News

Attorney Karis North from Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP was the moderator for a Roundtable discussion on Public Records Law, hosted by the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (MMLA). The panelists included Shawn Williams, the Director of Public Records for the City of Boston, Stephen Roche of the City of Springfield Solicitor’s Office and Jack Collins, the General Counsel to the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. The discussion had an emphasis on the recent changes to the Public Records Law by the Police Reform Law. In addition, the panelists discussed the issues identified by responding to requests, consistent supervisor determinations as to how to handle requests, how to handle responding to the volume of requests that the change in the law has initiated, and the potential for further guidance from litigation.

Karis L. North is an attorney at the Firm and has been practicing municipal and public sector law since 2006 and has over twenty years of experience counseling and resolving complex disputes for public clients. She is also an experienced litigator on behalf of municipalities and municipal agencies, private parties, and non-profit organizations. Her practice is focused on counseling and advocacy on behalf of municipal governments and agencies.  Ms. North has a B.S. from Cornell University and received her J.D. cum laude from Vermont Law School, where she was the Managing Editor of the Vermont Law Review.  She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Massachusetts, in the state of Maryland, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. Active in the community, Ms. North is a Director of the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyer’s Association and a member of the Vermont Law School Board of Trustees, where she chairs the Governance Committee.  She was also recently appointed to the inaugural Plymouth County Commission on the Status of Women and was elected to the position of Chairwoman by her sister Commissioners.