2009–10
Section Council Chairs
Access to Justice
Jayne B. Tyrrell
Jayne B. Tyrrell, a Watertown resident, is the executive
director of the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account
Program (IOLTA). She is co-chair of the Boston Bar
Association Task Force on Expanding the Right to Counsel, as well
as a member of the National Coalition on Civil Right to Counsel,
the Supreme Judicial Court Working Group on Limited Assistance
Representation and the Self-Representation Network. Tyrrell is a
former president of the National Association of IOLTA Programs
Access to Justice
James T. Van Buren
James T. Van Buren, a Fairhaven resident, has been a solo
practitioner for 29 years, and has practiced in Fitchburg for 34
years. Van Buren is serving his third year as an Access to Justice
Section chair and is also a regional delegate in the MBA House of
Delegates for Worcester County. In 2005, he was one of 21 statewide
representatives appointed to the Massachusetts Access to Justice
Commission, and is now vice chair. Van Buren previously served as
president of the Worcester County Bar Association.
Business Law
Stephen Y. Chow
Stephen Y. Chow, a resident of Boston's West End, is a partner
with Burns & Levinson LLP in Boston. He works in all aspects of
intellectual property development, financing, licensing and
litigation for chemical, electronics, financial, information
technology and life sciences enterprises. Chow was appointed a
Uniform Law Commissioner by Gov. Weld in 1995, and then reappointed
by Gov. Cellucci and Gov. Romney (on whose Judicial Nominating
Commission he also served). As a Uniform Law Commissioner and a
member of the American Law Institute Chow has worked on model laws
and restatements on electronic commerce and the intersection of
commercial and intellectual property law. Chow is also, for the
second year in a row, a regional delegate in the MBA House of
Delegates for Suffolk County and a member of the MBA's Executive
Management Board.
Business Law
Francis C. Morrissey
Francis C. Morrissey, a resident of Milton, is a partner with
Morrissey & Wilson LLC, where he focuses on commercial
litigation and insolvency matters. Morrissey has extensive
experience representing financial institutions, distressed
investors, (including hedge funds, private equity funds and
strategic investors), creditors and other interested parties in
out-of-court work outs and bankruptcy proceedings. He also teaches
bankruptcy, creditors' rights and secured transactions at Boston
University School of Law Boston and New England Law/Boston. In
addition, Morrissey presently serves as a hearing committee member
for the Board of Bar Overseers, an arbitrator for the MBA's Legal
Fee Arbitration Board and a referee for the Department of
Insurance.
Civil Litigation
Christopher A. Kenney
Christopher A. Kenney, a Sudbury resident, is a founding member
and managing shareholder of Kenney & Sams PC, where he focuses
on trial and appellate advocacy. He is also New England regional
trial counsel for several major corporations. Kenney served as a
Special Assistant Attorney General and as an adjunct faculty member
at Boston University School of Law. He was awarded the highest
rating for by the Martindale Hubbell National Law Directory, ranked
one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston magazine,
named a "Superlawyer" and included in the 2009 and 2010 editions of
The Best Lawyers in America. Kenney is president-elect of
the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and past
president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association.
Civil Litigation
Kimberly Y. Jones
Kimberly Y. Jones, a Framingham resident, is the founder of
Athena Legal Strategies Group in Boston, where her practice focuses
on providing counsel and representation to corporations, employers
and senior executives in labor and employment matters. She is an
author and frequent lecturer on employment topics. In 2008, Jones
was appointed to the Massachusetts Commission Against
Discrimination Advisory Board by Gov. Deval Patrick. She is also on
the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education,
is on the Boston Bar Journal board of editors and is a
member of the Boston Bar Association Council. Jones was recognized
as a "Rising Star" in 2006 and was named a Massachusetts "Super
Lawyer" in 2006, 2007 and 2008 by Boston magazine.
Criminal Law
Michael L. Fabbri
Michael L. Fabbri, an Ashland resident, is an assistant district
attorney with Middlesex County District Attorney's Office and has
served that office for more than 20 years. Currently, he is serving
as the office's Framingham regional supervisor. His other positions
there have included chief of the Special Investigations Unit and
deputy chief of the Appeals and Training Bureau. He has also worked
at the Attorney General's Office in Boston as an assistant attorney
general and served as deputy chief of the Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit. Prior to that, he practiced law at Bikofsky, Walker &
Tuttle in Framingham.
Criminal Law
Gloria Tan
Gloria Tan, a Newton resident, is a clinical instructor at
Harvard Law School's Criminal Justice Institute. Previously she was
a public defender staff attorney at the Committee for Public
Counsel Services in both the Boston Trial Unit and the Youth
Advocacy Project. Tan also lectures and teaches Massachusetts
Continuing Legal Education courses and has served as a panelist at
juvenile law conferences. She also serves as a member of the
Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and on the Board of
Directors of the Asian American Lawyers Association of
Massachusetts.
Family Law
Thomas J. Barbar
Thomas J. Barbar, a resident of Boston's South End, is a
principal with the family law department at Deutsch Williams,
Brooks, DeRensis & Holland PC in Boston, where his practice
concentrates on probate and domestic relations. Previously, Barbar
was a solo practitioner in West Roxbury. He has testified at the
Statehouse on behalf of the MBA regarding family law bills, as well
as been a panel participant and chair for probate and family law
issues for the Boston Bar Association and the MBA. Barbar is also
serving on the MBA's 2009-10 Budget and Finance Committee.
Family Law
Veronica J. Fenton
Veronica J. Fenton is a solo practitioner in her hometown of
Lenox. Her practice concentrates on family law including divorce,
custody, modification, paternity and adoption. An active member of
the Family Law Section for nearly a decade, she is serving her
seventh year on the association's Executive Management Board.
Fenton is also serving her third year on the Joint Alimony Task
Force of the MBA and BBA. She has also been on the faculty for MBA
education programs and the planning committee for the MBA's Family
Law Conference. Previously, Fenton was a law clerk for Judge
Charles J. Bowser Jr. in the Probate and Family Court, was an
associate at the Boston office of Bingham McCutchen LLP and legal
counsel for the Department of Social Services.
General Practice, Solo & Small Firm
John B. DiSciullo
John B. DiSciullo, a Newton resident, is a partner at Mitchell
& DeSimone in Boston, where he practices civil litigation in
areas including plaintiff's personal injury, insurance defense,
insurance coverage, business disputes and construction defects. He
has been recognized in Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts
Rising Star and Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since
2005.
General Practice, Solo & Small Firm
Peter T. Elikann
Peter T. Elikann, a resident of Boston's Beacon Hill, is an
author, Boston-based criminal defense attorney and regular expert
legal commentator on the Court TV and other networks. He is a
former television news reporter whose previous books are
Superpredators: The Demonization of Our Children by the
Law (Perseus, 1999) and The Tough On Crime Myth
(Plenum, 1996). A longtime MBA member, Elikann is a former chair of
the Criminal Justice Section Council. He has been recognized in
Boston Magazine as a Massachusetts and New England Super
Lawyer.
Health Law
Jacqueline Petrillo
Jacqueline Petrillo, a Reading resident, serves as a faculty
member at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, where she focuses on
the areas of medication errors and patient safety. She is also a
founding member of Petrillo Legal LLC in Reading. Previously,
Petrillo practiced at Sugarman and Sugarman PC in Boston, where she
concentrated in the areas of negligence, wrongful death, premises
liability, motor vehicle torts and medical malpractice.
Health Law
George M. Thompson Jr.
George M. Thompson Jr. practices at Sager & Schaffer LLP in
Westborough. A Westborough resident, he is a member and former
chairman of the Westborough Board of Selectmen and served on the
Westborough School Committee from 2000 to 2006. Thompson is an
adjunct professor of insurance law at Southern New England School
of Law in Dartmouth and is currently on the Advisory Board of
Health Law Advocates.
Immigration Law
Marisa A. DeFranco
Marisa A. DeFranco practices at The Law Office of Marisa
DeFranco in Salem. She specializesin business-based immigration,
family immigration, as well as the representation of children in
the foster care system. DeFranco has been a member of the American
Immigration Lawyers Association since 1998, and has served as a
director on the National Board of Governors and as president of the
New England Chapter, 2005-06. DeFranco is also a state commissioner
on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, also
serving as treasurer.
Immigration Law
Elizabeth Goss
Elizabeth Goss, a resident of Boston's South End, practices at
Tocci Goss & Lee PC in Boston. She specializes in the
representation of physicians, researchers, trainees and students in
the higher education and health care fields securing their
temporary and permanent visas. She is nationally recognized for her
expertise in representing professors, scientists, and artists under
the extraordinary ability, outstanding researcher, and national
interest waiver immigrant visa categories. She is a member of the
American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Association of
International Educators.
Individual Rights & Responsibilities
Laurence M. Johnson
Laurence M. Johnson is a shareholder at Davis, Malm &
D'Agostine PC in Boston, where he practices in the area of trials
and appeals of complex business litigation. He has been named a
Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year between 2004 and 2008.
Johnson is president, trustee, and an Oliver Wendell Holmes life
fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the philanthropic
entity of the MBA. He is also a member of both the Massachusetts
IOLTA Committee and Supreme Judicial Court Law Clerks' Society and,
for over 30 years, a director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law. Johnson is a member of the Boston Bar Association
and American Bar Association as well as a life member of the
American Law Institute and an elected Fellow of the American
College of Trial Lawyers. He lives in Randolph with his wife,
Margie Serrano.
Individual Rights & Responsibilities
Steven L. Wollman
Steven L. Wollman is a partner at Davids & Wollman in
Swampscott, where he concentrates his practice in domestic
relations and cases with the Department of Children and Families.
He has served on the MBA's House of Delegates, Executive Management
Board and Community Services Committee. The first Massachusetts Bar
Foundation Fellow to become an Oliver Wendell Holmes Fellow,
Wollman's work within the foundation has also earned him the MBF's
Great Friend of Justice Award and the Ronan Award for Jurisprudence
from the Essex County Bar Association. He lives with his wife of
over 20 years, Nora Wollman, in Peabody, where he is an avid
fisherman.
Judicial Administration
Hon. Gordon L. Doerfer (ret.)
Hon Gordon L. Doerfer (ret.), a Needham resident, is a mediator
and arbitrator on the panel of neutrals at JAMS, The Resolution
Experts in Boston, where he specializes in the arbitration and
mediation of business disputes. He is also on the adjunct faculty
of Suffolk University Law School, where he teaches trial practice
and previously served as adjunct faculty at Boston College Law
School. Doerfer retired from the bench after 25 years of service,
including four years on the Boston Municipal Court, 15 years on the
Superior Court and six years as an associate justice of the
Massachusetts Appeals Court. Doerfer is a recipient of a Judicial
Excellence Award from the Massachusetts Judges Conference.
Previously, he was an associate and junior partner in civil
litigation at Nutter McLennan and Fish and a partner at Palmer and
Dodge, both in Boston.
Judicial Administration
James C. Donnelly Jr.
James C. Donnelly Jr., a Worcester resident, is a partner at
Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee LLP in Worcester, where he
concentrates his practice on complex civil litigation and business
disputes. Donnelly has more than 30 years of experience in trial
and appellate courts in Massachusetts, and was recently appointed
the chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court to the
Business Litigation Session Advisory Committee. He is a trustee and
current president of the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester. He has
served in the past as a trustee and treasurer of the American
Antiquarian Society, a trustee of the Worcester Center for Crafts.
He is currently a corporator of the greater Worcester Community
Foundation and the Worcester Art Museum.
Juvenile & Child Welfare
Peter A. Hahn
Peter A. Hahn, a Cambridge resident, practices at Hilton,
Sindelar & Hahn in Newton, where he advocates for families and
children in many practice areas, including juvenile delinquency and
CHINS cases, Department of Children and Families investigations and
Fair Hearings, student discipline and special education matters,
and criminal cases for young adults and people with disabilities.
Hahn previously served on both the MBA's Criminal Justice Section
Council and the Juvenile Justice Practice Group. He is a former
middle and high school teacher.
Juvenile & Child Welfare
Martha Rush O'Mara
Martha Rush O'Mara, a Melrose resident, practices at the Law
Office of Martha Rush O'Mara in the area of children's law in the
Boston Juvenile Court and the Probate and Family Court. An attorney
for nearly 20 years, Rush O'Mara serves as a regional delegate in
the MBA House of Delegates for Middlesex County. She also sits on
the MBA's Executive Management Board, Governance Committee and
Membership Committee. Rush O'Mara is chair of the Board of
Directors of the Mass. Legal Assistance Corp and is serving her
second term on the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account
Committee.
Labor & Employment Law
Thomas J. Gallitano
Thomas J. Gallitano is a partner at Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal
Peisch & Ford LLP in Boston, where he has a diverse civil and
commercial litigation practice concentrating in the areas of
employment law, professional liability and business litigation. He
serves as co-chair of the firm's Employment Law Practice Group and
on the firm's Management Committee. Gallitano was recognized in
2004, 2005 and 2006 by Boston magazine as a Massachusetts
Super Lawyer. In 2007 and 2008 he was recognized as a Top 100 Super
Lawyer in both Massachusetts and New England in the areas of
employment and business litigation. In 2007, Gallitano was
appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve as Chair of the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) Advisory
Board. He is also a past hearing officer for the Massachusetts
Board of Bar Overseers. Gallitano lives in Brookline, where he is a
member of Town Meeting and coaches youth soccer.
Labor & Employment Law
Dahlia C. Rudavsky
Dahlia C. Rudavsky is a partner in the Boston firm of Messing,
Rudavsky & Weliky PC, where she concentrates her practice on
the representation of individual employees and unions, with an
emphasis on discrimination cases. She was named one of
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's "Lawyers of the Year" for
1999, in 2002 was recognized by Boston magazine in its
"Best of Boston" list of employment law attorneys, and in 2005 was
a Massachusetts Super Lawyer and one of the Top 50 Female Super
Lawyers identified by Boston magazine. She has been named
a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since. Rudavsky is the past
chair of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association's
MCAD/EEOC Committee, and is a former member of the steering
committee of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. She has
served as lecturer in law at Harvard Law School, where she taught
labor law. She lives in Newton.
Law Practice Management
Rodney S. Dowell
Rodney S. Dowell is director of the Massachusetts Law Office
Management Assistance Program, which assists Massachusetts
attorneys in establishing and institutionalizing professional
office practices and procedures in order to increase their ability
to deliver high quality legal services, strengthen client services
and enhance their quality of life. Prior to starting LOMAP, he was
a founding partner at the litigation firm of Berman & Dowell,
where he focused on employment law, tort defense and insurance
coverage from 1998 to 2007. He lives in Melrose.
Law Practice Management
Andrea Goldman
Andrea Goldman is the principal at the Law Office of Andrea
Goldman in Newton, where she focuses on helping parties resolve
disputes in construction, homeowner/contractor, real estate and
business matters through litigation, arbitration and mediation.
Goldman also advises construction and corporate clients on
contracts and other legal issues in managing their businesses. She
is a member of the American Bar Association where she is the
co-chair of the Construction Law Committee of the General Practice,
Solo and Small Firm Division. She is also a member of the Women's
Bar Association, and was co-chair of their Middlesex County
Committee and runs a mentoring circle. She lives in Newton.
Probate Law
John G. Dugan
John G. Dugan is a partner at Doherty, Ciechanowski, Dugan &
Cannon PC in Franklin, where he concentrates his practice on trusts
and estates, probate practice and family law. He is a former vice
president of the MBA and is a past president of both the Bar
Association of Norfolk County and the Western Norfolk County Bar
Association. In 1999, he was awarded the Outstanding Service Award
by South Middlesex Legal Services Inc. He lives in Millis.
Probate Law
Janice C. Nigro
Janice C. Nigro is a partner at Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas LLP
in Wakefield, where she practices in the areas of probate
administration and litigation, trust litigation, estate planning
and elder law. She is a member of the Essex County Bar Association,
First District Eastern Middlesex Bar Association, Newburyport Bar
Association, Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, National
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Massachusetts National
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Nigro is board member of The Angel
Fund, a non-profit organization with goals of raising research
funds and awareness for ALS, and a past board member of Christ
Church Nursery School in Hamilton. She lives in Hamilton.
Property Law
Elizabeth J. Barton
Elizabeth J. Barton, a resident of Natick, is a title insurance
underwriter with CATIC in its Eastern Massachusetts office. Before
joining CATIC, Barton conducted title examinations and managed
other examiners for Attorneys Title Services in Wellesley and at
the Suffolk District Registry of Deeds. Following her work as an
underwriter for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, she
practiced law with a small commercial firm in Andover. Barton
lectures for the MBA, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and
the Real Estate Bar Association. Barton is also a member of the
Middlesex County Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association, REBA
and the Merrimac Valley Bar Association.
Property Law
Laurel H. Siegel
Laurel H. Siegel has practiced commercial and residential real
estate law for 15 years. Prior to starting her solo practice in
2008, Siegel was a principal at Siegel, Wagner & Swartz LLC in
Boston, where she was the managing member of the real estate
department. Previously, Siegel practiced at Kotin, Crabtree &
Strong LLC. Siegel was one of the real estate "Rising Stars" in
Law & Politics magazine's Super Lawyers listings in
2006 and 2007. Siegel is a member of REBA and serves on its
legislative committee. The Medford resident is on the Board of
Directors of the Medford Square Market, a member of the Medford
Chamber of Commerce and involved with the Medford Green Line
Neighborhood Alliance.
Public Law
Margaret J. Hurley
Margaret J. Hurley is chief of the Attorney General's Central
Massachusetts Regional Office and director of the Attorney
General's Municipal Law Unit in Worcester. Previously, She worked
in private practice in Boston and Worcester representing various
cities and towns. Hurley serves on the Executive Committees of the
City Solicitor and Town Counsel Association and the Worcester
County Bar Association. She is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar
Foundation and a Hearing Committee member of the Board of Bar
Overseers. The Grafton resident has served on the Planning Board
and Town Administrator Screening Committee.
Public Law
Barbara J. Saint Andre
Barbara J. Saint Andre is a principal of Petrini &
Associates PC in Framingham, where she concentrates on municipal
and land use law and litigation. Previously, she served as a
principal at Kopelman and Paige PC in Boston in the area of
municipal law, practiced general law at Murphy, Lamere and Murphy
in Braintree and served one year as a Massachusetts Superior Court
law clerk. Saint Andre is a member of the Real Estate Bar
Association and the City Solicitors and Town Counsel
Association.
Taxation Law
Thomas G. Collins
Thomas G. Collins, a resident of Needham, is a partner at
McCarter & English, LLP in Boston, where he focuses on
tax-exempt financing and business tax planning. Collins co-authored
the chapter on "Tax-Exempt Bonds" in Commerce Clearing House's
Federal Tax Service, and is a frequent lecturer. An American
Bar Association member, Collins has served as the chair of the
Committee on Low-Income Taxpayers of the ABA's Section of Taxation,
as vice chair of the Public Construction Financing Committee of the
ABA's Section of Public Contract Law and as a member of the ABA's
Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. Collins is also a member of
the National Association of Bond Lawyers.
Taxation Law
Lisa M. Rico
Lisa Rico, an Ashland resident, is a partner in the Estate
Planning Group at Gilmore, Rees & Carlson PC, focusing on
estate planning, probate and tax law. She also provides tax advice
to partnerships and other pass through entities. She has authored
numerous materials on estate planning issues. Rico is co-vice chair
of the Estate Planning and Administration for Business Owners,
Farmers and Ranchers Committee of the ABA's Real Property, Trust
& Estate Law Section and was previously on both the ABA Real
Property, Trust & Estate Law Section's Income and Transfer Tax
Planning Group's Task Force as well as its Business Planning
Group's Task Force.
Young Lawyers Division
David S. Bradley
David S. Bradley is a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney
in the Major Felony Bureau and is the point prosecutor for
non-fatal arsons. During his six years in the office, Bradley has
handled all aspects of criminal cases and worked on a wide array of
cases. He has also handled cases through the appeals process,
successfully arguing cases in the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Previously, Bradley worked in private practice at Craig and
Macauley PC and volunteered at Shelter Legal Services.