Bronwyn L. Roberts handles employment matters for clients ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 100 companies. She has a broad-based practice in the area of employment, helping clients to minimize risk and resolve disputes through practical employment solutions and, when necessary, litigation. She has conducted numerous high-profile, sensitive investigations of employee misconduct and disloyalty, and she has helped guide employers through difficult resolutions.
Bronwyn represents technology and life sciences businesses in employment litigation matters, including the defense of employment discrimination cases, restrictive covenant litigation, wrongful discharge cases, wage and hour claims, employment contract matters, and trade secret and noncompetition cases. She is a first chair trial lawyer with extensive courtroom experience, and she regularly appears before state and federal courts, as well as the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, for which she is an advisory board member advising the Governor and the Commission on policy matters.
Bronwyn counsels businesses on employment matters, including the preparation of human resource policies, hiring and recruiting, wage and hour compliance, worker classification, mobility issues, whistleblower allegations, discrimination, harassment and reductions in force. Bronwyn regularly conducts, directs and advises on workplace investigations. She also provides corporate training on various employment issues.
Bronwyn is a member of the Labor and Employment Law and Commercial Litigation sections of the Boston Bar Association. She is a 1997 cum laude graduate of Suffolk University Law School and a graduate of Tufts University.
Representative Matters
Partnering with experienced in-house counsel at large companies to manage employment-related issues
Working with small companies and startups to implement employment policies and procedures to protect intellectual property and knowledge capital
Managing internal c-suite investigations
Assisting firm clients with hiring, firing, performance management, and sensitive employee matters
Offering first chair defense of employment claims, including jury trials
Counseling clients on and litigating employee mobility issues, including enforcement of employee noncompete agreements upon termination and risk management relating to hiring
- Providing defense of government misclassification audits related to on-demand (gig economy) businesses
Performing pre-acquisition due diligence, negotiation and drafting of transaction agreements, and preparation of employment and retention agreements
Admissions
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Education
- Suffolk University Law School, J.D., 1997
- Tufts University, B.S., 1993
Experience
Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2007-2018; 2024-present
- Associate, 2000-2006- Cooley LLP
- Special Counsel, 2018-2024 - Lane Altman & Owens LLP, Boston, Massachusetts
- Associate, 1997-2000
Professional Activities
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD)
- Advisory Board, appointed by Governor Charles D. Baker, 2016-presentDuane Morris Women's Impact Network for Success
-Member- Boston Bar Association
Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts
Honors and Awards
- Listed in Lawdragon 500's Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers, 2025
Listed in Super Lawyers for Employment Litigation, 2013-2022, 2024
Named a Top 100 Attorney in Massachusetts by Super Lawyers, 2017
- Named a Top 50 Women Attorneys in New England by Super Lawyers, 2017
Named a Top 50 Women Attorneys in Massachusetts by Super Lawyers, 2014-2018
- Honoree, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly 2016 Top Women of Law
- Named a Massachusetts Rising Star in the field of employment litigation, 2005-2011
Civic and Charitable Activities
Member, Board of Overseers at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2016-2018
- Member, Board of Ambassadors for The Home for Little Wanderers, 2013-2018
- Member, Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Hearing Committees, 2010-2015
Selected Publications
- Co-author, "Massachusetts Catches the Pay Transparency Wave," Duane Morris Alert, August 2, 2024
- Presenter, "Employment Law in a Recession," Boston Bar Association webinar, May 15, 2023
- Presenter, 25th Annual Employment Law Conference 2022, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, December 2, 2022
- Chapter author, "Drafting Employment Documents in Massachusetts," Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2021
Co-author, "Massachusetts Legislature Adopts New Requirements for Noncompete Agreements," Duane Morris Alert, August 2, 2018
Author, "Big Changes for Massachusetts Employers This Summer: New State Paid Family and Medical Leave, Increased Minimum Wage and Curbing of Premium Sunday Retail Pay," Duane Morris Alert, July 9, 2018
Co-author, "Reminder for Massachusetts Employers: On April 1, 2018, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Is Scheduled for Delivery and Won't Be Late," Duane Morris Alert, March 22, 2018
Co-author, "Massachusetts' New Equal Pay Law: The Attorney General Weighs In," Duane Morris Alert, March 19, 2018
Quoted, "Weinstein Scandal Seen as Impacting Law Firm Culture," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, December 7, 2017
- Author, "Massachusetts Governor Baker Signs Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, to Go into Effect in 2018," Duane Morris Alert, August 2, 2016
- Co-author, "Employee's Unauthorized, Wholesale Copying of Company Data Ruled Insufficient to Terminate Employee for Cause," Duane Morris Alert, February 8, 2016
- Co-author, "Consider Making a New Year's Resolution to Protect Your Company's Confidential Information," Duane Morris Alert, December 22, 2015
- Author, "Paid Sick Leave Passes in Massachusetts," Duane Morris Alert, November 10, 2014
- Co-author, "The Applicability of the Massachusetts Wage Act Swells in June 2013," Duane Morris Alert, June 24, 2013
- Author, "Massachusetts Passes Legislation Curbing Use of Mandatory Overtime for Hospital Nurses," Duane Morris Alert, August 7, 2012
- Author, "The Devil Is in the Details: General Releases from Employees That Fail to Specifically Refer to Mass. Wage Act Are Insufficient to Release Wage Act Claims ," Duane Morris, January 11, 2013
- Co-author, "Massachusetts Passes Legislation Banning Employment Discrimination Based on Gender Identity Bias," Duane Morris Alert, December 7, 2011
- Co-author, "The Changing Landscape of Competition Law: MA Noncompete Bill Re-Filed," AGC of Massachusetts Newsletter, February 11, 2011
- Co-author, "Reminder: Review Employment Application Forms by November 4, 2010, for Compliance with "Ban the Box" Legislation in Massachusetts," Duane Morris Alert, October 1, 2010
- Co-author, "New Massachusetts Law Requires Employee Notification for Negative Materials Placed in Personnel Records," Duane Morris Alert, September 20, 2010
- Co-author, "You Can't Always Get What You Want (In Physician Medical Records Custody Disputes)," The Journal of Medical Practice Management, March/April 2010
- Chapter Co-author, "Drafting Employment Documents in Massachusetts," Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., 2010
- Co-author, "Developing Emotional Intelligence to Avoid Traps in a Litigation Practice," The Woman Advocate, Summer 2008
- Author, "Men Are Now Eligible for Maternity Leave Benefits in Massachusetts," Duane Morris Alert, June 17, 2008
- Co-author, "The Morning After: Employment Law and Sarbanes-Oxley," Boston Bar Journal, November/December 2003
- Chapter Author, "How to Hire and Fire in 96 Jurisdictions," Multilaw