Alan D. Rose founded Rose Law Partners (then Rose & Associates) in 1995 and is the firm’s Managing Partner. He represents clients in a wide variety of civil litigation matters and defends individuals and companies in governmental and regulatory investigations and prosecutions. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Alan has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine and is listed in Best Lawyers in America® since 1995, for his expertise in Commercial Litigation, Education Law, Bet-the-Company Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense, and Labor and Employment Litigation. From 2002 to 2006, he served by appointment of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on the Board of Bar Overseers, including serving as its Chairman from 2005 to 2006. In June 2011, the First Circuit Court of Appeals appointed him Chair of the First Circuit Rules Advisory Committee. In 2014, he served as a member of the United States District Court’s Merit Selection Panel for Magistrate Judges. He is also a member of the SJC's Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluation.
Alan has tried over 50 cases to verdict in state and federal courts in Massachusetts and argued more than 30 appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court. He has handled leading cases in many substantive areas of the law. He has also represented major political figures and leading business people in the defense of governmental investigations into fraud, securities fraud, and corruption and has represented corporations, non-profits, and witnesses in internal corporate and federal grand jury investigations. He also negotiates separation and severance agreements for high-level corporate and financial executives. He has testified in state and federal court as an expert witness on ethical issues.
Alan represents and advises colleges and universities in a wide variety of matters, including faculty and student matters, tenure denials and revocations, and general commercial litigation. He has handled matters for many Boston-area universities and other institutions in New England and has represented numerous university presidents, trustees, deans, provosts, tenure committees, and department chairs. He has overseen and advised on Title IX investigations and is a member of Harvard Law School's Adjudicatory panel on sexual harassment cases.
On April 9, 2013, at the conclusion of a three-week trial, a federal jury returned verdicts for Rose Law Partners’ hospital clients in a False Claims Act case alleging research misconduct. On March 16, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the jury verdict. This is one of the few cases involving alleged research misconduct ever tried to a jury.
Alan and his wife Janet live in Wellesley, where they raised their son and five daughters.
Alan was a member of the Winsor School Corporation and is a former President of City Mission Society in Boston.
Experience
- Rose Law Partners (formerly Rose & Associates) (1995 through present)
- Nutter, McClennen & Fish, Associate (1980 to 1985), Partner (1985 to 1995) and Litigation Department Head (1991-94)
- Assistant United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts, Fraud and Corruption Unit (1975 to 1980)
- Law Clerk, Hon. W. Arthur Garrity, Jr., United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1972 to 1973)
- Harvard Law School, Lecturer on Federal Litigation (1980 to 1982)
- Joint Bar Committee on Judicial Appointments (1990 to 92), Vice Chair (1991 to 1992)
- Special Assistant Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1993)
- Special Assistant Attorney General, State of Washington (1992)
- Board of Bar Overseers (Member, 2002 to 2006; Chair, 2005 to 2006)
HONORS & AWARDS
- Best Lawyers in America® (since 1995)
- Commercial Litigation
- Bet-the-Company Litigation
- White Collar Criminal Defense
- Education Law
- Best Lawyers’ 2013 Boston Education Lawyer of the Year
- Best Lawyers’ 2010 Boston Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers®, Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts
- General Litigation
- White Collar Criminal Defense
- Employment Litigation
- AV® Rated (highest level of ability and ethics) by Martindale-Hubbell®
Representative Engagements
Alan has represented, among many others, the following in the past few years:
- CEO, CFO, and General Counsel of one of the largest publicly traded corporations in Massachusetts in a stock options backdating matter involving a federal grand jury and SEC investigation
- 26 current and former directors and officers of a publicly traded software company in shareholder derivative litigation involving stock options backdating
- Executive of a Big Dig contractor in federal and state grand jury investigations and related civil litigation
- Issuer of securities in a precedent-setting matter involving application of the SEC’s unaccredited investor rule
- Hospitals and research institutions in qui tam litigation under the federal False Claims Act
- Law firms in legal malpractice and discrimination matters
- Scores of executives in severance negotiations with financial services companies
- Colleges and universities in disputes and claims by students, faculty members, and administrators
- An FBI Supervisory Special Agent in 11 cases brought under the federal Tort Claims Act relative to the government’s informant program
- A United States District Judge in a matter under the federal Tort Claims Act
- A federal court of appeals in a dispute with a judge of a lower court
- Public officials in matters before the State Ethics Commission
- Managers of a real estate developer in claims by tenants
Court & Bar Associations
- Massachusetts
- United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- Unites States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- United States Court of Claims
- United States Supreme Court
Bar & Professional Associations
- American College of Trial Lawyers
- Boston Bar Association
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- National Association of College and University Attorneys
EDUCATION
- Harvard College, B.A., cum laude
- London School of Economics, M. Sc.
- Virginia Law School, J.D.; Notes Editor, Virginia Law Review
