FAQ/About Us

Q. What is your background?

A. I was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1953. I earned my B.A. in Economics at George Washington University in 1974 and my J.D. at Washington University in St. Louis in 1977. I was a senior editor of the law review at Washington U. I returned to Springfield after law school, was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977, and practiced law in Springfield from 1977 to early 2008. I was a general practitioner from 1977 to 1991, then practiced exclusively in the area of labor and employment law, usually on the side of the employer, from 1992 to 2008. Throughout my legal career in Massachusetts, I always devoted part of my time to doing legal research and writing for other lawyers. I did not get married until I was 50 years old, in 2003. I married a woman from the New Haven, Conn., area. We decided to live in her home in the New Haven area rather than in my home in Massachusetts. So I sold my home in Massachusetts, moved into her home in the New Haven area, and, from 2003 to 2008, commuted from her home to my office in Springfield, which is 60 miles each way. I got tired of this long commute, so in 2006 I was admitted to the Connecticut Bar, in 2008 I closed my Massachusetts law practice, and in 2009 I opened a law office in Connecticut. 

Q. What do you charge?

A.  When I advise or represent an employer myself, rather than help another lawyer advise or represent an employer, I charge the employer $225 per hour for my services. When I do legal research, writing, editing, and/or proofreading for a lawyer, either in an employment law matter or in some other type of legal matter, I charge the lawyer $50 per hour for the first two hours I spend on that matter. If I spend longer than two hours on that matter, I then reduce the rate (for the hours beyond the first two) to $30 per hour. So, for example, if I spend a total of five hours on a matter for a lawyer, I will charge the lawyer a total of $190 (2 hours @ $50 per hour, plus 3 hours @ $30 per hour = $190).

Q.  Since employers pay you a higher hourly rate than lawyers do, do you prefer representing employers to doing legal research, writing, editing, and proofreading for lawyers?

A.  I have no preference. I greatly enjoy doing legal research, writing, editing, and proofreading for lawyers, and therefore I am willing to it for a very low hourly rate. Frankly, I don't need high hourly fees. My overhead costs are very low. Furthermore, I earn income teaching at the University of New Haven (UNH). Most of my UNH classes meet in the evening (6:00 p.m. to 9:05 p.m.) or on Saturdays, which leaves me with lots of free time weekday mornings and afternoons. I want to be productive during my free time. Doing legal research and writing for lawyers is great fun for me, is productive, and enables me to earn some extra money. I want Connecticut lawyers to call me. If my rates are too high, few if any lawyers will call me. Whatever I earn from this (doing legal research and writing for lawyers), combined with my UNH income and my other income, is sufficient for me. I had a successful 31-year legal career in Massachusetts. I got married relatively late in life, so my wife and I are not going to "start a family." I have no children to support (I have no children at all; I married a widow who has adult children who are self-supporting). My wife has a good job. She and I live a modest lifestyle, except that we occasionally get a little extravagant in our spending on entertainment: in 2009, we attended Game 2 of the World Series in New York, the Paul McCartney-Ringo Starr-Sheryl Crow concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York, an Eric Clapton concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and a performance of Julius Caesar at the Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. But most years we go to less-expensive events than those. So I do not need as much income as most lawyers need. In 2010 so far, the only notable entertainment events we have attended were two spring-training baseball games in Fort Myers, Fla., in March, and I (just me, not my wife; she thought it would be the same type of event we attended in 2009 at Radio City Music Hall, so she politely declined to attend this 2010 event) attended Ringo Starr's 70th birthday party/concert at Radio City Music Hall on July 7, 2010, which was also attended by Paul McCartney and Yoko Oko.   

Q.  In what areas of law do you do legal research and writing for lawyers?

A.  My first choice is labor and employment law, particularly on the side of employers. For most of my career, I have been primarily a labor and employment lawyer, usually on the side of the employer. I like to help lawyers who represent employers. But I have experience in many other areas of law, too. I am very pro-business, and therefore I like to help lawyers represent business clients. I enjoy any type of business law: contracts, corporate, business litigation, etc. I am available to do legal research, writing, editing, and proofreading in any area of business law or business litigation. Consistent with my being pro-business, I am, in civil litigation, usually more sympathetic to the defendant than to the plaintiff (in most types of litigation, not small claims, businesses are more likely to be defendants than they are to be plaintiffs). I usually prefer to help lawyers represent defendants rather than plaintiffs in civil litigation. If you represent a defendant in civil litigation, and you want some help, call me. If you represent a plaintiff, don’t call me unless the plaintiff is a very worthy business or individual who really deserves to win in court.  

Q.  Are you willing to do paralegal work or other work typically done by a secretary or legal assistant?

A.  Yes. If I agree to do some work for a lawyer, I will do (almost) any type of work he or she asks me to do, so long as it is not illegal, unethical, or otherwise offensive to me. No job is too simple for me, and few jobs are too complicated for me. 

Q. What do you teach?

A. I teach part-time (I am an adjunct professor) at the University of New Haven (UNH). I regularly (almost every trimester) teach a course in UNH's MBA program: Economics 629 (Business and Society, which is primarily a business ethics course). I occasionally teach other courses in UNH's MBA program: Law 674 (Business Law and the Regulatory Environment) and Management 645 (Management of Human Resources). I also occasionally teach an undergraduate course: Communications 420 (Communications and the Law). I have taught at UNH since October 2005. From 1979 to 1982, I was an adjunct professor at Western New England College (WNEC) School of Law in Springfield (I taught the legal ethics course and the education law course). From August 2001 to May 2005, I was an adjunct professor (my title was "senior lecturer") at WNEC School of Business (I taught business law). In 2000, I taught Labor Relations at Westfield (Mass.) State College. 

Q. Have you done anything professionally besides practicing law and teaching?

A. Yes, although it was all law-related. For approximately two years (1987-1988), I worked part-time as a television reporter for WWLP-TV (an NBC affiliate) in Springfield, Mass. I was primarily a legal reporter but I also covered political stories and other general topics. I interviewed such notable people as Tom Brokaw, Bob Dole, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, Ted Kennedy, Red Auerbach, Shirley Jones, and Maureen Stapleton. This led to some part-time national radio reporting, in which I interviewed George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, and Jesse Jackson. I loved being a broadcast journalist, but the pay for a part-time TV reporter in Springfield was very low, and I simply could not afford to continue to do it. I made a little effort to get a broadcast job in New York or Boston, where the pay is much better, but those jobs are very difficult to land, and I was unable to land one. Rather than spend many years struggling to try to get to the big time, I simply quit after two years (I quit after covering the 1988 presidential election). In 1990-1992, I worked part-time as a regulatory compliance analyst for Aetna Life & Casualty Company in Hartford, CT. For most of the time I worked at Aetna, I worked in the worker's compensation department. Learning workers' compensation law led me to learn the broader field of employment law and labor law. In May 1992 I quit my job at Aetna, returned to full-time law practice in Springfield, and practiced labor and employment law in Springfield until I closed my Springfield office in 2008. I also dabbled in politics for awhile. In 1982 I ran for the state senate in Massachusetts. I ran as a Republican. I won the Republican primary but lost the general election. In approximately 1990, I switched to Democrat. Today, as a resident of Connecticut, I am registered Republican and I usually vote Republican, but I occasionally vote for a Democrat.

Q.  Have you been counsel in any published cases, and have you written any books or articles?

A.  Yes.  Here is a partial list:

REPORTED (PUBLISHED) APPELLATE CASES

Stonehill College v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 441 Mass. 549, 808 N.E.2d 205 (2004)

O'Brien v. Town of Agawam, 350 F.3d 279 (1st Cir. 2003)

Dalrymple v. Town of Winthrop, 50 Mass. App. Ct. 611, 740 N.E.2d 204 (2000), review denied, 434 Mass. 1101, 751 N.E.2d 418 (2001)

Armstrong v. Jefferson Smurfit Corp., 30 F.3d 11 (1st Cir. 1994)

Draghetti v. Chmielewski, 416 Mass. 808, 626 N.E.2d 862 (1994) 

Commonwealth v. Alabarces, 385 Mass. 1012, 434 N.E.2d 205 (1982)

Bell v. Surveillance Unlimited, Inc., 9 Mass. App. Ct. 835, 399 N.E.2d 509 (1980)

Commonwealth v. Cotter, 8 Mass. App. Ct. 476, 395 N.E.2d 488 (1979)

Commonwealth v. Ronayne, 8 Mass. App. Ct. 421, 395 N.E.2d 350 (1979)

BOOKS

David A. Robinson, Prevent Discrimination in the Workplace: A Practical, Inspirational Guide for Employers (self-published on my website, 2009)

David A. Robinson, A Legal and Ethical Handbook for Ending Discrimination in the Workplace (New York: Paulist Press 2003; ISBN No. 0-8091-4138-8)

David A. Robinson, Understanding and Preventing Employee Lawsuits in Massachusetts: A Guide for Employers (self-published 1999; second edition 2001; ISBN Number 0-9674-688-1-7)