Senior Associate Kayla Ghantous named Lawyer of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
Boston — Global law firm Hogan Lovells is proud to announce that senior associate Kayla Ghantous has been named Lawyer of the Year by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly for her work on the landmark litigation Diggs v. Mici. The honor recognizes her role in achieving a transformative settlement addressing systemic violence and racial discrimination at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, Massachusetts' only maximum security prison.
The Lawyer of the Year award recognizes attorneys whose work in the previous year resulted in a significant legal outcome or victory with substantial impact.
Ghantous was a pivotal member of the Hogan Lovells team representing current and former prisoners who suffered unconstitutional abuse and racial discrimination at the facility. The litigation exposed a pattern of excessive force, racial bias, and retaliatory conduct that occurred during a concentrated period of violence in early 2020. A federal court certified a class of prisoners who experience unconstitutional force and a subclass of Black and Latinx prisoners who were targeted based on race.
The firm, alongside co-counsel at Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, secured final approval of a US$6.75 million settlement, providing monetary relief to approximately 160 individuals and requiring sweeping policy reforms at the prison. Some of those reforms include prohibiting the use of K-9s except to regain control after a major disorder and requiring K-9s to be muzzled, implementing diversity and implicit bias training for staff, requiring name tags for Special Operations officers, establishing a hotline for prison staff to report misconduct, and removing corrections officers found to have used excessive force from Special Operations Response Units and prohibiting their reapplication for three years.
Following final court approval of the settlement, Ghantous noted: "This settlement stands as a reminder that accountability and the rule of law endure, even in places designed to make them disappear. While no settlement can undo the harm caused, this outcome provided meaningful relief to our clients.”
The Hogan Lovells team also included partners Tony Fuller and Greg Noonan, counsel Alex Bailey, senior associate Courtney Caruso, associates Jason Perez and Fleming Farrell, and senior paralegal Melissa Cieszkowski.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly will feature this recognition in its February 16 issue, and Ghantous will be honored at the publication's 2026 Leaders in the Law event in May.
The feature can be found here.
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