Colleen advises employees on all phases of their employment relationship, from initial hiring and ongoing employment practices; to issues surrounding termination and resignation; to post-employment matters including interpretation and enforcement of post-employment restrictive covenants. 

Colleen’s small business practice includes advising and representing owner-operated businesses, and business professionals in their business contracts, from drafting new contracts; interpreting, enforcing or terminating existing contracts; and pursuing or defending their business, contract, or property rights in court.  

Colleen also represents clients in disputes arising out of real estate ownership and real estate transfers, including disputes between abutting property owners; issues arising out of condominium ownership and governance; and post-transaction claims arising out of residential purchases and sales.  

 Colleen has been practicing for over 25 years of in Massachusetts.. After clerking for the Chief Justice of the State of Maine Supreme Judicial Court, she began her legal career in the litigation section of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C. At Mintz Levin.

Later, in connection with balancing her professional and personal goals, Colleen had the opportunity to work on a project basis with several employment-focused firms on specific, targeted employment matters, creating the foundation on which she has continued to build her employment-focused litigation practice.  She then furthered her litigation experience working in smaller firm settings, first in Boston alongside several Mintz Levin colleagues, and then in Newburyport, Massachusetts, continuing to build on her business and employment litigation practice.

Most recently, prior to joining Rosen & Goyal, Colleen operated her own solo practice in Newburyport, where she continued to provide targeted, client-focused services in a cost-effective manner.   

Colleen is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, including the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the First Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.

Colleen received her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif, graduating with high honors. 

Colleen received her BA in English and psychology, magna cum laude, from Boston College, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society. 

• Principal and Owner, 2021-2024 Law Office of Colleen Brunnick McElhinney, Esq., Newburyport, MA

• Senior Litigation Associate, 2018-2021 Finneran & Nicholson, P.C., Newburyport, MA

• Of Counsel Litigation Attorney, 2014-2018 Torres, Scammon, Hincks & Day, LLP, Boston, MA

• Employment Litigation Contract Attorney, 2010-2014 Varied, including: Shilepsky Hartley Robb Casey Michon LLP, Boston, MA; Posternak Blankstein & Lund LLP, Boston, MA; and DTZ, a UGL Company, Auburndale, MA
• Litigation Associate 1996-2010 Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo, P.C., Boston, MA
• Law Clerk 1995-1996 Maine Supreme Judicial Court for Chief Justice Daniel E. Wathen, Augusta, ME