Robert's practice is concentrated on white collar criminal defense and he has particular experience in high-profile criminal cases, forensic evidence, and the use of expert witnesses.

Previously, Robert served as a state prosecutor with the Office of the District Attorney for the Norfolk, Suffolk, and Middlesex Districts. During this time, he was director of the Civil Rights Unit and specialized in DNA-related homicide and felony cases. Robert's most notable cases tried to conviction include Commonwealth v. James Ferraro, in which a serial rapist was convicted on the strength of DNA evidence; Commonwealth v. John Tague, and Commonwealth v. Joseph Buckman, both of which resulted in first degree murder convictions. In 1999, he was appointed as special prosecutor in Commonwealth v. Jeffrey Bly, a case about the murder of Assistant Attorney General Paul McLaughlin.

Robert's concentration of cases as a state prosecutor involved technical/scientific evidence, such as forensic DNA, mental health issues, and expert witnesses. He is credited with winning one of the first temporary civil commitments under the state's recently enacted civil commitment procedure for sexually dangerous persons awaiting release from incarceration.

As an associate adjunct professor of Medicine in the School of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine, Robert is currently teaching Criminal Law I & II and Trial Testimonial Skills for Expert Witnesses to students in the master's program in Biomedical Forensics.

At Boston University's School of Law, he has taught a seminar for senior law students in American Law in Wartime, and served as a guest lecturer in trial advocacy and in a prosecutorial clinical program on evidentiary issues and expert witnesses. Additionally, Robert instructed a year-long weekly in-service training in the investigation and prosecution of criminal rights offenses for police officers at the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council.

Representative Matters

· Defended a corporate employee indicted by the US Justice Department in alleged fraud case involving Boston's Central Artery Project

· Coordinated previous firm's government relations strategy and general legal counsel in the permitting and application process of ethanol plant development project in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

· Defended a fraud suspect who cooperated with the government in its investigation of $40 million fraud on the class actions claims system and the federal district courts

· Represented corporate officers in various federal investigations in Massachusetts and Connecticut

· Successfully defended a high-ranking public safety official accused of criminal violations of Massachusetts's conflict of interest statute. Won denial of issuance of criminal complaints and then, after complaints issued on appeal, won a dismissal of all charges

· Successfully defended the general manager of a summer resort on Nantucket Island who was accused of date rape by a female employee

· Successfully defended a law student at the University of California Berkeley School of Law accused of plagiarism and resolved the matter with a warning rather than suspension or expulsion