Bio

Chris Duggan loves courtrooms. He is one of the most active trial and appellate lawyers in Massachusetts. He has tried more than 75 cases to jury verdict in federal and state courts across Massachusetts and in several other New England states. His clients include publicly traded and privately held companies, insurers and reinsurers, and individuals in complex, large risk litigation across a broad variety of matters including product liability, premises liability, professional malpractice, aviation, insurance coverage disputes and other high profile, media sensitive matters. Ironically, his love for trying cases often results in quicker resolution of cases that can be settled, much to his personal dismay. Chris regularly appears for consumer product manufacturers and large retailers in matters across New England. He has won verdicts for clients in several states in cases involving the design and manufacture of power tools, industrial products, hand tools, electronic sensors and consumer appliances. In these cases, a thorough knowledge of science, design principles and industry standards is critical, and the ability to translate those concepts to a jury is central to achieving favorable outcomes. Chris’s aviation practice includes representing a Part 139 certified airport and FBOs throughout Massachusetts for over two decades. He has represented aircraft manufacturers and manufacturers of component parts in high stakes litigation involving alleged defects in both fixed wing and rotocraft accidents. He also has successfully litigated cases involving interpretation of aviation insurance policies, including a recent precedent-setting decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Chis is a trusted and experienced appellate advocate. He has argued over 25 cases in several federal and state appellate courts. An avid historian, Chris enjoys representing universities, museums and collectors in cases involving authenticity and title to works of art and historic artifacts. Recently, he prevailed in a case tried in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for an owner of a highly coveted Civil War Tiffany presentation sword that had been stolen from a museum and appeared almost four decades later in the possession of a noted Virginia collector. The case garnered national interest among museums and collectors of art and historic artifacts. Chris is an active member of several bar associations. He is the national Secretary for the American Board of Trial Advocates, an organization of trial lawyers whose mission is to preserve the Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury trial, foster courtroom excellence and promote civility and professionalism among trial lawyers across the country. Membership to ABOTA is by invitation only. He served as the Massachusetts Chapter President for two years and has been on the national Board of Directors since 2008. He created the James Otis Lecture Series, now in its eighth year, in which scholars, judges and lawyers present a free program on law or legal history on Constitution Day to high school students. The program has since been duplicated across the country. Chris was selected by the Supreme Judicial Court to serve on the SJC Civil Rules Advisory Committee in 2009, and is currently serving in his second term. In that capacity, he helped craft the new Electronic Discovery Rules adopted by the Supreme Judicial Court to be implemented in 2014. Chris was elected to membership in the International Society of Barristers and the Litigation Counsel of America. He has held a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating since 1990, and is listed in Best Lawyers of America. He was elected to membership in the International Association of Defense Counsel in 1999, and taught trial advocacy at the prestigious IADC Trial College at Stanford in Palo Alto. He is a regular participant in programs run by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). He has been a member of the Defense Research Institute since 1984. Chris founded Smith Duggan with Scott Smith in 1989. Beginning with two lawyers, the Firm now has 20 practicing attorneys. The Firm’s lawyers have appeared in almost every state and have represented clients in several foreign jurisdictions.

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