Peter M. Durney

Peter M. Durney graduated cum laude from Boston College (1976), after having studied at The Institute of European Studies, La Sorbonne, l’Ecole de Medecine, and L’Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France (1974-75). He then attended Suffolk University Law School (1976-80) and began his law career in 1980 as in-house counsel with GE’s products liability insurance division. In 1982 he joined Cornell & Gollub in Boston, concentrating on litigation. Since becoming a partner in 1987, Mr. Durney has represented hundreds of domestic and foreign corporations and individuals – including various Fortune 500 companies and Irish, Swiss, German, Austrian, French, British, Korean, Chinese and Japanese corporations, among others – in the state and federal courts in each of the New England states and elsewhere in the U.S.  His broad litigation experience and many reported decisions encompass personal injury, products liability, medical device, pharmaceutical, automotive, trucking, marine and commercial litigation, as well as professional malpractice and appellate work.  The complex litigation in which he has been involved has run the gamut from Mercedes-Benz and BMW motor vehicles to heart tissue transplants and computer software.

Mr. Durney is admitted to the state and federal bars of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and has been a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1984.  He has been a frequent speaker, including lectures on three continents, and has written extensively, most recently having co-authored “A Few Fundamental and Practical Tips: Product Testing for Use at Trial,” For the Defense, December 2006, Vol. 48, No. 12.  He is an active member of a host of organizations, including state and federal bar associations, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., the Defense Research Institute, the International Association of Defense Counsel and the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine.

Mr. Durney was recognized as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer (as published in Boston Magazine) in the area of General Litigation in 2005, in Business Litigation in 2006, and as a New England Super Lawyer in Personal Injury Defense: Products in 2007 and 2008.

Mr. Durney is the current President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.  He was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates in 1999 and held the position of Treasurer in the Massachusetts Chapter during the year 2008, before adding the role of Vice-President to his duties for 2009.

Mr. Durney is fluent in English and in French and can be reached in the United States on his direct line in Boston at (617) 912-6551.