About Bonnie
Bonnie Allen earned a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1990 and a J.D. from Western New England University School of Law in 1993. Her education combined a broad undergraduate foundation with professional legal training. She moved into public defense work soon after law school and built a career that spans courtroom advocacy, case management and counsel supervision.
She began her legal career at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, joining as a staff lawyer in 1994. That early work placed her in front of judges and juries on behalf of indigent clients. In 1998 she opened a private practice, operating as the Law Office of Bonnie G. Allen, Esq., while continuing to draw on the trial skills she developed at the public defender agency. In 2005 she returned to the Committee for Public Counsel Services in a supervisory role, serving as a supervising lawyer in the Private Counsel Division.
Those years at CPCS shaped the practical side of her work. She oversaw assignments of private counsel for court-appointed cases, handled complex litigation strategies and mentored lawyers who took cases in the state system. The combination of front-line defense work and supervisory duties gave her experience in case intake, trial preparation, procedural motions and appeals. She has appeared in Massachusetts trial courts and in federal venues.
Allen is admitted in Massachusetts courts, including the Superior Court, and holds admission to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Her courtroom practice covers trial and pretrial litigation. She works on matters that require familiarity with criminal procedure, evidentiary rules and the mechanics of indigent defense representation.
Colleagues describe her as pragmatic in the courtroom and methodical in casework. She tends to combine careful written work with oral advocacy. Her experience supervising private counsel brings an administrative perspective to case management that many clients and co-counsel find useful when cases become complex.
She continues to practice in Massachusetts. Her current work centers on criminal defense and representation of clients in state and federal courts, and on matters arising from court-appointed dockets and privately retained criminal litigation.
