Michael H. Hayden

Michael is a partner in the Boston office of Morrison Mahoney and has practiced with the firm for more than 20 years. He concentrates his practice in the area of professional liability, specifically the defense of non-medical professionals including lawyers, architects, engineers, insurance agents, real estate brokers and appraisers. His practice also focuses on retail litigation, product liability, liquor liability/dram shop law, transportation law and environmental law.

Michael’s practice has also grown to include insurance coverage, Medicare law and the representation of licensed professionals and citizens before state administrative boards and agencies.  For the last seven years, Michael has also represented a group of local citizens in their opposition to the construction and operation of a large fossil fuel powered facility in a densely populated urban area, with appeals taken before the Massachusetts Superior Court, Massachusetts Appeals Court, First Circuit Court of Appeals and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Michael has tried cases to defense verdicts in Massachusetts state and federal court and in Maine state court.  He has also successfully argued before the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Appellate Division of the Massachusetts District Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

In April 2024, Michael was elected as President-Elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association, with his term beginning September 1, 2024, after serving as Vice President of the Massachusetts Bar Association from September 2023-September 2024, as Treasurer of the Massachusetts Bar Association from September 2022-September 2023 and as Secretary of the Massachusetts Bar Association from September 2021-September 2022.  Michael also served on the MBA’s Executive Management Board and as chair of the MBA’s Judicial Administration Section Council from 2018 to 2021. In 2017 and 2018, he was a member of the section’s Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Diversity, which successfully introduced a resolution at the MBA’s House of Delegates supporting efforts to increase diversity in the court system.  At Morrison Mahoney, Michael has chaired the firm’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee from 2021-2023.  He also carries a special interest in the history of law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has collaborated in the publication of an historical chronicle of one of the Commonwealth’s most esteemed colonial lawyers, Josiah Quincy, Jr.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

• Defense Judgment, Norfolk Superior Court, 2024:  Successful motion for summary judgment on behalf of client/attorney in legal malpractice action seeking $650,000 in damages
• Defense Verdict, Wareham District Court (MA), 2023:  Successful defense of summary process eviction on behalf of commercial tenant after 3-day bench trial
• Judgment on the Pleadings, Norfolk Superior Court, 2022:  G.L. c. 30A, § 14 decision vacating G.L. c. 91 Waterways license and remanding back to MassDEP for further consideration
• Appeals Court Decision, Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2019:  Rule 12 motion to dismiss decision in favor of client/attorney in legal malpractice action affirmed on appeal
• Defense Verdict, Barnstable Superior Court (MA), January 2018:  Successful defense of seven-figure engineering malpractice claim after 9-day jury trial
• Defense Verdict, Salem Superior Court (MA), 2012:  Successful defense of construction accident claim after 4-day jury trial
• Appeals Court Decision, Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2010:  Summary judgment decision in favor of client/attorney in legal malpractice action affirmed on appeal
• Defense Verdict, Penobscot Superior Court (ME), 2009:  Successful defense of seven-figure insurance bad faith claim after 5-day jury trial

• President-Elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association (2024-25)
• Vice President of the Massachusetts Bar Association (2023-24)
• Treasurer of the Massachusetts Bar Association (2022-23)
• Secretary of the Massachusetts Bar Association (2021-22)
• Chair, Judicial Administration Section Council, Massachusetts Bar Association (2018-21)
• Chair, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Morrison Mahoney LLP (2021-2023)