Gens & Stanton, P.C.

Focus and practice areas

Gens & Stanton, P.C. divides its work between criminal defense and civil litigation, with a transactional side alongside both. The criminal docket covers assault and battery, domestic violence, drug charges, DUI, robbery, theft, sex crimes, juvenile matters, misdemeanors, felonies and homicide. The firm takes these matters at trial and on appeal.

On the civil side, the firm handles litigation along with contracts, real estate, condominium law, zoning and franchise law. That pairing is less common than it sounds. A lawyer who drafts a condominium document and a lawyer who argues a suppression motion draw on different habits.

The firm describes itself as a boutique, with principal locations in Boston and on Cape Cod. Its attorneys hold licenses in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, and in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In my opinion, the multistate admissions matter most for clients whose lives cross a border: a New Hampshire resident charged in Massachusetts, or a business with property in two states.

How the team is built

Six attorneys appear by name on the firm's site. William E. Gens founded the firm in 1991 after leaving a large corporate law firm. He earned his Juris Doctor cum laude from Tulane University Law School in 1990, and holds a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University. He is licensed in Massachusetts.

Gens also taught at Harvard University Law School as an adjunct instructor from 2000 to 2006. Six years in a classroom leaves a mark on how a lawyer explains things. Teaching forces a person to break a doctrine into parts a stranger can follow, which is close to what a jury needs.

The other named attorneys

Bradford R. Stanton handles criminal defense matters at trial and on appeal. Trial and appellate work pull in opposite directions. At trial a lawyer builds a record; on appeal, that same lawyer reads a cold transcript for the error that survives review. Having one attorney who does both means the record gets built with the appeal in mind.

Bryan R. Colella counsels and represents small and medium-sized businesses in civil litigation. Companies of that size usually lack an in-house legal department, so outside counsel absorbs the first read on a contract dispute or a claim from a former employee.

Jerry R. Dunham III, Alisha L. Tousignant and Sina C. Abbott round out the six attorneys the site names.

What the record shows

The firm reports acting as lead counsel in matters involving Polaroid Corp., Wang Computer, Dunkin Donuts, Nations Bank, the U.S. Justice Department and the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. Those are the counterparties named, and the firm does not attach outcomes to them. What the list does tell a reader is the scale of adversary the firm has sat across from.

A firm founded in 1991 has been in operation for more than three decades. Longevity in a two-city boutique carries a practical meaning. Clerks, prosecutors and judges in the Suffolk County and Barnstable County courthouses are familiar faces after that long, and knowing how a particular session runs saves a client time.

How these matters usually proceed

For readers weighing whether this practice mix fits their situation, some general context on the stages involved may help. None of what follows describes this firm's own procedure; it is how such matters typically move in Massachusetts.

Criminal matters

A Massachusetts criminal case usually starts with an arraignment in the District or Superior Court, where the charge is read and bail is set. Discovery follows, and defense counsel receives police reports, witness statements and any forensic material. Pretrial motions come next, including motions to suppress evidence or statements. Most cases resolve before trial, and the ones that do not go to a bench or jury session.

Appeals move on a separate track. The appellant files a notice, the trial transcript is assembled, and briefs go to the Appeals Court. Oral argument is short and narrow. Appellate judges review the record for legal error, and they do not retry the facts. That distinction shapes what an appellate lawyer can and cannot argue.

Civil and transactional matters

Civil litigation in Massachusetts opens with a complaint and an answer, then moves into discovery: document requests, interrogatories and depositions. Summary judgment often decides the case before a trial date arrives. Many disputes settle during or after mediation.

Condominium and zoning work runs through different bodies. A zoning question goes to a municipal zoning board of appeals, and a decision there can be appealed to Land Court or Superior Court. Condominium disputes turn on the master deed, the trust documents and the bylaws, so the drafting stage carries weight years later. Franchise matters are governed by the franchise agreement together with state and federal disclosure rules.

Who this firm suits

The two Massachusetts locations, Boston and Cape Cod, cover geographies with different case mixes. Cape Cod brings seasonal population swings, second-home real estate and condominium associations. Boston brings a denser criminal docket and more business litigation. A firm with offices in both handles clients who move between the two.

As a reviewer, the clearest signal here is the shape of the roster against the shape of the work. Six attorneys covering criminal defense, civil litigation and transactional matters means individual lawyers hold defined lanes: Stanton on criminal, Colella on business litigation. A client can identify who would take the file.

The firm publishes law school and graduation details for its founder and job descriptions for two of its other attorneys. Readers who want law school, bar admission year or practice detail for Dunham, Tousignant and Abbott will want to ask during a first conversation. The same goes for which office a given attorney works from.

Gens & Stanton has practiced under the same founder since 1991, from two Massachusetts locations, with admissions in three states and the federal district court.

Initial consultation and case planning

The firm offers free consultations. That gives a prospective client a chance to identify the type of matter, explain its current stage and learn which attorney may handle it before deciding whether to retain the firm. The consultation offer applies across a practice that includes criminal cases and private civil matters, so the first conversation also has a routing function within the six-lawyer office.

Individualized legal strategy has been part of the firm's stated approach since William E. Gens established the practice. The record traces that approach to his 1991 departure from a large corporate firm. For a reviewer, this detail says more about the intended working relationship than the firm's size alone. The stated model begins with the circumstances of the particular client and matter rather than a standard description of how every file will proceed.

Detail within the criminal practice

The directory classifications give domestic violence its own practice category. Assault and violent crimes also have a separate category, as do theft and property crimes. These classifications add useful detail for readers who search by the charge or accusation involved. They show that the criminal practice is presented through defined subject areas rather than under one broad criminal defense label.

The separation of domestic violence from the wider assault category is especially relevant at the directory stage. A reader can locate the firm through either category without having to assume that a general criminal practice includes that type of allegation. The same point applies to theft and property matters, which appear as an express area of the listing. The record does not attach individual attorneys to these narrower categories, so attorney assignment remains a subject for the consultation.

Boston contact details

The listed Boston address is 12 Ericsson Street. The record also provides the firm's website and the telephone number 617-206-4675. That number appears twice in different formats, but both entries direct callers to the same line.

These details give prospective clients a direct route to the Boston office. Someone seeking the Cape Cod location would need to obtain that office's specific address from the firm, since the supplied record identifies Cape Cod as a principal location but provides a street address only for Boston.