trial Skills Workshop, Suffolk University Law School, May 2018
• Lecturer, Medical Malpractice, Brown University, April 2018
• Speaker, “GRIT: The Secret of Advancement,” Women’s Leadership and Advancement Forum, Boston Bar Association, December 2017
• Speaker, BBA Women’s Leadership & Advancement Forum Launch Event, Boston College Club, November 2017
• Speaker, “15 Leadership Insights from Women Who Know,” Ms. J.D. NWLSO Leadership Academy, Harvard Law School, September 2017
• Panelist, “Women Lawyers Leading Cases in the Courtroom,” John J. Moakley Federal Courthouse, June 2017
• Speaker, “Life in the Trenches: a Talk With a Real-life Tort Lawyer,” Harvard Law School, October 2016
• Speaker, “From Surviving to Thriving: Practice Readiness for New Lawyers,” Mid-Year Meeting of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, February 2016
• MCLE Panelist, “A Conversation with the Legends: Masters of Direct and Cross-Examination,” October 2015
• Panelist, “Pathways to the Bench,” New Hampshire Bar Association, June 2015
• Panelist, “Tired of Playing Second Fiddle in Court? How to Move Up to First Chair,” Women’s Bar Association, January 2015
• Panelist, “Effective Personal & Client Advocacy: Negotiating Strategies for Women,” Suffolk Law School, March 2013
• Panelist, ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s 10th Annual Program on Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills, November 2012
• Panelist, “It’s (Past) Time To Update That Contingent Fee Agreement: Navigating the ‘New’ Rule 1.5”, Brown Bag Lunch Program, Boston Bar Association, March 2011
• Faculty Member, MCLE’s “Winning Your Case Before Trial,” January 2011
• Panelist, “Trial Success Stories,” Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (MATA), November 2010
• Trial Adviser, Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, January 2010
• CLE Panelist, “Is The Civil Justice System in Serious Need of Repair?”, joint project of the American College of Trial Lawyers Task Force on Discovery and The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, Boston Bar Association, December 2009
• CLE Panelist, “Superior Court Practice,” Boston Bar Association, March, 2009
• Faculty Member, Center for Legal Aid Education and American College of Trial Lawyers four-day trial skills training program, June 2008
• CLE Panelist, “Ethical Challenges in Bringing Cases to Trial,” Boston Bar Association, 2008
• MCLE Faculty Member, Personal Injury Law Conference, 2008
• Annual Lecturer, Medical Malpractice, Brown University
• Periodic Panelist on Medical Malpractice, Business Litigation, Trial Practice and Discovery Matters
Professional Activities and Organizations
Member, American Bar Association, 1985-present
Co-Chair, 2021 Women in Litigation Joint CLE Conference
Member, Practitioner’s Reading Group, Evaluation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, 2020
Member, House of Delegates, 2016-present
Member, Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, 2010-2013
Vice-Chair, Medicine and Law Subcommittee of Tort and Insurance Practice Section, 1987-1994
Member, Supreme Judicial Court Nominating Commission, 2016
American College of Trial Lawyers
Fellow, 2000-present
Chair, Gates Award Committee, 2015-2017
Member, Gates Award Committee, 2013-2017
Member, Journal Committee, 2013-present
Member, Regents Nominating Committee, 2011
Chair, State Committee 2009-2011
Vice-Chair, State Committee 2007-2009
Member, State Committee, 2005-2013
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, 2009-2015
Member, Boston Bar Association
President, 2015-2016
Vice President, 2013-2014
Secretary, 2012-2013
Co-Chair, Tort Litigation Committee, 2007-2009
Member, BBA Council, 2009-2016
Member, BBA Executive Committee, 2010-2016
Member, Strategic Communications Committee
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education
Member, Litigation Curriculum Advisory Committee, 1997-2008
Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, 2014-present
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys
Member, Massachusetts Bar Association
Member, Health Law Council, 2001-2004
