For the past 10 years attorney Robert C. Gerrard '60 of Gloucester, Mass., has worked nearly exclusively on one case–the family dispute over the Demoulas Super Markets fortune. What began as a shareholders' disagreement over sale of assets "took on a life of its own," said Gerrard. "It evolved into about five different cases."

Gerrard began the Demoulas vs. Demoulas case in 1990 when an heir to the chain discovered that some of his stocks had been sold. The case became increasingly complex, and eventually it came out that an uncle had transferred all but 8 percent of the Demoulas Super Markets, Inc., stock to his side of the family and set up a new company. Gerrard helped convince the courts that several heirs were cheated of assets worth nearly $1 billion.

"I thought I was a pretty good lawyer when it started, but I learned about the law and human nature," said Gerrard. "There were high points and low points. It was a learning experience."

At one time Gerrard and the other two attorneys on his team faced 19 lawyers for the defense. "The other side fought ferociously," he said. Among its tactics: bribing a stripper to lie about bugging a room for the plaintiffs, and posing as an offshore company offering the judge's former law clerk a job in the hopes of gaining information.

The drama of the Demoulas case is not the only highlight of Gerrard's law career. In the early 1980s he argued an appeal before the Supreme Court for a securities fraud case and won. And in the mid-1980s he represented Boeing after an airplane crashed in Saudi Arabia on its way to Mecca. Some of the pilgrims on the plane had used cooking stoves mid-flight; the plane caught fire and everyone on board perished. Plaintiffs tried to say the tragedy was due to a Boeing design flaw, but Gerrard won again.

Gerrard didn't begin his law career immediately after graduating from Colby. He first joined the Army reserves and then worked as a reporter for the Worcester Telegram-Gazette in Massachusetts. He moved on to become a copy writer at an advertising agency. "I found out I had little talent for it and no enthusiasm," he said. He eventually heard his calling. "My brother had just graduated from law school and every law school student carries on about the law incessantly," said Gerrard. "I was an eager ear." On the spur of the moment Gerrard applied to Boston College's law school in July of 1963. "I got accepted on the first day of classes."

Three years later Gerrard graduated third in his class after serving as editor of the school's Law Review. He headed the contracts division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office and worked at several Boston firms before opening his own practice in 1975. Eleven years later, in 1986, he moved to Davis, Malm & D'Agostine in Boston. He's now a partner there and runs the firm's litigation department, practicing primarily in corporate disputes. "I've worked a lot with the oil industry. From there I got into shareholders' disputes and have done that for 12 years.

"It's been an extraordinarily rewarding career," said Gerrard. "The Demoulas case has been remarkable." He says he has no plans to retire, despite the arduous decade-long court battle. "I'm having too much fun."–Alicia Nemiccolo MacLeay '97

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