About Ryan Hawkins

Ryan M. Hawkins is a Senior Trial Attorney at Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers, focusing on catastrophic injury, motor vehicle collisions, construction accidents, premises liability, negligent security, medical malpractice, product liability, criminal defense, and class action litigation.

As a former Assistant District Attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Hawkins tried more than 30 cases before juries and conducted many more bench trials throughout Boston. He previously served as a judicial law clerk for the Massachusetts Appeals Court (Hon. Judd J. Carhart, ret.). Before joining Sweeney Merrigan, he worked at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities as Assistant General Counsel and then Director of the Transportation Network Company Division (the state oversight agency for rideshare companies including Uber and Lyft).

Hawkins earned his Juris Doctor from New England Law Boston and his Bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While in evening law school, he worked as a legislative aide for the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Proven verdicts and settlements at Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers

These results are credited to Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

$450 million sought

The family of Greg Sharrigan, killed when a gas leak ignited at his Maynard home in September 2021, sued Eversource for $450 million, alleging the utility detected the underground leak three years before the fatal explosion and never fixed it.

Middlesex County Superior Court · 2024Wrongful DeathRead the full story →

Peter Merrigan of Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers represented 125 Massachusetts cities and towns in claims against Johnson and Johnson and the three largest opioid distributors, recovering $84.1 million in aggregate from the national opioid settlements.

Massachusetts / Federal Court · 2022Class ActionsRead the full story →

A Middlesex Superior Court jury awarded $56 million on July 22, 2026 to Malcolm Carnwath, a 78-year-old retired realtor from Newburyport, Massachusetts. An Amazon delivery driver fell asleep and crossed the center line in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Nov. 16, 2024, causing a head-on crash. Mr. Carnwath suffered a cardiac arrest, multiple strokes with permanent brain injury, and a below-knee amputation of his left leg. Amazon accepted liability days before the two-day damages trial.

Middlesex Superior Court, Massachusetts · 2026Car AccidentsRead the full story →
$10 millionVerdict

A Franklin County Superior Court jury awarded $10 million in November 2021 to a young woman who testified that a stonemason employed by her father sexually abused her for three to four years, beginning when she was 8. The defendant had been acquitted of criminal charges in 2018. It was the largest verdict in the county's history, and with interest the Greenfield Recorder put it at about $12 million. The plaintiff sued under the pseudonym Jane Doe.

Franklin County Superior Court, Greenfield, Massachusetts · 2021Sexual AbuseRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Undergraduate

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Massachusetts

Other attorneys at Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Boston firms

Lubin & Meyer
Lubin & Meyer
$40 Million Verdict for Family of Boy Left with Cerebral Palsy After Five-Hour Delivery Delay
Swartz & Swartz
Swartz & Swartz
$18.4 million · Federal Jury Awards $18.4 Million After Lahey Clinic Doctors Cancel HIV Test, Allowing AIDS to Develop
Sugarman & Sugarman
Sugarman & Sugarman
$30.55 Million Verdict After Traveling Nurse Failed to Monitor Fetal Heart Rate at MGH
Breakstone, White & Gluck
Breakstone, White & Gluck
$56 million · Middlesex Jury Awards $56 Million to Retiree Disabled When Amazon Delivery Van Crossed the Center Line
Thornton Law Firm
Thornton Law Firm
$42.6 million · Massachusetts Jury Returns $42.6 Million Verdict Against J&J in Baby Powder Mesothelioma Case

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.