Roderick "Eric" MacLeish (born October 31, 1952)[1] is a lawyer known for representing hundreds of sexual abuse victims in the Boston area during the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal[2] while he was a Boston-based partner of Greenberg Traurig, a Miami-based law firm. His clients included those abused by Paul Shanley.[3]
MacLeish started representing victims of clergy abuse in 1992 in a case involving former Fall River, Massachusetts priest James Porter, who was accused of molesting 68 children in southeastern Massachusetts and ultimately sent to prison.[4]
After the priest abuse cases, MacLeish stopped practicing law. He returned in 2011 and took on cases involving inadequate patient care at Bridgewater State Hospital where patients had been sent to prolonged solitary confinement in violation of state law. MacLeish won a preliminary injunction in 2014 and went on to settle a class action lawsuit in 2014.[5]
In 2015, MacLeish reconnected with a former sex abuse client who had been sexually abused at St. George's School, which MacLeish had attended. MacLeish and his client attempted to have the school name the abuser, former athletic trainer Al Gibbs, and send a letter to alumni. When the school resisted, the client went public in The Boston Globe.[6] More victims came forward and the school ultimately agreed to a well-publicized settlement.[7]
MacLeish has continued to represent victims of sexual abuse at private schools, camps and other institutions since the St. George's case. Commencing in 2019, MacLeish began representing victims of domestic violence in restraining order cases without charging a fee.
In January 2002, MacLeish started the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, the only charity in New England to assist those who had lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks. Under MacLeish's leadership, the Fund raised millions of dollars for families, arranged social events for families, and provided programs ranging from grief counseling to financial planning.[8] The Fund still exists as of 2023, and MacLeish spoke at the Massachusetts State House on the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11.[9][10]
MacLeish clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro. From 2002 to 2004, he was the lead counsel when his law firm represented over 300 people in the Boston priest scandal.[2] He also represented a claimant that they were sexually abused by a Milton Academy teacher.[12]
The National Law Journal once name him one of the top trial attorneys in the US.[14] In 2016, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named MacLeish a "Lawyer of the Year" for his work on behalf of sexual abuse victims in private schools.[15]
He began teaching at Plymouth State University in 2006 before returning to the practice of law in 2011.
