Lawrence P. Heffernan has focused his practice on litigation in the real estate, title insurance, banking, and commercial arenas. Larry has 45 years of trial and appellate experience in cases involving complex real estate issues, development, mortgage, fraud, insurance coverage, banking, and commercial disputes. He has represented a wide range of clients, including developers, property owners, landlords, lessors, lessees, title insurance companies, and banks. He served as chair of our firm’s Real Estate Litigation and Title Insurance team.
Real Estate Litigation
Larry has handled litigation of commercial and residential real property rights, including disputes related to ownership, leasing, development, land use, condominiums and waterfront rights. He has also assisted clients with appeals of zoning decisions. He has obtained positive results for numerous clients, such as securing an expedited judgment defeating a challenge to the development of a hotel in the Seaport District. Larry also obtained a favorable judgment after trial for a large group of homeowners in a dispute with a neighboring municipality over the location of a subdivision boundary and town line.
Title Insurance Litigation
Larry has represented title insurance companies in litigation of all aspects of title insurance coverage, from exclusions to loss to insured closing letters and extracontractual claims. He has also been retained by title insurance companies to defend insured owners and lenders in establishing the validity and priority of their interests. Larry obtained a trial judgment affirming both title and boundaries for a 120-acre subdivision in a case which marshalled over a century’s worth of complex title records and boundary evidence. In a case challenging the existence and validity of a multi-million dollar condominium complex, he persuaded the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to overturn an Appeals Court’s ruling and affirm a condominium developer’s retention of the right to remove land from a condominium development.
Banking Litigation
Larry has assisted banks, lenders and financial institutions with litigation, including disputes related to mortgages and foreclosures, predatory lending, fraud, and checking and wire transfers. He defeated a class certification in a putative class action against law firms and major mortgage lenders for allegedly wrongful foreclosures, which protected clients from tens of millions of dollars in potential exposure for more than 9,000 foreclosures. His successes also include dismissal of a regional bank from a multi-district class action for hundreds of millions of dollars in an alleged Ponzi scheme.
Larry has frequently spoken about real estate, title insurance, and banking litigation matters before bar and business groups across the country. He has written regularly on these topics, and he has contributed to our firm’s Massachusetts Appellate Blog. Larry serves on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Greater Boston Legal Services, which provides civil legal assistance to the disadvantaged in the Boston area.
In 2023, Larry was inducted into the the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame.
