Eva Jellison (she, her, hers) is a criminal defense attorney and partner at Jellison & Nathanson, LLP. She represents adults and juveniles in post-conviction and post-adjudication matters, including parole, students in university/ college Title IX and disciplinary matters, and athletes and referees in disciplinary matters brought by amateur athletics governing bodies. She has particular experience in criminal and juvenile appeals, motions for new trial, and motions for post-conviction forensic testing.
Attorney Jellison is certified by the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services to litigate juvenile and adult murder appeals and post-conviction motions. In Commonwealth v. Levesque, 104 Mass.App.Ct. 607 (2024), she overturned a second-degree murder conviction at the Massachusetts Appeals Court based upon an instructional error. In Commonwealth v. Correia, 492 Mass. 220 (2023), she convinced the Supreme Judicial Court to adopt greater protections against the admission of defendants' rap lyrics and hold that prosecutors may not reference a defendant's pre-arrest silence. And in 2022, she convinced the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office to join her motion to reduce Angela Jefferson's first-degree murder conviction to a second-degree conviction, which was allowed. She then assisted Ms. Jefferson at her parole hearing, after which Ms. Jefferson was released. Attorney Jellison has assisted several other clients in being released on parole. She also acted as co-counsel in several murder trial cases.
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Attorney Jellison has also been called upon by the Committee for Public Counsel Services to author amicus briefs in important cases. In Commonwealth v. Rivera, 482 Mass. 145 (2019), she helped to convince the SJC that simply lying to the police is insufficient to support a conviction of accessory after the fact to murder. She argued for a reasonable juvenile standard in place of a reasonable person standard to recognize the different neuropsychological capabilities of juveniles and adults in briefs filed in Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter, 474 Mass. 624 (2016) and Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter, 481 Mass. 352 (2019). She also argued for a constitutional right to access medical marijuana on behalf of a probationer in Commonwealth v. Vargas, 475 Mass. 86 (2016).
Attorney Jellison has fought hard and successfully to keep children from being harmed by the juvenile justice system. In Commonwealth v. Manolo M., 486 Mass. 678 (2021), she convinced the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) to interpret G.L. c. 119, § 52 to require the pre-arraignment dismissal of all minor misdemeanors arising out of a child’s first episode of criminal conduct, resulting in the dismissal of three charges against her client and ensuring that Commonwealth cannot simply charge a child with multiple offenses to avoid criminal justice reform. In Ashe A. v. Commonwealth, 483 Mass. 1005 (2019), she convinced the SJC to hold that the Legislature's decriminalization of disturbing a grade or high school assembly applied retroactively to cases pending where the legislation went into effect, which resulted in her client’s case being dismissed. And in Lazlo. L. v. Commonwealth, 482 Mass. 325 (2019), she convinced the SJC to dismiss the cases of all children ages 7-11 which were pending when the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act went into effect.
Even when Attorney Jellison has been unsuccessful in getting relief for her client, her cases have produced rulings that can be used by attorneys to protect children future children from the harms of criminal legal involvement. See Commonwealth v. Manolo M., 496 Mass. 244, 257 n.6, 258 n.8, 262 n.9 (2025) (suggesting potential jury instructions and permitting reference to social science articles in briefs); Commonwealth v. Karen K., 491 Mass. 165, 173 (2023) (instructing lower courts to elicit descriptions of behavior rather than using vague police-specific terms like “blading”); Commonwealth v. Oswaldo O., 94 Mass. App. Ct. 550 (2018) (collateral immigration consequences for a juvenile mean a case is not moot).
In addition, Attorney Jellison understands that every criminal or criminal adjacent matter is critically important to her clients and their family members and friends, and she is willing to pursue all manner of relief. Attorney Jellison has obtained sentencing, expungement, and sealing relief for a variety of clients. She has also argued successfully in numerous clerk's hearings, ensuring that criminal charges did not issue against her clients.
Attorney Jellison graduated from Stanford University in 2009 and Northeastern University School of Law in 2013. She served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Dana Fabe of the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska before joining our predecessor firm in 2014, and becoming a partner in 2019. Attorney Jellison is a board member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association (2020-present) and was the Co-Chair of the Board from 2023-2026 and a co-chair of its Committee for Transgender Inclusion from 2014-2020. Attorney Jellison also serves on the Juvenile & Child Welfare Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
Attorney Jellison was a National LGBTQ+ Bar Best 40 Lawyers Under 40 in 2025. She was named a Lawyers Weekly Up & Coming Lawyer for 2020. She has been a Super Lawyers Rising Star seven years in a row, 2020 through 2026.