Benjamin Brooks

Benjamin Brooks is a trial and appellate attorney specializing in criminal defense. Before joining Good Schneider Cormier & Fried, Mr. Brooks ran his own firm in Washington, D.C., and prior to that, he worked at Newman & Newman, P.C. in Boston, Massachusetts, and as a public defender for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS).

Mr. Brooks has been lead counsel in hundreds of criminal cases in the district, superior and federal courts Massachusetts as well as the District of Columbia Superior Court. He has successfully defended clients charged with armed robbery, armed assault with intent to kill, drug trafficking, and sex crimes, as well as tax evasion, wire fraud, and other serious felony and misdemeanor charges. Mr. Brooks’s appellate practice is similarly focused on clients convicted of serious felonies, including murder. In addition, Mr. Brooks regularly represents clients in other post-conviction and collateral proceedings, including probation violation hearings, motions to revise and revoke sentences, sentence appeals, and appeals before the Sex Offender Registry Board. Mr. Brooks also represents professionals under investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office for both criminal and civil violations, and professionals before various licensing boards, including medical registration boards and the Board of Bar Overseers.

Mr. Brooks’ recent successes include an acquittal after trial of a client charged with a near fatal stabbing; the dismissal of all charges of cyber harassment upon a motion that successfully argued that the charges violated his client’s First Amendment rights; and the reduction of a sex offender’s classification level after an appeal before the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB). In addition, Mr. Brooks recently litigated the appeal in Gardner v. United States, 140 A.3d 1172 (2016) which resulted an important ruling limiting the scope of allowable testimony by firearms experts at trial.

Member

Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL); Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) post-conviction panel; Suffolk Lawyers for Justice.

Other Experience

Legal internships at the Office of Public Advocacy, Anchorage, Alaska; Lurie and Krupp, LLP; Kopelman & Paige, P.C.; and the United States Attorney’s Office, Boston; Teaching Assistant for Constitutional Law at Northeastern University School of Law.