The Law Offices Of Janice Bassil

Ms. Bassil is an experienced trial attorney currently concentrating on criminal law. After graduating from Boston University School of Law, she was a public defender for six years at the Massachusetts Defenders Committee where she tried cases ranging from misdemeanors to major felonies before a jury.

When Ms. Bassil entered private practice, over thirty years ago, she developed a special expertise in cases concerning accusations of sexual abuse and domestic violence during divorce cases. She has frequently lectured on the intersection of criminal and family law and was co-author of a chapter in the treatise, “Trying Sex Offense Cases in Massachusetts.” She has seventeen straight not guilty verdicts before juries for clients accused of felony sex offenses.

Ms. Bassil’s was a principal partner at Carney & Bassil for 24 years where she tried many of the most celebrated and difficult criminal cases in Boston. During that period, she became interested in mental health issues and successfully defended a client on a double homicide, using an insanity defense – one of the few to succeed before a jury.  While Ms. Bassil is particularly known for representing individuals charged with sex and homicide offenses, her courtroom skills translate effectively to just about any case tried before a jury. She also represents clients faced with offenses before college disciplinary boards and restraining orders in the district courts.  

Recognized for connecting with juries, her persistent style and creative legal theories, Ms. Bassil has won over a dozen rape trials in a row and every first-degree homicide case she has tried in the last decade. The acquittal in Commonwealth Kerrigan, the brother of an Olympic star, and a mother accused of killing her two children, reflect Attorney Bassil’s tenacity and skill in the spotlight. Her acquittals for an employee of a Middle-Eastern royal family member and a high profile lawyer accused of multiple rapes highlights her appeal to juries when clients are faced with difficult facts and sympathetic victims.

Ms. Bassil is skilled in all aspects of criminal defense including pretrial motions, pretrial investigation, arraignment and bail, motions to suppress and dismiss, the use of experts, the trial of cases before a jury and when necessary, plea bargaining. Her former practice in family law provided her with the information and skills to ferret out hidden information that has been useful in her criminal cases.

Ms. Bassil is also interested in and enjoys working with children and has represented children as their attorneys in divorce cases, as well as in juvenile delinquency. She is certified to represent juveniles charged with murder. She represented the juvenile in Commonwealth v. Bernardo B., and established the right to obtain information on the charging practices of the district attorney in juvenile statutory rape cases. She also represented the juvenile in Commonwealth v. Evelyn which advanced the law on search and seizure concerning inner city youth.  

Ms. Bassil is interested in education and frequently lectures and teaches other lawyers. She has lectured on a wide variety of subjects ranging from family law topics on custody cases, the use of evidence in family law as well as criminal cases, trial techniques in family law and criminal law cases, electronic interception, cross-examination, opening statements, closing statements, insanity defenses, competency issues, the use of experts in terrorism cases, sexual offenses, and sexual offenses in juvenile cases.

Ms. Bassil was an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law and teaches a seminar entitled Forensic Issues in Mental Health Law. She is currently mentoring five younger attorneys, and is working to impart her hard earned knowledge of the law and her enthusiasm for the practice of law.

Ms. Bassil has been named as a Super Lawyer in family law and criminal law since the list was first published and Boston Magazine named her one of the top three family lawyers in Boston. She was selected to be a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Academy of Family Lawyers, the American College of and the Family Trial Lawyers. She is a past president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is a board member of Suffolk Lawyers for Justice, working to improve the representation of indigent defendants in the courts. Ms. Bassil was awarded the Edward Duggan Award for zealous advocacy and outstanding representation of the indigent and the Award of Excellence by the Frank  J. Murray Inns of Court for her significant contribution to the development of the law and exemplifying the ideals of civility, ethics and professional competence. In 2011 she was awarded the Joseph Balliro Award by her peers at the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for her lifetime of work on behalf of defendants.  

Ms. Bassil believes that people of all ages and from all walks of life deserved to be heard before courts of law. She became an attorney to speak for those who could not speak for themselves.