e-Journal
08-30
MBA 2012-13 officers begin term
The Massachusetts Bar Association slate of officers for the
2012-13 term has officially been set. Robert L. Holloway Jr., the
2011-12 president-elect, automatically succeeds to the office of
the president on September 1.
During his term, Holloway encourages all MBA members to actively
participate in the MBA through FREE section membership, social
events, advocacy and pro bono work -- to reap professional
benefits.
Here is the list of the officers and some of their
achievements.
Robert L. Holloway Jr.
President
Holloway is a shareholder and president of MacLean,
Holloway, Doherty, Ardiff & Morse PC in Peabody. He is a
long-term member of the MBA's Ethics Committee, a member and past
chair of the MBA's Civil Litigation Section Council, former
chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and a former
regional delegate to the MBA House of Delegates, the governing body
of the MBA. Holloway received the MBA's Community Service
Award in 1993 and served on the Joint Bar Committee on
Judicial Nominations for six years. In August 2009, Holloway began
a three-year appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court's
Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services. He volunteers
as a judge for moot court arguments at Boston University School of
Law and Harvard Law School, and as a trial advisor in the Harvard
Trial Workshop program. A regular panelist for continuing
legal education programs, Holloway also is an emeritus member of
the Board of Editors of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly,
having served on that board since 1981. Recognized by
Boston Magazine as a "Super Lawyer" in the area of
business litigation, he is also a past president of the
Essex County Bar Association. A Topsfield resident, he is
a former member of the Board of Health and was an elected
representative to the Masconomet Regional School Committee
from 1990 to 1999. Holloway was also a director of the
Topsfield Athletic Association for many years and served as the
organization's president. Prior to that, he served as member
and chair of the Danvers Recreation Committee. In addition,
Holloway was a founding member of Hospice of the North Shore
and served as a corporator of Beverly Hospital.
Douglas K. Sheff
President-elect
A senior partner at Sheff Law in Boston, Sheff is a
nationally renowned brain injury litigation expert and specializes
in all aspects of personal injury law. He is also a member of the
MBA's Executive Management Board and Budget and Finance Committee.
In addition, he served as treasurer, two terms as MBA vice
president, as MBA secretary and as chair of the MBA Civil
Litigation Section. Sheff is chair of the Workplace Safety Task
Force and has also served as chair of the MBA Membership Committee
and as co-chair of the MBA Centennial Conference and Ball. He is
also a fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of the MBA. Sheff is a past president of the
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, serving on its Board of
Governors for more than 20 years. He was recently honored with
MATA's inaugural Excellence in Advocacy Award for his
representation of children and adults who have suffered traumatic
brain injury. Sheff also holds the title of governor to the
American Association of Justice, where he has spent more than 20
years working nationally and locally on issues that affect the
trial bar. Elected by his national peers, Sheff is a past chair of
the AAJ's State Delegates and served as chair of its Council of
Presidents, representing 50,000 attorneys nationwide. Sheff is a
recipient of the AAJ's Next Generation Award and a seven-time
recipient of its Wiedeman Wysocki Award. He was appointed a trustee
of the National College of Advocacy. Sheff received the ORT Award
for integrity in the law, and as a Boston magazine "Super
Lawyer." He lives in the North End.
Robert W. Harnais
Vice President
Harnais is with Mahoney Diamond and Harnais Law
Offices in Quincy, where his general practice concentrates on
criminal law, family law, real estate, labor and consumer law. A
past MBA secretary, he has sat on the MBA's governing body -- House
of Delegates -- since 2006, has been a member of its Executive
Management Board and has served as co-chair of the MBA Task Force
on Diversity. He is a past president of both the Massachusetts
Association of Hispanic Attorneys and the National Hispanic Bar
Association, and remains highly involved with both
organizations. He is also a member of the Norfolk County Bar
Association. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the Race and
Ethnic Advisory Board for the Massachusetts courts. Harnais
received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Boston in
1984 and graduated from New England Law | Boston in 1989. He is
chairman of the Braintree Planning Board and is a football official
and former coach with Braintree Pop Warner. He lives in Braintree
with his wife, Leslie, and their children.
Christopher P. Sullivan
Vice President
Sullivan is a partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller
& Ciresi LLP in Boston, where he focuses on the civil jury
trials of complex litigation matters, such as financial and
securities cases and intellectual property. Sullivan has previously
served as an MBA member-at-large of the House of Delegates and as a
member of the Executive Management Board. He also sat on the Civil
Litigation and Business Law section councils. Sullivan also served
as tri-chair of the Federal Practices and Procedures Committee. In
addition to his MBA involvement, Sullivan has served as president
of the Massachusetts chapter of the Federal Bar Association
(2010-2011) and is currently the FBA's vice president for the First
Circuit. He has also served as an instructor for the National
Institute of Trial Advocacy. As an accomplished trial lawyer,
Sullivan has been named a New England "Super Lawyer" by Super
Lawyers magazine every year since 2004. Sullivan graduated
from the College of Holy Cross in Worcester in 1971, and he is
currently an Executive Board Member of the Holy Cross Lawyers
Association. He went on to receive his J.D. from Fordham University
Law School in 1975, and is New England Chapter Vice President of
the Fordham University Law School Alumni. He is a resident of
Hingham.
Marsha V. Kazarosian
Treasurer
Kazarosian is managing partner of Kazarosian Law
Offices in Haverhill, where she concentrates in civil rights
litigation, family law and discrimination. Kazarosian previously
served as an MBA secretary and vice president. Former chair of both
the MBA's Education Committee and the Technology Implementation
Task Force, she has served on numerous committees and councils. In
addition, Kazarosian is a life fellow of the Massachusetts Bar
Foundation, the philanthropic partner of the MBA. She is a past
president of the Essex County Bar Association and the Massachusetts
Academy of Trial Attorneys. Kazarosian was among the Top Women in
the Law celebrated by Massachusetts Lawyers
Weekly in 2011. In 1999, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
named her one of the top 10 lawyers in the commonwealth after
successfully suing the Haverhill Golf and Country Club for gender
discrimination. She has been identified as one of the top woman
lawyers in Massachusetts and New England since 2006, when
Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine chose her for its
cover story titled, "The Power of Marsha Kazarosian." Kazarosian
also served a two-year term as one of 25 lawyers in the state
appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Pro Bono
Panel, and a six-year term as a Hearings Committee Officer for the
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. In 2005, Kazarosian debuted
as the host of her own internet radio program on the Legal Talk
Network. Kazarosian is a corporator of the Pentucket Five Cents
Savings Bank and was a member of the Essex County 150th
Anniversary Committee. She has also served as a board member of the
Northern Essex Community College Foundation. Kazarosian received
her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1978 and
went on to earn her law degree from Suffolk University Law School
in 1982. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover. She
lives in Haverhill.
Martha Rush O'Mara
Secretary
O'Mara operates the Law Office of Martha Rush
O'Mara, where she focuses her practice in children's law. She
previously co-chaired the MBA's Juvenile & Child Welfare Law
Section and served on the Law Practice Management Section Council.
She also serves as an MBA designee on the Board of Directors of the
Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) and sits on the
association's Executive Management Board, as well as its governance
and membership committees. A former president of the Massachusetts
Association of Women Lawyers, Rush O'Mara previously served two
terms on the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account
Committee (IOLTA), as well as two terms as a Hearing Officer for
the Board of Bar Overseers. Rush O'Mara serves as a judge for the
MBA's annual Mock Trial Program and has served as a mock trial
judge at Brandeis University and for the ABA's National Appellate
Advocacy Competition. Rush O'Mara devotes a significant amount of
time to her volunteer work in the Massachusetts legal community,
supporting pro bono projects and mentoring law school students and
recent graduates. Rush O'Mara received her B.S. from Salem State
College in 1974 and went onto to earn her law degree from New
England Law | Boston in 1990. She lives in Melrose.
Featured member benefit: MBA On Demand goes mobile
Belong to the MBA and watch all previously recorded MBA On Demand programs on your mobile device
Watching an MBA seminar or
conference just got easier. All previously recorded
MBA On Demand programs are now available anytime, anywhere on your
mobile device.
Now you can take MBA On Demand with you everywhere you go. Watch
any recorded program at a time that suits your schedule. Whether
you are in your home, office or traveling, MBA On Demand is here to
help you conveniently access the information you need.
MBA On Demand is supported by iPad, iPhone, iPod, Blackberry,
Tablet and Android mobile devices with Wi-fi or cellular data
connection. You get the same experience as on a PC or Mac.
Visit www.MassBar.org/OnDemandHelp for system
requirements. Click here for
information on how to access your purchased MBA On Demand
programs.
Updated Pro Bono Opportunities Guide available online
For many years, the Massachusetts Bar Association has offered to
its members an opportunity to access statewide and local
organizations that are in need of pro bono services from attorneys,
law students and paralegals. These services can range from actual
client representation to the training of staff. The MBA supports
attorneys in the commonwealth in their efforts to provide pro bono
services to those of limited means. A recently updated list of more
than 100 agencies, with a wide range of legal needs, is available
online.
To identify a volunteer opportunity that meets your needs, you
may search by keyword, category and/or county. To access
the guide,
click here. Be sure to check back throughout the year
to stay aware of seasonal opportunities or late additions to the
guide.
Help
us expand the Pro Bono Opportunities Guide
If you currently volunteer for an organization which is not listed
in the guide, or are aware of other organizations in need of pro
bono assistance, please let us know so that we may offer them an
opportunity to be listed in the guide.
Additionally, if you have found a pro bono opportunity through the
guide, we'd like to hear from you. Contact the Community Services
Department at (617) 338-0695 or [e-mail communityservices].
FREE Managing Your Work Search Process Series
Learn to successfully navigate a difficult job market with educational programs focused on strategies to help you optimize your professional strengths.
Join in a FREE 8-session series,
"Managing Your Work Search Process," designed to provide unemployed
lawyers with information and support, in a challenging legal
marketplace.
- Are you a lawyer between jobs?
- Are you dealing with a layoff?
Learn to successfully navigate a
difficult job market. This series will provide strategies to help
you optimize your professional strengths. Topics include tips on
networking and information interviews, improving your
marketability, how to ultize social media and resume and cover
letter writing samples.
All programs will be held at the MBA, 20 West St., Boston.
NOTE: Registration is required and limited to 30 people.
Part I: Getting Started --
Identification of Skills, Experience and Professional
Interests
Wednesday, Sept. 5, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part II: The Documents -- Resume, Cover Letters and Writing
Samples
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part III: Strategic Outreach -- Managing the Networking
Process
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part IV: Strategic Outreach -- Use
of Social Media in the Search Process
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part V:
Strategic Outreach -- The Personal
Connection
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part VI:
Personal Presentation -- Interviewing Skills
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part VII: Mental Self-Management -- Staying Positive, Proactive
and Motivated
Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-noon
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Part VIII: Moving Forward -- Making the Most of What
Is
Wednesday, Jan. 2, 10 a.m.-noon
Upcoming CLE seminar and program schedule
Review how to successfully represent a client charged with OUI at the Sept. 26 "Representing the OUI client" seminar.
To register for the following
programs, call MBA Member Services at (617) 338-0530,
[e-mail membership] or visit the
CLE Web site. Scroll down for program
details, including dates and registration details.
Recorded session available for purchase
after live program through MBA On Demand.
Real-time webcast available for purchase
through MBA On Demand.
UPCOMING FALL PROGRAMS
Managing Your Work
Search Process: Getting Started -- Identification of Skills,
Experience and Professional Interests
Wednesday, Sept. 5, 10 a.m.- noon
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
How to
Handle a Residential Real Estate Closing 
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 3-7 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
Public
Construction Law Update
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 4-6 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
Trust
Administration for Disabled Minors and Adults
Wednesday, Sept. 19, noon-4 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
Managing Your Work
Search Process: The Documents -- Resume, Cover Letters and Writing
Samples
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m.- noon
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
How to Start and Build a Successful Immigration Law
Practice
Friday, Sept. 21, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
iPad for
Litigators
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 4-6:30 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
Representing the OUI
Client
Wednesday, Sept. 26, 4-7 p.m.
Massachusetts School of Law, 500 Federal St., Andover
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Unable to attend these seminars? Purchase the recorded session
available after the live program through
MBA On Demand and watch the presentation from the comfort of
your home or office.
To view a listing of current programs offered on MBA On Demand, click here.
LPM Tip
Connecting the silos in your law firm
A big marketing challenge for law firms is to figure out how to
speak with one voice. Unlike businesses where the products or
services are easily described, a law firm may offer a broad mix of
intangible services. So even a partnership with five attorneys
might have the expertise to handle over two dozen types of
matters.
In reality, however, there is no effective way for five lawyers
to communicate two dozen services to the legal marketplace. A
successful marketing strategy needs to be considerably more
focused. Rattling off 20 things when someone asks what you do is
simply not effective. It does little to differentiate you from any
other law firm; and it ensures that you will be completely
unmemorable.
A better strategy is to do some assessment and planning and
decide where you might get the most return on your marketing
investment. In other words ask yourselves:
- Which practice areas does the firm want to grow?
- Where do the partners believe they have the best opportunities
to generate new business (i.e. taking into account the realities of
the marketplace)?
- Given the relationships that partners have with potential
clients and referral sources, where are the best opportunities to
go prospecting?
Businesses in most other industries (including accounting firms
and other professional services providers), understand the
importance of taking the time to do this kind of planning
periodically.
Unfortunately, many law firm partnerships never take the time to
have these discussions. A lot of law firms operate more like an
association of service providers who share expenses. Each lawyer
stays in his or her own silo and not much is decided on a firm-wide
or even practice group level.
But a group of lawyers can market much more effectively as a
firm. By focusing on the "best opportunities" and by getting every
partner on the "same page", a firm can increase the likelihood that
its message is getting through the noise. And with the increased
competition in the legal marketplace and the explosion of email
marketing and social media in the past decade, this is no easy
feat.
So how does your firm measure up? Have you taken the time to
survey the partners in your firm and come up with a consensus about
where the firm should focus its marketing energies? Do you all
describe the firm in the same way? One place to start is to use a
marketing audit tool that appeared in Law Practice
Magazine several years ago. If that doesn't move the
conversation forward, then maybe it is time to get some outside
help.
Tip courtesy of Stephen Seckler, president, Seckler Legal
Consulting and Coaching.
Published August 30, 2012
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To learn more about the Law Practice Management
Section, which is complimentary for all MBA members,
contact LPM Section Chair Thomas J. Barbar or Vice
Chair Stephen
Seckler.
News from the courts
Superior Court Business Litigation Session issues new procedural orders
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Superior Court Business Litigation
Session issues new procedural orders
The Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court has issued
two new procedural orders.
The
first relates to partial dispositive motions, to ensure each
motion and its disposition will substantially advance the
litigation. The second
provides for telephone participation by attorneys in certain
hearings and conferences upon request.
The Business Litigation Session accepts cases upon initiation of
any party. Administrative Directive 09-1 describes the procedure
and selection criteria for admission. Both orders become effective
Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012.
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Section News: Upcoming meetings and special section events
Attend the Animal Law Practice Group meeting on Sept. 4. Join in the Sept. 27 Labor & Employment Section open meeting on MCAD's new ADR initiative.
Animal Law Practice Group
meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 4, 6-7:30
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The first meeting of the 2012-13
Animal Law Practice Group is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 4 from 6
to 7:30 p.m. The meeting will focus on farm animal laws and
legislation. The panel will include Alexis C. Fox, state director
of the Massachusetts for The Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS).
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Labor & Employment Section open
meeting
MCAD announces new ADR
initiative -- keeping your options open
Thursday, Sept. 27, noon-2 p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The Massachusetts Commission Against
Discrimination has announced a new alternative dispute resolution
initiative which will impact all practitioners who appear before
the commission. You are cordially invited to attend the Labor &
Employment Section open meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27 regarding the
commission's Collaborative Law Pilot Project. The panel will
include:
- Moderator John F. Tocci, Tocci Goss & Lee PC;
- Commissioner Sunila Thomas-George, MCAD;
- Linda Cohan, MSW, CSC; and
- Michael A. Zeytoonian, Esq., Zeytoonian Center for Dispute
Resolution LLC.