Scott Harshbarger
Senior Counsel
Phone
Scott Harshbarger is Senior Counsel in Casner & Edwards’ Litigation and Nonprofit departments. For more than a decade, Scott has specialized in providing strategic counsel for business ethics, corporate investigations and defense, compliance and risk management, corporate and governance, and government regulation. His distinguished career includes positions in major public offices, nonprofit executive management, private legal counsel, and numerous board directorships.
Scott has had a long and successful public service career as a public defender, civil rights attorney, Middlesex District Attorney, and Massachusetts Attorney General. While AG, Scott was recognized as a national leader. Not only was he the elected President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), he was also recognized for being one of the first AGs to sue the tobacco manufacturers on behalf of children and public health, and for his pioneering use of Chapter 93A to promulgate handgun safety regulations. Other major consumer and public protection initiatives include the Hospital and HMO Community Benefit Guidelines, the Elder and Disability Protection Projects, and the SCORE Conflict Resolution and Safe Neighborhood Initiatives against urban and family violence, white collar crime, public corruption, and insurance and health care fraud.
From 1999-2002, Scott served as President and CEO of Common Cause, the national nonprofit citizens’ lobby, public interest advocacy, and government and corporate watchdog group, founded by John Gardner in Washington, D.C.
Scott has authored numerous articles on topics in the field of corporate and nonprofit governance and regulatory strategies. He regularly speaks to state and national business groups, industry associations, and legal business and college audiences. Scott often appears in the national media and routinely appears on New England television as a commentator and news analyst.
Honors & Awards
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Hall of Fame, 2024
The Best Lawyers in America - Commercial Litigation, Corporate Compliance Law, Nonprofit / Charities Law, 2022-2025
Massachusetts Super Lawyers, 2010-2021
Chambers USA, Massachusetts: Litigation, General Commercial, 2011-2015
The Legal 500 United States, Finance: Not-for-Profit and Tax Exempt Organizations, 2013-2015
New England Super Lawyers, 2011-2017
Veterans Legal Services Distinguished Service Award, 2014
Citizens for Juvenile Justice Leadership Award, 2011
Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award, American Bar Association
Excellence in Government Award for SCORE (Student Conflict Resolution), Ford Foundation
Hadley Distinguished Professor, Northeastern Law School and College of Criminal Justice
8th Annual Julius B. Richmond Award, Harvard School of Public Health
- Massachusetts
LLB, Harvard Law School
Rockefeller Fellow, Union Theological Seminary
BA, Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges
Experience
- Conducted independent investigation of faculty-student sexual misconduct/inappropriate behavior at St. Paul’s School and Concord Academy, plus four other schools (completed and ongoing)
- Conducted governance investigations/reviews for and of non-profit boards, including: Boston Police and Westfield State Foundations; English HS Alumni Association; American Institute for Employment Research; American Academy Arts and Sciences; Smithsonian Institute; Wounded Warrior; Neuroendocrine Tumor Foundation (NETRF); Dismas (Louisville, Kentucky)
- Provided regulatory and strategic counsel for national, publicly-held and MA for-profit corporations and not-for-profit human services, education, veterans and health care organizations in matters relating to MA and other state Attorney-General and state agency inquiries and investigations
- Provided litigation advice and counsel for MA and national corporations/non-profits, including Skilled Nursing Facilities, national student loan and debt-buyer corporations, and mortgage/banking entities
- Provided public policy counsel and advocacy on public guardianship, elder and long-term care, election and campaign finance compliance and reform, business, non-profit and corporate ethics and compliance
- Conducted various special independent and internal investigations for CEOS, boards and law firms
- Boston Board Chair, Community Resources for Justice
- Board Member, Court Management Advisory Board (CMAB), Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Chair, SJC Task Force on Hiring and Promotion in the Judicial Branch
- Vice-chair of Board, Ethics Resource Center (and EIC), Washington, D.C.
- Editorial Board, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
- Chair of Board, New England College of Business and Finance
- Boston Board of Overseers, Summer Search
- Chair, Advisory Board, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, Boston College Law School
- Director and Audit Committee Member, DentaQuest Foundation
- Professor and Clinical Professor, Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics, Boston University School of Law
- Visiting Professor From Practice, Government Lawyer and Public Policy, Harvard Law School
- Former Head, Governor Romney’s Commission on Corrections Reform, 2003-2005
- Former Chair, Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Pension Reform
Seminars
- Presenter, “The State of Business Ethics: Programs, People and Challenges (Essential Insights for In-House Counsel),” New England Corporate Counsel Association, Inc., 2015
- Presenter, “Risk Management Lessons: Corporate Governance and Risk,” Risk Management and In-house Counsel, B.U. Questrom School of Business and Association of Corporate Counsel, 2015
- Presenter, “Envisioning a Career in Public Service,” Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, B.C. Law School
- Presenter, “Are Financial Markets Prepared for the Next Crisis?” General Session Panel, Commonfund Annual Forum, 2015
- Presenter, “The Influence of Money and Special Interests in Politics: The Challenge to Our Democracy,” Kick-Off Speech, Thursday Morning Talks, Mount Auburn Hospital, 2015
- Presenter, “Assessing and Managing Nonprofit Enterprise Management Risk,” Commonfund Annual Forum, 2014
- Presenter, “Creating a Culture of Compliance,” Private Equity Chief Financial Officer Association, 2014
- Presenter, “The Role of Public Policy Development in Strategic Direction,” Keynote Address, National Oral Health Alliance Conference, DentaQuest Foundation, 2014
