LexisNexis Practice Guide: Massachusetts Civil Pretrial Practice

Raymond P. Ausrotas is a founding partner of Arrowood LLP in Boston, Massachusetts, with twenty-five years' experience litigating and trying cases.

Mr. Ausrotas has a diverse commercial and general litigation practice, representing individuals, shareholders and corporate officers, and governmental and business entities, in a broad variety of disputes (including in the non-compete and trade secret areas), and assisting with regulatory matters. He handles all manner of claims through trial and appeal, including those sounding in breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of confidential information, unfair trade, tortious interference, negligence and professional liability. Ray also helps his clients seek relief in alternative dispute resolution forums such as arbitration and mediation, and has performed internal and employment investigations on their behalf. Before co-founding Arrowood LLP, Ray was a partner at Todd & Weld LLP in Boston, and an associate attorney at Jackson & Campbell in Washington D.C.

Mr. Ausrotas has twice been trial counsel on "Top Ten" verdicts awarded for the year in Massachusetts. In 2019, working together with Ed Foye of Arrowood LLP, Ray was lead attorney on a complex jury trial involving both direct and derivative shareholder claims, sounding in breach of fiduciary duty. Following three weeks of evidence and testimony, the jury awarded a favorable $16 Million verdict, which was one of the "Top 10" awarded by a jury in Massachusetts in 2019—and the only business dispute among the Top 10. The result was summarily affirmed by the Appeals Court in an unpublished decision in September of 2021. In 2006, with Lisa Arrowood as first-chair (and their former colleague Nick Carter) Ray tried a six-week case which recovered $2 Million, the 10th largest jury verdict that year, on behalf of an autistic boy, against his school’s medical director, as well as various administrators and teachers, arising out of physical and emotional abuse.

Mr. Ausrotas has also been lead counsel on a number of reported decisions, including: Future St. Ltd. v. Big Belly Solar, LLC, 2020 U.S. Dist. 136999 (D. Mass. 2020); Techtarget, Inc. v. Spark Design, LLC, et al., 746 F. Supp. 2d 353 (D. Mass. 2010); and Confederate Motors, Inc. v. Terny, 859 F. Supp. 2d 181 (D. Mass. 2011). Mr. Ausrotas served as the Chair of the Civil Litigation Section for the Massachusetts Bar Association Section during its 2011–12 term. He is also a member of the American and Boston Bar Associations, and—as published in Boston magazine—was selected to the “Top 100” list for both New England and Massachusetts, each year, from 2014 through the present, by SuperLawyers, an independent peer-review rating service, in the area of Business Litigation. He had previously been named a “Rising Star” by that service in the area of General Litigation for many years. He was inducted as a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers, in 2015. Ray has also earned an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell® in the categories of Litigation and Business Law, the highest recognition achievable for professional ability and ethics from that organization. Since 2017, Mr. Ausrotas has been recognized annually by Best Lawyers®, a national peer review organization with an over thirty year history, in the areas of Commercial Litigation, and Litigation—Regulatory Enforcement, and in 2021 was recognized as "Lawyer of the Year for the Boston area in the latter category.

Ray has served multiple times as a Trial Advisor for the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School, as an adjunct faculty member on appellate practice at New England School of Law (now New England Law), and guest-lectured on admissibility of electronic evidence at Boston University Law School. He has written columns on legal issues for local newspapers, and authored several articles published in legal publications including on non-compete law in Massachusetts for the MBA and on deposition procedures for the ABA Section of Litigation. Ray has chaired and participated as a panel member on several CLE presentations on trial and litigation issues, and is also the lead author of Massachusetts Civil Pretrial Practice, a LexisNexis Practice Guide that has been published and regularly updated since 2012.

Prior to attending George Washington University Law School, Ray worked as an assistant cross country coach at Brown University, where he received his undergraduate degree, with honors, in English & American Literature. Immediately after college, he worked on both Congressional and Massachusetts legislative committees; his policy work was focused in the areas of science and technology, campaign finance, voter registration and ballot access, as well as ethics and conflict-of-interest laws.

Ray has often handled cases outside of Massachusetts in New England and several other locations and tribunals, including Delaware Chancery Court, the London Court of International Arbitration, and specialized business courts in North Carolina, Maine, and Georgia. Over his nearly 25 years of practice, he has built a network of trusted colleagues to assist on matters as local counsel in jurisdictions around the country, including California, Florida, Texas and New York. Mr. Ausrotas is admitted to practice in state and federal court in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Chapter 1: Justin J. Wolosz, Ropes & Gray LLP
Chapter 4: Charles M. Waters, Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green PA
Chapter 5: Richard E. Briansky, Prince Lobel Tye LLP
Chapter 6: Heidi A. Nadel, Todd & Weld LLP
Chapter 7: Damon M. Seligson, DiNicola, Seligson & Upton, LLP
Chapter 9: Charles M. Waters, Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green PA
Chapter 10: Neil G. McGaraghan, Bingham McCutchen LLP
Chapter 11: Jed DeWick, Arrowood Peters LLP