VALERIE A. YARASHUS is a principal of the Boston firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black & Bogdanow, PC, where she focuses in plaintiff’s trial practice, including premises liability, motor vehicle liability, construction site liability, medical malpractice, nursing home litigation, and general liability cases. Previously she was with Sugarman and Sugarman, PC, where she was the first woman partner of the firm. Ms. Yarashus is a fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, cochair of the Massachusetts Bar Association monthly leadership roundtable and the special bench-bar taskforce for plain-English jury instructions, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and George Washington University.  (January 2012)