Hon. Cheryl Jacques (Ret.) Mediator/Arbitrator

Cheryl Jacques has over 35 years of experience communicating with people from all walks of life. She brings expert-level negotiation skills to the table, beyond simply resolving conflict, Cheryl has rendered written legal decisions resolving disputes.

An experienced trial attorney, Cheryl has litigated criminal and civil cases in the district, superior and federal court, as well as argued cases before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Most recently, Cheryl served as an Administrative Judge at the Department of Industrial Accidents where she adjudicated hundreds of workers’ compensation cases. Cheryl frequently mediated worker’s compensation cases, helping parties find successful resolutions to complicated situations.

After serving as an Assistant District Attorney and Assistant Attorney General, Cheryl was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate and appointed chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. She negotiated daily, in amicable and adversarial situations, to pass laws related to the judiciary, crimes, penalties, sentencing, victim’s rights, consumer protection, civil rights and judges. After serving 12 years in the Senate, she was selected to lead The Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization. There, she successfully built coalitions of activists and lawmakers leading the lobbying effort to defeat passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment (which would have changed the United States Constitution to ban same sex marriage.)

For over a decade Cheryl served as Of Counsel to the Boston law firm, Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten, a full-service civil litigation firm. Cheryl’s practice area in State and Federal court included:

• Personal injury
• Insurance defense
• Workers’ compensation
• Employment law
• Municipal liability
• Labor law
• Victim’s rights
• Premises liability
• Civil rights
• Family disputes
• Landlord/tenant
• Contract disputes
• Eminent Domain 
• Condominiums
• Consumer Fraud
• Divorce
• Legal malpractice
• Product liability
• Fee disputes
• Civil litigation
• Criminal litigation

A member of the faculty at Suffolk University Law School for close to a decade, Cheryl currently serves on the faculty at Western New England Law School and The University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management.