Three months after Christine O’Connor handed in her resignation to accept a job with the Town of North Andover, the City of Lowell welcomes her replacement.
Helene A. A. Tomlinson has been hired as new City Solicitor and begins work at City Hall Monday. Tomlinson comes to the city with over 20 years experience in private practice. Her career also features public experience with the Mass Department of Public Health Rape Crisis Center.
For the last 22-years, Tomlinson has run a private law practice in Boston. She has extensive experience in litigation matters involving municipal and civil court cases. Tomlinson has also written legislation involving sexual assault and domestic violence. She has Juris Doctor Degree from New England School of Law and a Bachelor’s Degree from Simmons College.
John J. McKenna, who has been filling O’Connor’s role since her departure, will be named 1st Assistant City Solicitor, a role he also assumed on an Interim basis upon the departure of Kerry Jenness, who left the city within days of O’Connor.
More reinforcements are also slated to arrive Monday, as Corey Williams begins his employment with the Law Department. He, too, will serve as a 1st Assistant City Solicitor.
Williams, who lives in Westford, has extensive experience litigating criminal and civil cases involving contracts, employment law and discrimination. He previously served as a union negotiator representing AFSCME in collective bargaining negotiations. Williams holds a JD from Suffolk, BA from St. Anselm and a Masters Degree from UMass-Lowell. His hiring brings the city’s legal team back up to four attorneys, after operating short-handed since the Fall shakeup.
A search committee was put in place by City Manager Golden to facilitate the process to fill the two positions in the Law Department. The committee was chaired by former House Council to the Massachusetts House of Representative, Louis A. Rizoli, Esq. Atty. Rizoli began his legal career as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel for the Bank of New England. From 1985 until his retirement in 2009, Atty. Rizoli was the Chief Legal Counsel for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was the longest serving Chief Legal Counsel serving in that position for twenty-four years under five House Speakers. The search committee also included the city’s CFO and HR Director.
“I want to extend my thanks to Attorneys John McKenna and Alethea Dys, and our entire legal team, as well as to Attorney Louis Rizoli and members of the search committee for their time and diligence is working through the process to hire these two critical positions.” said Manager Golden. “I am excited to bring experienced leadership to the city’s law department. I firmly believe the combination of skills and knowledge shared between Ms. Thomlinson and Mr. Williams, as well as their individual expertise in certain aspects of the law will serve the city well as we forge ahead with the many priorities of the City Council.”
