John DeRosa | Estate Planning

John B. DeRosa Law Offices

John DeRosa | John B. DeRosa Law Offices

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Firm Summary

Education
Boston College Law School, Boston, Massachusetts
LL.B. – 1966
Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts
B.A. – 1963

Areas of Practice
Estate Planning, Estate Administration, Tax Planning, and Probate Law
Public Law and Tax Exempt Organizations
Real Estate Law
Business Law Including Sophisticated Commercial Transactions

Bar Admissions
Massachusetts, 1967
U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 1982
U.S. Supreme Court, 1998
U.S. Tax Court, 1997

Professional Associations
Massachusetts Bar Association, Member
Berkshire Bar Association, Member
Boston Bar Association, Member
Massachusetts Bar Foundation, Member

Honors and Awards
Honorary Doctor of Laws-Massachusetts College of Liberal Art
Francis Hayden Award
Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award

Past Employment Positions
Donovan O’Connor & Dodig, LLP, Senior Counsel, 2015 – 2019
DeRosa Dohoney, LLP, Managing Partner, 2011 – 2014
Freedman, DeRosa and Rondeau, Founding Partner, 1976 – 2011

A diverse and seasoned practitioner, Attorney DeRosa has been serving clients in Berkshire County for over fifty years. His clients have been from every social and economic demographic, and he has provided services across a broad range of legal disciplines, including in his earlier years, a litigation practice, civil and criminal.

His estate and tax planning practice include representing high net-worth clients and planning complex estates. He also serves as trustee of a private charitable trust.

His decades of practice in the area of Public Law include extensive work in the area of public-private contracts, the relationship between non-profit and for profit corporations, the drafting and securing of the passage of state legislation, and other work with government leaders and agencies at the local, state, and federal level. Among other things, he was the primary author of a series of complex legal agreements between the public and private entities that created and govern the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Attorney DeRosa has also served as counsel to MASS MoCA since its inception. He has also served as general counsel to several community and economic development organizations in Northern Berkshire.

His past litigation practice included appearances in all State and Federal Courts with an emphasis in Criminal Defense, including argument before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Attorney DeRosa prevailed in the case of Commonwealth v Moran, reported at 387 Mass 644, which he argued before Massachusetts’ highest court and which became the leading case on the law of felony murder and established new law in Massachusetts regarding a co-defendant’s constitutional right to a separate trial.

Regarding public and municipal law, Attorney DeRosa served as City Solicitor for the City of North Adams for over thirty-five years and served as Town Counsel to several municipalities throughout the Berkshires and Western Massachusetts, including representing the City of Pittsfield for five years. In these representations, he has opined extensively on municipal ordinances and zoning by laws.

His real estate and business law practice include representing individuals and businesses in real estate and commercial transactions, including services to start-up businesses regarding corporate structures and organization. Attorney DeRosa also serves as general counsel to GCAM 2 LLC, a global cultural asset management company.

Further, Attorney DeRosa’s legal experience has been enhanced by his volunteerism and community service. He twice was the recipient of the Francis H. Hayden award for outstanding community service to Berkshire County, and the recipient of the Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Attorney DeRosa has long been active in numerous local civic and charitable organizations, including the Northern Berkshire United Way and the local Chamber of Commerce. He was instrumental in keeping the North Adams SteepleCats baseball team in North Adams and served as its President from 2004 to 2010. He is currently the President of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of North Adams Partnership, Inc., a nonprofit economic development organization he founded with Mary Grant, then President of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Joseph Thompson, Executive Director of MASS MoCA.