Best Boston Criminal Defense Lawyer

best Boston criminal defense lawyer

Jack Cunha

Jack Cunha is recognized as a preeminent best Boston criminal defense lawyer, by both national and local attorney-ranking organizations:
  • he is a SuperLawyer®, an honor for which he had to be nominated by other criminal defense lawyers
  • he holds an AV Preeminent Rating, the top ranking in both Professional Ability and Ethics, from the leading nationally-recognized authority, Martindale Hubbell Legal Directory
  • he is rated “10.0 Superb”, the top rating of Avvo.com, which rates 97% of all United States lawyers
  • in 2013, Jack was named a “Lawyer of the Year” by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
  • Jack is consistently listed as a leading Criminal Defense Attorney, White Collar Crime, in Boston Magazine’s annual review.

+++++Jack Cunha focuses on litigation, trial and appellate, primarily as a criminal defense lawyer, but also as a personal injury and civil rights litigator. View Jack’s profile on LinkedIn.
+++++He practices in Massachusetts, New York, the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
+++++Jack successfully represents clients charged with a broad variety of offenses, ranging from murder and complex federal crimes, to drunk driving and domestic assault, to extricating kids charged with unthinking juvenile offenses, mistakes that could effect their whole lives.
+++++For ten years, as a part-time clinical instructor while a full-time lawyer, Jack taught and guided Harvard Law School students representing clients in Massachusetts criminal cases, much to the distress of many prosecutors.

What It Takes To Win

+++++In one of two federal RICO cases in which he secured Not Guilty verdicts, United States v. Green, it meant successfully challenging at trial “ballistics” evidence in federal court that had been accepted in American courts for over a hundred years, preventing government “experts” from linking his client to an attempted murder by claiming they “matched” shells at the scene to a handgun attributed to his client.
+++++In Commonwealth v. Patterson, it meant persuading the Supreme Judicial Court to exclude bogus “simultaneous” fingerprints, the key evidence in a case alleging the murder of a Boston police detective. Jack’s client is now a free man and a productive member of society.
+++++These are but two examples of the creative, unrelenting defenses that have led Jack to be known as a best Boston criminal defense lawyer.

Defense Against the Power of the State

+++++Jack is a nationally known expert in a number of forensic evidence disciplines – he lectures, for example, at the National Institute of Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Federal Defender multi-day national training seminars, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, and various Massachusetts and national Continuing Legal Education programs, on criminal defense in general and forensic evidence in particular.
+++++Jack is equally adept as a trial and appellate attorney. He has tried hundreds of cases, and secured Not Guilty verdicts in the Superior Court, state district courts and federal District Court. He represents clients with great success in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
+++++Jack is frequently called upon to comment on important cases and criminal law issues of great public interest, locally and nationally, in the media – television, radio and newspapers (visit our Media Page for television clips).
+++++Jack served as President of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from 2009-2011, and since 1995 a member of its Board of Directors.

With Liberty at Risk, Call the Best Boston Criminal Defense Lawyer

+++++Call 617-523-4300 for an appointment or contact Attorney Jack Cunha directly: cunha@cunhaholcomb.com

Areas Of Practice
  • Criminal Defense
  • Federal & White Collar Crimes
  • Murder & Crimes of Violence
  • Drug & Weapon Possession
  • Domestic Violence
  • Appeals
  • Personal Injury — Plaintiff
Litigation Percentage
  • 100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation, trial and appellate
  • Bar Admissions
    • Massachusetts, 1977
    • New York, 1986
    • United States Supreme Court, 1998
    • United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1982
    • United States 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, 1983
    Education
    • Boston College Law School, Newton, Massachusetts
      • Juris Doctor (J.D.) – 1977
    • Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
      • A.B., Magna Cum Laude – 1973
    Professional Associations & Memberships
    • Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
      • President, 2009-2011
      • Board of Directors, 1995 – Present
    • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
    • Boston Bar Association
    Languages
    • French
    Past Employment Positions
    • Massachusetts Defenders Committee, Staff Attorney
      • September 1, 1977 – September 30, 1979
    • Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, Prosecuting Attorney
      • October 1, 1979 – August 31, 1981
    • Harvard Law School, Clinical Instructor
      • September 1, 1985 – June 30, 1995
    • Suffolk Law School, Clinical Instructor
      • September 1, 1982 – June 30, 1985