Donald R. Frederico
Partner
Don Frederico leads Pierce Atwood's class action defense practice, which has received a National Tier One ranking since 2017 in U.S. News-Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" reports. A senior trial attorney with more than three decades of courtroom experience, Don has represented defendants in a wide array of class actions in federal and state court, including in such areas as consumer fraud, product liability, labor and employment, environmental and toxic torts, antitrust, and civil RICO.
Don has represented clients in such industries as financial services, building products, retail, pharmaceuticals, automotive, food and beverage, petroleum, chemical manufacturing, health care, high technology, and higher education. He frequently publishes and lectures before national and local bar and industry organizations on topics including class action practice, and serves as editor and contributing author to the firm's class action blog, First Class Defense.
In addition to his representation of defendants in class action litigation, Don is available to serve as a mediator for class actions and other complex litigation. He has served as a court-appointed Special Discovery Master in complex commercial disputes, and is a past president of the Boston Bar Association. He began his career as a law clerk to United States District Judge Joseph L. Tauro in federal district court in Boston.
As a young attorney, Don was part of the successful trial team for one of the defendants in the lawsuit memorialized in the book and movie, "A Civil Action." He later served as lead national counsel with respect to class certification and Daubert motions for pharmaceutical companies in the "Fen-Phen" diet drug litigation, and served as lead class certification counsel for a Fortune 50 retailer in wage and hour lawsuits in various state and federal courts.
- Recognized by The National Law Review as a "Go To Thought Leader in Class Action Mediation," 2020
- Recognized by Chambers USA for Commercial Litigation
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants, 2013-present
- Recognized by Massachusetts Super Lawyers as a “Top-Rated Class Action & Mass Torts Attorney” in Boston (2004-2005 and 2007-present)
- Rated AV® Preeminent™ 5 out of 5 by Martindale-Hubbell
- Included among 26 attorneys for the Boston Business Journal's inaugural listing of "Who's Who in Legal Services" in March 2011
- Received the Founders Award for Tireless Efforts Against Environmental Racism, Alternatives for Community & Environment, 2003
- Member of Planning Committee and Instructor, ABA National Institute on Class Actions
- Subcommittee Co-chair, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee
- President, Boston Bar Association, 2010-2011
- Board of Trustees, Boston Bar Foundation, 2008-2014
- Board of Directors, New England Legal Foundation, 2007-2016
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Author, "The Arc of Class Actions: A View from the Trenches," 32 Loyola Consumer L. Rev. 266 (2020)
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Author, “The Conservative Case for Class Actions” Book Review – American Bar Association Class Actions and Derivative Suits Litigation Committee Newsletter, Spring 2020, Vol. 30 No. 3
- Co-author, First Circuit Chapter, in “2020 Survey of Federal Class Action Law: A U.S. Supreme Court and Circuit-by-Circuit Analysis,” ABA Publishing
- Co-author, Massachusetts Chapter, in A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions, Second Edition, ABA Publishing
- Executive Board of Directors, Cornell Law School Alumni Association, 2018-present
- Board of Trustees, College of Wooster: Chair, June 2017-present; Member, 2007-present
- Board of Trustees, African Indian Alliance: A Siddi Partnership, Inc., 2015-2018
- Council of Overseers, Huntington Theatre Company, 2007-2015
Practice Areas
- Served as lead trial counsel in remedy phase of ERISA class action on behalf of group life insurance company, and won the case on appeal in the First Circuit
- Defeated class certification in building products case alleging sales of defective decking
- Defeated class certification of tag-along cases in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act MDL
- Won summary judgment for internet marketing companies in consumer fraud class action
- Represents national bank in MDL proceedings involving consolidated checking account overdraft class actions
- Represents regional bank in federal overdraft fee class action
- Represented windows manufacturer in multiple building products class actions
- Represents auto insurer in Massachusetts "MedPay" class action
- Represented private equity firm in WARN Act class action.
- Represented Fortune 50 retailer in national defense of state and federal wage and hour class actions, defeating class certification in several jurisdictions
- Represented regional and national retailers in defense of FLSA and state law class actions alleging misclassification of store managers and assistant managers