Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2021 
J. Nathan Cole is the Founding and Managing Partner of Cole Law Partners, P.C., a Massachusetts construction and commercial litigation firm he founded in 2025. For more than twenty years, he has represented owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and businesses in construction payment disputes, Prompt Pay Act claims, mechanic’s liens, delay, defect and change order claims, contract disputes, and complex commercial litigation, through trial, arbitration and appeal.
In 2026, Attorney Cole argued J.C. Cannistraro, LLC v. Columbia Construction Co. before the Supreme Judicial Court. The Court reversed the vacatur of an arbitration award in his subcontractor client’s favor, in a decision addressing the Prompt Pay Act. That same year, he represented the National Electrical Contractors Association of Greater Boston, the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association, the New England Mechanical Contractors Association, the Building Trades Employers’ Association, and Construction Industries of Massachusetts as amici curiae in Cella v. Attorney General, 497 Mass. 706 (2026).
He began his career as an Attorney-Advisor in the Ethics Division of the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce, then served as Law Clerk to the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court. He later practiced at Tucker, Heifetz & Saltzman and became a partner at Heifetz Rose. Before founding Cole Law Partners, he was a shareholder at Kenney & Sams, P.C. In its first year, Cole Law Partners was recognized in Chambers Spotlight Massachusetts 2027 for Construction, ranked in Best Law Firms 2027 for Construction Law (National Tier 3; Boston Tier 1), and named a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Top New Law Firm.
Attorney Cole is a leader in the construction and defense bars. He is President-Elect of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association and has chaired its Construction Law Committee since 2022. He chairs the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Real Estate Development and Construction Law Practice Group, and he serves on the MCLE Civil Litigation Curriculum Advisory Committee. In the International Association of Defense Counsel, he chaired the Construction Law and Litigation Committee from 2022 to 2024, serves as Northeast Regional Chair of the Membership Committee, and is a graduate of the 2015 IADC Trial Academy. He speaks regularly for the IADC, MassDLA, MCLE, the Boston Bar Association and NECA Greater Boston, on topics including mechanic’s liens, construction manager at-risk contracting, liquidated damages and contract negotiation. He also writes for contractors in Modern Contractor Solutions and the New England Real Estate Journal.
Attorney Cole has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America since 2021. He has been selected to Massachusetts Super Lawyers every year since 2017, after being named a Rising Star from 2013 through 2015. He was named a BTI Client Service All-Star in 2022, holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating, and has been named a Boston Magazine Top Lawyer [years]. Before law school, he earned a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton captain’s license at nineteen and captained harbor tour and whale watch boats out of Plymouth.
Education: J.D., Boston College Law School (2003); B.A., Bates College (1997).
Admissions: Massachusetts (2004); New Hampshire (2020); U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
