Kevin G. Kenneally is a Partner in Freeman Mathis & Gary’s Boston office. He has a demonstrated track record of success in high stakes trials, mediation and litigation management, including as monitoring counsel and settlement counsel for national and international carriers. He has extensive experience in complex litigation, mediation and jury trials in products liability, Directors and Officers (D&O) and commercial litigation, catastrophic tort, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and explosion and burns cases. Mr. Kenneally handles mass tort and catastrophic accidents involving medical devices, common carriers, vessels and construction site accidents. He is a lead counsel and co-chair of the PFAS national practice teams. He brings over 25 years of local and national experience in complex litigation including multi-district mass tort and class action litigation. Mr. Kenneally is a national counsel for exposure and products liability matters and represents an international franchisor. He repeatedly has been recognized as one of Massachusetts outstanding defense trial and business lawyers, including selection by Super Lawyers for Business Litigation for over 15 consecutive years. He also has been recognized on four occasions by his peers, including for 2022, as “Lawyer of the Year” in Insurance Law, in 2021 and prior years as Class Actions and Mass Torts “Lawyers of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America, and has been selected for Best Lawyers in several practice areas, including Commercial Litigation; Insurance Litigation; Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions–Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation–Defendants; and Product Liability Litigation–Defendants.

Mr. Kenneally is an experienced trial lawyer and a national counsel for clients in toxic exposure litigation.  He handles the defense of complex, multiparty litigation, class actions and federal court MultiDistrict Litigation (MDL). Mr. Kenneally is a leader of the firm’s PFAS Litigation Team, Life Sciences Team chair and Class Action Team chair. He is a lead counsel for the firm’s client in the MDL alleging Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) caused injuries arising from fire-fighting equipment and fire-suppressing foam that is consolidated and pending in Charleston, South Carolina federal court, known as the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) MDL.

Mr. Kenneally has tried cases throughout New England involving catastrophic injuries, including wrongful death and brain injury cases arising in the health care setting, pharma products liability and medical equipment or devices. He handles high-exposure vehicle and construction site accidents including claims involving construction equipment, cranes, scaffolding accidents and scaffold failures. He represents professional liability matters, including defense of lawyers, mental health professionals, nursing homes and health care providers.  His clients include manufacturers, tech and biotech companies, public and private transportation companies, construction contractors or subcontractors and schools and non-profit entities. He also has significant experience in the investigation and trial of fires and gas or chemical explosion claims, including with fire suppression and detection systems involving catastrophic property loss.

Mr. Kenneally handles and has recent successful trials for business owners, academics and scientists, and corporate executives involving allegations of intellectual property ownership and misappropriation, “co-inventorship” of patented medical instruments/products, defamation, digital media and “false light” reputational harm, invasion of privacy and abuse of process.

Mr. Kenneally’s litigation practice also includes antitrust cases, directors and officer’s (D&O) liability, shareholder derivative suits, Intellectual property theft, restrictive covenant cases, copyright disputes, internal investigations, partnership disputes, TCPA class claims, FDCPA suits and breach of fiduciary duty cases. He advises insurers and monitors litigation and coverage issues across the U.S. on CGL, healthcare, pharma and professional liability providers. He serves as national coordinating counsel for products liability and high exposure claims for a major European production equipment manufacturer and a U.S.-based Fortune 500 corporation. He has handled commercial arbitrations under AAA, ICDR, and FINRA rules.

Mr. Kenneally has lectured throughout the country on trial tactics, litigation strategies and a variety of other topics. He is an editor of Traps for the Unwary, now in its 6th Edition, the attorney risk management publication of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He served as a Trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and is a Life Fellow and a Louis D. Brandeis Fellow of the Foundation.

Massachusetts

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

• PFAS detections on Nantucket “extremely concerning”
• EPA announces future plans regarding PFAS in drinking water
• Microplastics in consumer products: Emerging litigation risks for household brands

• American Bar Association
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• Arbitration Committee of the Boston Stock Exchange (Former Member)
• Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF): Board of Trustees (Former Member)

•  2023-2026 editions of The Best Lawyers in America^®
• Recognized by Best Lawyers© 2022 Lawyer of the Year in Insurance Law
• Recognized by Best Lawyers in America®, 2021 Edition in the fields of Commercial Litigation, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Named Best Lawyers’ 2021, 2017 and 2015 Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants “Lawyer of the Year” for Boston, MA
• Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “Local Litigation Star” for General Commercial Litigation and Product Liability, 2016-2026
• Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “Litigation Star” in Massachusetts, Benchmark Litigation Magazine, 2012 – 2015
• Recognized as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine in the areas of Business Litigation, Class Action/Mass Torts, and Professional Liability: Defense, 2004 – 2025
• Listed in the “Boston’s Best Lawyers” supplement to the Boston Sunday Globe, 2008 – 2009