Overview
With more than three decades of experience as a trial lawyer, Christopher R. O'Hara counsels clients with equal skill and expertise in the courtroom and at the negotiating table. A Founding Partner of the firm, Mr. O’Hara is a member of the firm’s employment litigation and complex commercial litigation group.
In the employment law context, he advises companies on a wide range of matters, including hiring and termination decisions; noncompetition, non-solicitation, confidentiality, and non-disclosure agreements; protection of trade secrets; counseling on investigations; wage and hour issues, including Massachusetts Wage Act cases; independent contractor classification issues; counseling on investigations; and state and federal employment law issues.
Executives and companies frequently turn to Mr. O'Hara for advice on restrictive covenants, noncompetition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure/confidentiality covenants in employment agreements and letters of intent. He has litigated over 100 noncompetition and non-solicitation cases in the Massachusetts Superior Court Business Litigation Session and in other state and federal courts.
Mr. O'Hara, who joined Todd & Weld in 1993 in the firm’s first year of existence, has successfully represented employers and employees in several industries. He has represented individuals and defended companies in all types of discrimination claims, including sexual harassment, age, race, national origin, gender, and handicap/disability discrimination, as well as retaliation claims before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Mr. O'Hara’s employment law expertise includes being involved in several qui tam/whistleblower cases, as well as providing labor law advice and representing businesses in disciplinary/discharge hearings and AAA arbitrations. He frequently negotiates executive employment agreements, as well as separation and severance agreements for C-suite and other senior executives in various industries, including biotechnology, biopharmaceutical/life sciences, finance, information technology, banking, and insurance.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and other media have featured Mr. O’Hara’s successful results, and he is a frequent speaker on employment law topics, including non-competition agreements, and separation/severance agreements.
In the business litigation context, Mr. O'Hara has tried many complex commercial matters, including bet-the-company cases; closely held family business disputes; breach of fiduciary duty and officer, director, and shareholder disputes; business torts; trade secrets; Lanham Act issues; and corporate governance matters in publicly held and privately owned corporations. He represents businesses and individuals in investigations by state and federal authorities, including the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, FINRA, Massachusetts Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, and Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Mr. O'Hara represents various health care professionals, including physicians before the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, and other health care professionals before the Massachusetts Office of Professional Licensure. He has also represented lawyers in disputes involving attorneys' fees and defended lawyers in legal malpractice actions.