This original artwork was made for me by a very talented client nearly twenty years ago when I worked as a paralegal. It still hangs proudly in my office today.
About
After several years working as a criminal defense appellate attorney, I began to see a pattern. For some people, the end of their criminal case was only the beginning of their real problems.
The so-called “collateral” consequences my clients were facing were sometimes so much worse than any punishment they could have received in their criminal case.
Whether you are a non-citizen facing a devastating deportation after a minor misdemeanor conviction, or a former sex offender who is no longer dangerous, my goal is the same for every client:
To help make sure the past doesn’t get in the way of your future.
Our Team
Laura Mannion, Esq.
Bar Admissions
Massachusetts, 2009
U.S.D.C. for the District of Massachusetts, 2010
First Circuit Court of Appeals, 2012
United States Supreme Court, 2014
Employment History
Law Office of Laura Mannion
Founding Attorney, 2011-present
Shea & LaRocque, LLP
Associate Attorney 2009-2011
New England Law Boston
Adjunct Faculty Member, Advanced Legal Research & Writing, 2011-2015
Honors
Super Lawyers Criminal Defense, 2020 – present
Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2015 – 2019
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Up and Coming Lawyer, 2015
Education
New England Law Boston, J.D., cum laude, 2009
Kalamazoo College, B.A., 2002
Professional Associations
Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL)
MACDL Board of Directors, 2015-2021
Bar Association of Norfolk County
Sydney Blugh
Legal Assistant
Sydney Blugh has been working part-time with Laura since October of 2021. In the Spring of 2023 she will graduate from Northeastern University with both a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Criminology and plans to work with Laura full time for a year before attending law school.
Some of Sydney’s responsibilities include conducting client and witness interviews, drafting affidavits, requesting and reviewing records, performing research, and creating reentry plans, all of which have the cumulative effect of helping Laura to provide more holistic, client centered representation. Sydney is an invaluable part of the team.
She is especially passionate about ending the “school-to-prison pipeline” and building a more fair and humane system of criminal justice in the United States. Along with the legal work Sydney does for Laura, she has also deepened her knowledge about reentry experiences by serving as a research assistant for Professor Megan Denver’s work examining a Massachusetts reentry program. This passion has a parallel in her interest in mentorship at the university-level. Sydney is one of two students that runs the John D. O’Bryant African American Institutes Legacy Mentoring Program. It is through this program that Sydney can aid predominantly black and brown students in succeeding through their transition into college.
Sydney has also brought a unique and valuable perspective to the way Laura approaches her work with former sex offenders. At school she facilitates presentations about bystander intervention relating to sexual violence to incoming freshman. She is passionate about sexual violence awareness and has grown especially interested in understanding the complicated dynamics involved in the way both survivors and offenders are treated within the criminal justice system.
