For twenty-five years, the firm has represented an array of outstanding corporations, nonprofit institutions and individuals in highly complex and urgent matters.  Clients come back to us, again and again, because they know that the firm will act quickly to protect and advance their interests in tough going. They know that they will get clear advice and the execution of a well-conceived legal strategy. We know that when the dust settles, our clients must be certain that they've received the very best representation. That's the challenge and satisfaction of our work.

Jonathan Fitch founded the firm with Francis Sally in 1984. Prior to that both had been trial lawyers at the Boston firm of Bingham, Dana & Gould. He is a graduate of Williams College (B.A., cum laude, 1974), Yale University, (M.P.P.M., 1978) and Boston College Law School, (J.D., 1982).

In January 2010, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named Mr. Fitch, the managing partner of Sally & Fitch LLP, as a "Lawyer of the Year 2009." Mr. Fitch was one of ten lawyers in the Commonwealth to receive this honor.

Since 2004, Law & Politics has recognized Mr. Fitch as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in its annual list published in Boston Magazine. Only 5% of the lawyers in Massachusetts are awarded that designation. He has been ranked at the highest level of legal ability, "AV", in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory for twenty-five years. Mr. Fitch is also awarded the rating of "Superb" by Avvo, a widely consulted website that provides lawyer ratings and other legal resources.

Client Recommendation:

From the Director of a High Technology Company :

Mr. Fitch recently represented our company in a complex international arbitration case involving the unlawful termination of a license agreement by a listed USA corporation.  This recently settled and included a multi-million dollar payment to us.
 
We unreservedly recommend the services of Sally & Fitch LLP, and especially Jonathan Fitch Mr. Fitch was brought into the arbitration process after it had already commenced, and I would say we were in negative territory before his team joined in.

As a client, we are highly opinionated individuals with considerable experience in our industry, who initially held all the in-depth knowledge of the case.  We had already recruited other highly experienced top lawyers, located throughout the world, to work on other aspects of the case.  One of the main challenges of this arbitration process was to manage and effectively harness the knowledge and expertise of both us as the client and our other global lawyers.  We had previously experienced legal direction where the strategy seemed more for the lead lawyer to establish his top dog status with us then to focus on the best way to win the case.  In contrast, Mr. Fitch managed our complex group remarkably well.

Jonathan Fitch initially comes across as a quiet and considered individual. He listens, absorbs detail and opinions, and then makes convincing recommendations and decisions that get right to the heart of the issues.  In proceedings, Jonathan is a completely different personality.  It feels almost like you are watching Dr. Jekyll transform into Mr. Hyde.  Before seeing him in action I had thought that all the best litigation lawyers were simply alpha pitbulls.  In Jonathan Fitch, I saw all the key qualities we needed in one person without the other difficulties.  For this arbitration Jonathan Fitch came up against top arbitration lawyers, this was a hard fought issue on both sides involving very material sums of money.  Jonathan not only held his own, he walked all over the opposition.  The result shows simply how good he is.

Mr. Fitch has tried approximately 30 cases in the federal and state trial courts of the Commonwealth. He also has extensive experience representing clients in International Arbitration, Commercial Arbitration and Mediation.

Mr. Fitch focuses his practice in business litigation including, for instance, commercial contract litigation, officers and directors litigation, executive employment and non-competition litigation, and disputes among the stakeholders in closely held corporations, trusts and other private business entities. The institutional clients he has appeared for include The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Fleet National Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Massachusetts Electric Company, Boston Edison Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, PAREXEL International Corporation, J. Baker, Inc., Lycos, Inc., Airgas Corporation, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Sankaty Head Golf and Beach Club, Inc. and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

Mr. Fitch also represents clients in complex real estate litigation, (including title disputes, zoning, environmental, and land use matters), and probate litigation, (for instance, will contests, actions for breach of fiduciary duty, petitions for partition and other equitable proceedings).

In recent engagements, Mr. Fitch:

-obtained a settlement of $18,250,000 for our client Kington Holdings Limited.  Mr. Fitch had previously won a partial final award of liability on behalf of Kington in proceedings before an Arbitrator appointed by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. The Arbitrator found that LoJack Equipment Ireland, Ltd. wrongfully terminated an agreement with Kington pursuant to which Kington was granted an exclusive right to create and operate a LoJack stolen vehicle recovery system in the People's Republic of China. The settlement was reached before the damages phase of the arbitration commenced.

- won an award of $2,943,320 for the firm's client, a museum, against its former president, who had stolen assets of the museum by means of a sophisticated, fraudulent scheme.

- obtained a jury verdict on multiple counts in Middlesex Superior Court on behalf of individuals who had been defrauded in the purchase of a home. The jury found the lawyer who represented our client in the purchase of the home liable for legal malpractice and that the lawyer and the law firm representing the seller had committed fraud. The Court later ruled that the law firm and a real estate brokerage company had violated the consumer protection act, (Mass. Gen. Laws Chapter 93A), and awarded our clients double damages and attorneys fees.

- obtained a judgment in the Land Court awarding the firm's client specific performance of an agreement for the purchase and sale of an historic residence on Nantucket. The Court found that the Seller had not used reasonable efforts to remove a federal tax lien and ordered the property conveyed to our client free from the lien.

- obtained a judgment in the Land Court on behalf of the owner of valuable undeveloped land near Dionis Beach on Nantucket. Over the objection of a neighbor, the Court found that the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals did not err in finding the premises entitled to grandfathered status and therefore suitable for the construction of a single family home.

Mr. Fitch's reported appellate decisions run the gamut of complex civil matters; examples are Latino PAC, Inc. v. City of Boston, 716 F.2d 68 (1st Cir. 1983), stay denied, 463 U.S. 1319 (1983), (election enjoined because districts violated one person, one vote), Heghnian v. Parexel International Corp., 2003 WL 25586579 (1st Cir. 2003)(upholding dismissal of employment discrimination claims), FDIC v. Elio, 39 F.3d 1239 (1st Cir. 1994) (appointment of trustee in fraudulent conveyance), McCord v. Jet Spray International Corp., 874 F.Supp. 436 (1994)(enforcement of foreign judgment), Conte v. Marine Lumber Co., Inc., 66 Mass. App. Ct. 505 (2006), Rev. Denied, 447 Mass. 1109 (Sept. 11, 2006)(claims of estoppel by deed and adverse possession defeated) and Poddell v. Lahn, 38 Mass. App. Ct. 688 (1995) (methodology for determining common area allocations). His publications include "The Enforcement of Foreign Money Judgments in Massachusetts," 81 Mass. Law Review 65 (1996).

Mr. Fitch is admitted to practice in State and Federal Courts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.