2019 Lawyers of the Year: Douglas K. Sheff, Sheff Law.

Byline: Henriette Campagne

From their Lawrence home, Leonel Rondon's family can see the city square that's been named in memory of the 18-year-old who lost his life in the gas explosions that rocked the Merrimack Valley on Sept. 13, 2018.

The family's attorney, Boston's Douglas K. Sheff, helped make that happen in 2019, along with a confidential settlement Columbia Gas agreed to pay the Rondons and a scholarship fund the utility is setting up in Leonel's name.

The teen, who was killed when a chimney from a nearby house fell on the car he was sitting in, was the only fatality in the catastrophe that caused mass destruction in the communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.

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"We expect the legacy of this case to be a federal statute that will protect kids like Leonel and, frankly, all of us no matter where we are, from Massachusetts to California."

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Calling it "one of the most significant cases of our time," Sheff traveled to D.C. to work with lawmakers on crafting a federal statute aimed at protecting the public from similar gas explosions in the future.

"Only in this country can a hardworking Dominican family in Lawrence really have an effect on millions of people," Sheff says of the proposed Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act, which was spurred by his clients' wish that their son's memory "live on and be strong."

The Rondon case came on the heels of another ultra-high-profile matter that kept Sheff and his downtown personal injury firm on their toes. The veteran trial lawyer was in the news for brokering a settlement in the wrongful death case filed by his client Ursula Ward, whose son, Odin Lloyd, was murdered by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in 2015. Terms of the deal reached with Hernandez's estate are confidential.

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Q. Can you describe the settlement process in the Rondon case?

A. The mediation took place over months. There were several discussions, sometimes with several weeks in between. Using experts, and sometimes advocacy of other sorts, little by little it came together. It was a slow-motion mediation, like building a house from the foundation up. Like so many other things about this case, I have not experienced anything like it.

Q. Were there any stumbling blocks in the mediation?

A. There were a lot of people involved in this process, so it's not the same as dealing with one lawyer or an adjuster. Here, you had a billion-dollar utility. And, of course, they have their own means of...

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