Education:

• J.D., New York University School of Law, 1998
• B.A., Boston College (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), 1993

Practice Areas:

• Business Litigation
• Employment Law
• Product Liability

Andrea Studley Knowles is a litigator with significant experience in a wide range of practice areas.  She currently focuses her practice on product liability defense, business litigation, and employment law.

Andrea's product liability practice focuses on the automotive and power tool industries.  Before joining SRBC, she was a litigation associate for five years at Goodwin Procter LLP, where she represented individuals and corporations in complex civil litigation matters, including pharmaceutical litigation and asbestos litigation.  

Andrea’s business litigation experience includes handling a variety of contract disputes on behalf of individuals and corporations, plaintiffs and defendants. She has also devoted substantial time to the defense of tort claims for major national retailers.  Her prior experience at Goodwin Procter also included extensive involvement in the defense of Indian land claims.

Andrea’s recent employment experience includes defending various state law causes of action and a wrongful termination claim based on the False Claims Act.

In addition to practicing in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts, Andrea has also handled matters before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Bureau of Special Education Appeals, and the State Ethics Commission. 

Andrea is also active in pro bono work and her recent pro bono activities include representing a civil rights organization in a housing discrimination matter and serving as a writing coach for Citizen Schools Eighth Grade Academy, a leading national after-school initiative.

While in law school, Andrea served as a student attorney in the New York University Federal Defender Clinic, representing indigent defendants and assisting in a felony assault trial and a death penalty case.  She also worked as a research assistant for Leslie Feiner in the preparation of The Whole Truth: Restoring Reality to Children’s Narrative in Long-Term Incest Cases, 87 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1385, 1997.

Recognition:

• Massachusetts Super Lawyers "Rising Stars" (Personal Injury Defense: Products), Boston magazine, 2007-2009

Memberships:

• Boston Bar Association 
• Board of Editors, Boston Bar Journal (Member 2007-)

Admissions:

• Massachusetts
• U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Related News:

October 28, 2009 -
Eight SRBC Attorneys Named Super Lawyers Rising Stars

Eight SRBC attorneys have been recognized as "Rising Stars" in the 2009 edition of Massachusetts Super Lawyers. The designation is given to the top up-and-coming lawyers in the state who are forty or younger, and have been practicing for ten years or fewer. This year’s list includes:

• Anthony V. Agudelo, General Litigation
• William F. Benson, Business Litigation
• Alisa Hacker, Family Law
• Andrea Studley Knowles, Personal Injury Defense: Products
• Andrew R. Levin, Business Litigation
• Shanel Lindsay, Business Litigation
• Serena D. Madar, Business Litigation
• Matthew C. Welnicki, Business Litigation

July 10, 2009 -
First Circuit: Debtor Can't Sue Its Bank for Mismanagement Under "Instrumentality" Theory
A third-party creditor of a defunct company may sometimes seek to hold the company's bank liable for contributing to its failure, by relying on a common-law "instrumentality" theory. Where permitted, such a theory allows direct recovery against a lender who asserts such extensive control over a borrower that the borrower becomes a mere business conduit of the lender. As SRBC's Natasha Lisman and Andrea Studley Knowles discuss in a new Law Alert, the First Circuit recently refused to apply an instrumentality theory in a case where the defunct borrower itself sought to hold its bank responsible for causing its failure by insisting that it hire an incompetent financial manager. The case is FAMM Steel, Inc. v. Sovereign Bank (1st Cir. Jun 12, 2009).

July 01, 2009 -
Employer Must Pay Discharged Employees for Unused Vacation Time
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently held that an employer violates the Massachusetts Wage Act when it fails to pay a discharged employee for unused vacation time. SRBC's Jean Musiker and Andrea Studley Knowles discuss the decision (Electronic Data Systems Corp. v. Attorney General (June 11, 2009)) in a new Law Alert.