Boston Litigators Daniel Cloherty and Victoria Steinberg Launch Boutique Litigation Firm

BOSTON, MA - Demonstrated wins for Boston-area colleges and universities, including helping Harvard and Northeastern fend off challenges to the schools’ tuition charges for online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, are helping to pave the way for distinguished Boston-based litigators Victoria L. Steinberg and Daniel J. Cloherty to leave the well-known Boston litigation firm Todd & Weld LLP and form their own boutique education, business litigation, employment and white collar defense firm.

See Law360’s coverage of Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.

Cloherty and Steinberg have defended universities in numerous Title IX lawsuits for nearly a decade of constant change in Title IX laws and regulations. Steinberg, who frequently has represented Harvard, said she finds it particularly rewarding. “We are representing universities that have to continually adjust to changing regulations and precedents.  They are constantly and thoughtfully navigating the best ways to protect their students’ access to education.”

Cloherty and Steinberg have both represented marquee institutions and national leaders in the financial, communications, and healthcare industries, among others, in complex business disputes involving commercial contracts, internal investigations, and a range of employment disputes. They are also devoted to Boston-area nonprofits, representing many local advocacy institutions pro bono. 

Besides his civil litigation practice, Cloherty has a thriving investigations and white collar criminal defense practice.  He was also recently appointed by the U.S. District Court to serve as the Chair of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Board for the District of Massachusetts. In that role, Cloherty works with the District Court judiciary and the federal defense bar to address issues impacting defendants and their counsel in federal criminal proceedings throughout Massachusetts. 

Cloherty graduated from Harvard College and UC-Berkeley School of Law.  After federal clerkships in the Central District of California and the Third Circuit, he started in private practice at the D.C. law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larocca & Lewin LLP before relocating to Boston and joining the powerhouse Boston boutique firm Dwyer & Collora.

Steinberg graduated from Harvard College and Boston College Law School.  After clerking for the judiciary of the Massachusetts Appeals Court, she joined Cloherty at Dwyer & Collora.

Steinberg said that she is inspired by her father, who in 1959 was among the first attorneys to join New Jersey law firm Lowenstein Sandler, a firm which has grown to be the largest in New Jersey.  She has long wanted to found her own firm and build it from the ground up, focused on the core value of client-centered legal work of the highest quality, as well as equity and inclusion both within the firm and across the legal profession.  She discovered that she shared that dream with Cloherty, with whom she has worked on cases since 2007. Steinberg and Cloherty were among four litigators who left Collora in 2017 after it was acquired by Hogan Lovells.