Jennifer Locke

Jennifer Locke is a member of Goodwin’s Trust & Estate Court practice. She specializes in advising fiduciaries with respect to their duties and responsibilities, risk management and best practices for professional trustees and corporate trust departments. Jennifer has developed an in-depth knowledge of the Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code, which became effective on July 8, 2012. She counsels fiduciaries about the expanded rights of trust beneficiaries under the MUTC, virtual representation issues, protections afforded by the various statutes of limitations in the MUTC, and opportunities to settle disputes with limited court intervention.

In addition, Jennifer specializes in representing fiduciaries in litigation cases that involve trust and estate matters, including breach of fiduciary duty and removal of trustee actions, disputes over fiduciary accounts, will contests, transfer tax controversies and matters involving the establishment and treatment of trusts in divorce actions. She also works on a variety of other types of matters in the Massachusetts courts, including obtaining court approval of non-judicial settlement agreements and proposed virtual representation, and trust reformation and interpretation actions. Finally, she represents numerous charitable organizations in connection with testamentary bequests and devises.

Jennifer is a member of the Trusts & Estates and Fiduciary Litigation sections of the Boston Bar Association. She was a member of the BBA Trusts & Estates Section Steering Committee from 1994-1999 and 2013-2016, and chaired the Fiduciary Litigation Section from 2013-2015. Jennifer served as Program Co-Chair of the Boston Probate & Estate Planning Forum in 2012-2013.

Jennifer is a member of the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Probate and Estate Planning Forum and the Boston Estate Planning Council. On a pro bono basis, Jennifer represents children fleeing abusive and dangerous situations in Central America and entering the U.S. without a parent. This involves appearances in the U.S. Immigration Court and before the Department of Homeland Security. Jennifer has also served as legal counsel to The Boston Fatherless & Widows Society, a charitable organization established by the Massachusetts Legislature in the 1800s, and as pro bono counsel to Health Care Without Walls, a charitable organization that provides free health care to homeless women. Jennifer also served on the Probate Fiduciary Law Session Working Group, which led to the establishment of the Probate and Family Court Fiduciary Litigation Session.

Jennifer has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for her work in Trusts and Estates 2022-2023. 

Jennifer was recognized in the 2015 New England Super Lawyers magazine for the Boston metropolitan area. In 2018, 2019, and 2022, she was recognized as a Super Lawyer in the field of Estate & Trust Litigation.

Jennifer was named to the High Honor Roll for individual attorneys providing pro bono legal services in 2022 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

While attending law school, Jennifer served as note editor for the Boston College Law Review.

Jennifer regularly serves as a panelist on seminars hosted by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Boston Bar Association. She has participated in numerous seminars on the implementation of the MUTC and estate planning issues arising under the MUTC, as well as on fiduciary duties and liabilities. She authored the chapter on Declaratory Judgment Actions in MCLE's Fiduciary Litigation in the Probate Court, the "Removal of Trustees" chapter in MCLE's Selected Topics in Fiduciary Litigation; an article entitled the "New Statute on Inheritance Rights of Adopted Children," published in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (June 8, 2009); and an article entitled "Adopted Kids and Old Money," published in Trusts & Estates magazine (October 2009).