Bio & Practice
Attorney Nathanson has specialized in criminal defense since 1997. He focuses on criminal appeals, primarily murder appeals. He has also provided representation in trial-level cases as minor as trespassing and as serious as double-murder. In 2005, he became the only staff public defender in the history of the Massachusetts public defender's office to win a case in the United States Supreme Court. The case is Smith v. Massachusetts, 543 U.S. 462 (2005). He left CPCS to form Wood & Nathanson in December, 2007. Between 2019 and 2024, he successfully challenged five first-degree murder convictions. He has also won reversals in multiple cases over the years including cases involving charges of robbery, armed career criminal, felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearms, and cocaine distribution.
Attorney Nathanson is recognized among his peers as a knowledgeable resource on criminal law, appellate procedure, and federal habeas corpus practice. In addition to his own cases, he serves as an appellate mentor and statewide resource attorney for attorneys handling murder cases through the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
A signature quality of Attorney Nathanson’s practice is his dedication to his clients. That takes many forms. In some cases, it is pursuing justice for more than a decade, as he has done in several cases. In other cases, it means moving quickly to challenge a conviction or resolve a new charge.
He believes that every case is unique and rejects “cookie cutter” approaches to legal issues. As a result, cases that he litigated have resulted in changes in the law. His work was the basis for expanding what jurors must be told about the consequences of a not guilty verdict by reason of a lack of criminal responsibility (insanity) in murder cases. And with Attorney Jellison’s assistance, he successfully argued that LGBTQ jurors have an equal protection right not to be discriminated against in jury selection.
Attorney Nathanson is a 1996 graduate of Rutgers School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. Prior to forming Wood & Nathanson, he was a solo practitioner and then a staff attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Since 2021, Attorney Nathanson has served as the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ representative on the Supreme Judicial Court’s Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Attorney Nathanson was named a Lawyers Weekly Up & Coming Lawyer for 2005. He was named a Super Lawyers Rising Stars from 2005 through 2011 and a Massachusetts Super Lawyer from 2013 through 2024.