Lown Law Firm

07/26/2026

Dr. Chanelle Diaz has won the 2026 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility and its $25,000 prize. Speaking at the Lown Institute's annual conference, Attorney Zachary Lown connected Dr. Diaz’s work to Dr. Lown’s legacy:

“Dr. Lown believed that doctors had taken an ancient oath to assuage human misery, and that this commitment imposed certain social and moral obligations. He also believed that doctors possessed a special status as the guardians of our health, one of moral authority, and that they had a responsibility to use it.”

“One way Dr. Lown mobilized people was by addressing not the political issues but the human ones. Dr. Diaz’s work meets the moment, and significantly, she brings that moral authority. Her focus on the health impacts of immigration detention on children employs that same emphasis on the most fundamental of issues, not political ones, but those of human dignity.”

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💥Some of Dr. Diaz’s notable accomplishments include💥:

➡️ Advocating for the first legal needle exchange program in Miami, Florida, paving the way for statewide legislation.
➡️ Conducting pro-bono forensic medical evaluations for detained immigrants regularly since 2017, documenting their unmet health needs and advocating for lifesaving care.
➡️ Publishing peer-reviewed research, including the widely cited “Harmful by Design” that documents the negative health impacts of immigration detention.
➡️ Redesigning residency training and medical education curricula to equip young clinicians as agents of change and moral leaders in their communities.
➡️ Speaking out consistently in national media and academic forums about the health consequences of immigration detention.

10/19/2023

DIGITAL RE-CREATION EXONERATES LOWN’S CLIENT

Four Boston police officers identified Attorney Lown’s client “Brian” as an armed robber based on surveillance video. One identifying officer claimed to have known Brian for 20 years. ➡️ At the time Brian was 42 years old, had no criminal convictions and worked at a Boston housing development’s community center with at-risk youth. ➡️ Because police officers observed Brian interacting with youth who the police alleged were gang members the police used these “documented associations” to label Brian as a gang member himself and entered him in their permanent “Gang Database.”

Attorney Lown and his investigators not only defended Brian in court, they accumulated enough evidence to prove who the real suspect was. Finally, by subpoenaing the surveillance videos and dressing Brian as the robbery suspect, Lown’s team was able to reenact the robbery, a digital recreation which revealed obvious physical differences between Brian and the robber. ➡️➡️ One year later, the DA’s office agreed to drop the case. 💪👏

10/19/2023

DIGITAL RE-CREATION EXONERATES LOWN’S CLIENT

Four Boston police officers identified Attorney Lown’s client “Brian” as an armed robber based on surveillance video. One identifying officer claimed to have known Brian for 20 years. ➡️ At the time Brian was 42 years old, had no criminal convictions and worked at a Boston housing development’s community center with at-risk youth. ➡️ Because police officers observed Brian interacting with youth who the police alleged were gang members the police used these “documented associations” to label Brian as a gang member himself and entered him in their permanent “Gang Database.”

Attorney Lown and his investigators not only defended Brian in court, they accumulated enough evidence to prove who the real suspect was. Finally, by subpoenaing the surveillance videos and dressing Brian as the robbery suspect, Lown’s team was able to reenact the robbery, a digital recreation which revealed obvious physical differences between Brian and the robber. ➡️➡️ One year later, the DA’s office agreed to drop the case. 💪👏

06/29/2023

➡️Dr. Altaf Saadi’s family escaped the Saddam Hussein government, migrated to Iran, and eventually to the US. ➡️Moved by her personal experience, as a neurologist in Boston she leads Mass General’s asylum clinic. Her work has led to dozens of asylum cases being granted. She later debunked the junk science behind a phony diagnosis called “excited delirium” which police officers had been used to describe the people they arrested in so as to justify deadly force. To name but a few accomplishments….💪💪💪

Said Dr. Saadi: “When I tell people about the work that I do, a common reaction is, ‘Wow, that’s so depressing,’ or ‘Wow, that’s so hard…’ In fact, it is inspiring. It infuses me with purpose. How could I not be inspired by the resiliency of the individuals I serve?”

🎉👏Congratulations to Dr. Altaf Saadi for receiving this year’s Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility, 2023!

02/15/2023

Attorney Lown won a not guilty verdict - his sixth straight - after a trial before a judge on a DUI case in Framingham.

➡️➡️Lown’s client was almost 70 years old and was in his own driveway and walking into his home when a police officer stopped him at his front door. The officer stated that someone had called to complain about his driving. The officer then had this elderly individual do a series of balancing exercises, held him to unfair expectations and arrested him for DUI. On cross examination, the officer was exposed for failing to verify the client’s medical conditions, including the fact that he was wearing a back brace, and for disregarding all of the evidence which showed that an arrest was unjustified. The complete acquittal meant that the client could get his license and his life back. ⚖️

12/07/2022

Attorney Lown argued his client’s case before the full Pardon Board whose members voted unanimously to grant the request. It was then sent to Governor Baker who gave it his approval and soon after it was ratified by the Governor’s Council. ⚖️

➡️ Attorney Lown’s client, now 60, was arrested when he was 21 for stealing a spare tire after the car he was riding in got a flat. He accepted responsibility, pled guilty and paid restitution. He went on to raise two children as a single dad, even selling his motorcycle at a young age to fund his daughter’s private school education, and he later went on to become an electrical engineer for a defense contractor. Yet the conviction from when he was a young man still haunted him. It resulted in the state refusing to renew his gun license after a restrictive law change in 2015, and it blocked him from getting security clearance so as to rise in his company, secure a higher position and better pay. A single youthful mistake should not have this type of impact.  

➡️ Over the past 25 years, Massachusetts governors have pardoned a total of just 5 people. Pressure had built recently to increase the exercise of this “extraordinary power” with the Mass Bar Association issuing a report decrying the Pardon Board’s backlog and delays in hearing petitions. Mass ranks at the bottom of the list of states to utilize this power to forgive. We need more pardons. At least for this client, life can start anew.

11/02/2022

06/29/2022

Dr. Mona blew the whistle on Flint’s lead-water crisis, withstood ridicule and government pressure, and forced the Governor to admit that its residents - and especially its children - were being poisoned. ➡️ As a pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha saw elevated blood-lead levels in her young patients. Without access to wider data she used her own patient’s medical records to confirm the danger. ➡️ She forced the State to switch water systems, repair its rusting pipelines, and screen children for learning disabilities, - programs which continue to this day. ➡️➡️➡️ We are still waiting on broader accountability for those responsible. ⚖️ Dr. Mona was rightly selected as the winner of the Dr. Bernard Lown Award For Social Responsibility.🏆🏅🏵

06/24/2022

Time to celebrate. This was from an LLF client and friend.

Zachary Lown went above and beyond any expectations I could have had for legal representation. This having been my first time going through the legal process I was unsure of what to expect, but he made sure to adequately prepare me for what was to come and kept me informed every step of the way. Zach is an incredibly knowledgeable and competent attorney who committed themselves 100% to my case. As a result, all of my charges were dismissed. I could not have been more satisfied with how he handled my case from beginning to end. Zach is a consummate professional who I would recommend to anyone going through a hard time. He is a great attorney and above all a great person.