“Don’t forget who you are, and where you come from.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Born in 1955, Mr. George was educated in Boston Public Schools and graduated from the Boston Latin School with honors in 1973. He graduated from Northeastern’s College of Criminal Justice with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Summa Cum Laude in 1977. Mr. George completed Suffolk University Law School and passed the Massachusetts Bar Examination in 1980. After internships in the Attorney General’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, he was appointed an Assistant District Attorney in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in December 1980.
While a prosecutor, Mr. George handled cases in the District, Superior, and Appellate Courts on Norfolk County District Attorney (later United States Congressman) William Delahunt’s trial staff. During this time, he also served as co-counsel on fifteen (15) murder cases and also acted as First Assistant District Attorney and later Superior Court Judge Robert W. Banks’ chief assistant until August 1982. Mr. George co-handled the prosecution of Bradford Prendergast in Massachusetts’ first televised murder and death penalty case in 1980. This trial involved the stalking, kidnapping, and murder of Patricia Gilmore by her ex-boyfriend, a former Mr. New Hampshire bodybuilding winner. Prendergast’s conviction for first-degree murder led to the reform of restraining order and stalking laws as well as the district courts’ handling of domestic abuse complaints. The case also involved the last and only death penalty hearing with a jury in Massachusetts history before death sentences were abolished in 1982.
In 1981 Mr. George served as a Special Assistant Attorney General in the prosecution of Arnold Evans for the murder of Assistant District Attorney Edward T. Bigham III in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was assigned by Attorney General Francis Bellotti to co-handle the case, coordinate the safety of the cooperating co-defendant, and present his testimony at trial. The conviction of Evans for first-degree murder led to a murder plea by the remaining defendant. During this time, Mr. George also acted as legal counsel to the Ward Commission, a state and federal task force that investigated and prosecuted corruption cases in public construction contracts across Massachusetts.
Mr. George entered private practice when he joined the Boston law offices of Johnson, Mee, and May in August 1982 where he worked on civil and criminal cases. While with that office, Mr. George was involved in the so-called New Bedford rape case, where he took on Jose Medeiros, who was eventually acquitted. In January 1984, Mr. George became an associate attorney in the firm of Balliro, Mondano & Balliro in Boston, Massachusetts. As his law practice grew, he formed his own law firm in April of 1990 and has been practicing in his own office since that time, handling some of the region’s most celebrated and serious criminal cases. Mr. George has appeared in courts in Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and California. He was awarded Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating (AV) in criminal law after an extensive peer review by his colleagues, Lawyer of the Year Honors awarded by Lawyers Weekly and the Massachusetts Bar Association. and was consistently selected as a Super Lawyer by Boston Magazine.
Mr. George taught and lectured in colleges, law schools, and continuing legal education programs throughout New England. He appeared many times on the television shows such as American Justice, Larry King, Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue, Today Show, Good Morning America, People Are Talking, Jerry Williams, Chronicle, Dateline, 48 Hours, HBO, MSNBC, CNN, Nancy Grace, Catherine Crier, Jami Floyd, Dan Abrams, and Sally Jesse Raphael as well as on many other national and regional television and radio programs. His career has been the subject of the award-winning Our Times television program as well as of several profiles in many major newspapers. His trials have been covered by Court TV in cases such as Ralph Sullivan, Edward O’Brien, and Christopher McCowen. These trials involved homicide cases that have been discussed by pundits and reporters and have been the subject of extensive commentary. His cases are the subject of no less than twenty books and countless television shows.