Joan A. Lukey
Co-Chair - Complex Trial & Appellate Litigation
For more than thirty years, Joan Lukey has tried complex business litigation in state and federal courts nationwide. She has tried approximately 100 jury trials and a myriad of bench trials and arbitrations in all aspects of business disputes. In addition, she is an accomplished appellate lawyer, having argued approximately 60 federal and state appeals. For the past two years, she has been honored by Benchmark as one of the top 10 female litigators nationally.
Since 1983, Joan has been selected by her peers for each edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of business, bet-the-company, commercial, personal injury, employment and First Amendment litigation. She has also been routinely recognized for the last several years in Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a Band One Litigator.
Joan is a past President of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers, the first woman ever to hold this position. Before joining Choate in 2014, she was a partner at Ropes & Gray in the Complex Business Litigation Practice Group from 2008 until 2014, after almost thirty years as a partner at WilmerHale. She has served twice as a Massachusetts Special Assistant Attorney General and has written extensively on issues of Gubernatorial and Presidential Executive Privilege.
Awards
- Lawdragon 500 (2013-2023).
- Benchmark Litigation: National Litigation Star (2013-2023).
- Benchmark Litigation: Top 100 Trial Lawyers (2017-2023).
- Benchmark Litigation: Top Female Litigators (2015, 2018, 2019, 2022).
- The Legal 500's "Education" ranking (2021-2022)
- The Legal 500's "Leading Trial Lawyer" ranking (2016-2022).
- Chambers USA: Litigation - General Commercial (2003-2022).
- The Best Lawyers in America (1993-2023), listed under Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, First Amendment Law, Labor and Employment Law and Personal Injury Litigation.
- Acritas Stars: independently nominated by multiple clients as one of the most outstanding lawyers they have worked with, and is included in the Acritas Stars multinational, peer recommended lawyers database (2020).
- Massachusetts Lawyers "Circle of Excellence" (2020).
- Who’s Who Legal Litigation practice area (2017).
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers
- Has been listed among Boston Magazine's “Top 50 Female Massachusetts Super Lawyers” and as one of its “Fabulous 40,” a group of forty Bostonians celebrated for their career success and dynamic, unique personalities.
- Named one of the “35 influential judges and lawyers in Massachusetts of the past 35 years” and “Leaders in the Law” Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2013)
- "America's 50 Top Women Litigators,” National Law Journal.
- Named one of the most powerful attorneys in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts edition of the National Law Journal.
- Burton Award for Legal Achievement In Writing.
- Founders' Medal from Boston College Law School (2004).
- St. Thomas More Award from Boston College Law School (2003).
- Inducted into YWCA's Academy of Women Achievers (1996).
Publications and Presentations
An accomplished writer, Ms. Lukey's OpEd pieces have appeared in The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She is a co-editor and co-author of the treatise Federal Litigation in the First Circuit.
Education & Credentials
Boston College Law School
JD, cum laude, Order of the Coif
Editor, Environmental Affairs Law Review
Member, National Moot Court Championship Team
First woman selected as Best Oral Advocate at National Moot Court Competition
Smith College
BA, magna cum laude
Admissions
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
U.S. District Courts, Massachusetts & New Hampshire
Focus Area
Joan's Insights
Announcements 10.05.2022
Benchmark Litigation 2023 Names Choate and Fifteen Attorneys as Stars
Choate receives high rankings in Benchmark Litigation’s annual survey of the top attorneys and law firms in the United States.
Announcements 08.18.2022
Choate Attorneys Recognized in Best Lawyers in America® 2023
Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 49 Choate attorneys in its 2023 edition, including naming co-managing partner William Gelnaw a Lawyer of the Year.
Post Roe v. Wade Podcast 07.01.2022
Post Roe v. Wade: Potential Impact on Colleges, Universities and Medical Education
Christine Savage and Joan Lukey discuss the potential operational and legal impacts for colleges, universities, and medical education facilities as a result of the recent Dobbs decision and Roe v. Wade overturn.