Joseph Devlin Email and Phone Number

In 2021, I formed Upton Connell & Devlin, LLP with two industry leading colleagues, Attorneys Andrew Upton and John Connell, to further my goal of providing sophisticated, high-level legal services to the hospitality industry and other alcohol related businesses in Massachusetts. With a combined 60+ years of experience in the alcohol regulatory practice area, our significant state-wide practice covers issues related to the hospitality industry, and businesses generally, including alcohol beverage licensing, acquisitions, leases and finance, for both national hospitality companies and small businesses across Massachusetts. Combined, we have worked in over 200 communities in Massachusetts, and we have developed relationships with many municipal and state officials, and industry leaders, to help achieve our clients' goals in the areas of government outreach, zoning and litigation, as well. I have completed numerous state-wide transfers for restaurant chains and hotel acquisitions, and successfully concluded countless other business transactions, working with municipal licensing commissions, boards of health, the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance, the Department of Revenue and the ABCC to deliver effective and efficient service to my clients. l am consulted by my peers, municipal licensing boards and state officials as a leading authority on liquor licensing and related issues. In 2016, I was proud to have Governor Baker adopt my statutory amendment, filed on behalf of a national retailer, and to have his office confer with me on changes to our Liquor Control Act as part of his economic development package, allowing large grocery stores to hold both off- and on-premise licenses in the same municipality and building, a restriction that has been in place for nearly 80 years. I will continue to communicate and work with the state Treasurer’s office and the MA ABCC in their endeavors to improve the Massachusetts licensing process. My work as an at-large city councilor for the City of Newburyport gave me further insight into the intersection of business and regulation that helps inform and guide my practice.