Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
Top (left to right): Massachusetts Medical Society President Lynda Young, MD; MBA Vice President Jeffrey N. Catalano; MMS Past President Alan C. Woodward; and MMS Vice President and General Counsel Charles Alagero.
Bottom: MBA President Dick Campbell addresses the delegates.
Photos by Tricia Oliver.
HOD discusses mandatory CLE and foreclosure mediation
A lively discussion on the practitioners' views of
mandatory minimum CLE and debate over legislation to draft
mandatory mediation prior to foreclosures were among the topics
deliberated at the Massachusetts Bar Association's Jan. 19 House of
Delegates meeting at UMass Medical School in Worcester.
The first topic of the meeting, fittingly, was improving health
care quality as it relates to medical errors. "As a patient
advocate I am always open to listening to means to address this
crisis," said MBA Vice President Jeffrey N. Catalano, who
specializes in medical malpractice. Dr. Alan Woodward, an emergency
physician, consultant and former president of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, presented a detailed power-point on the subject of
transforming medical liability and improving patient safety in
Massachusetts.
HOD voted to support in principle a report of the Foreclosure Task
Force presented by Robert Cannon, which outlined draft legislation
to create a mandatory mediation procedure prior to foreclose on
residential properties in Massachusetts. The task force originally
presented the matter to HOD in November, but it was tabled. The
legislation calls for face-to-face mediation within 90 days, said
Cannon, who described the process as creating predictability. Real
Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts President Christopher S.
Pitt reported that REBA does not support the bill as drafted, but
does not oppose mediation in principle. MBA Civil Litigation
Section Chair Raymond P. Ausrotas said the section also does not
support the legislation as drafted.
A vote of approval by HOD was given to a resolution from the
American Bar Association that grants United States magistrate
judges the power to conduct any and all proceedings in a jury or
non-jury civil matter in federal court.
HOD voted unanimously to express opposition to provisions
contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year
2012 that concern detention, interrogation and prosecuted of
suspected terrorists. MBA member Michael Mone Jr., son of MBA past
president Michael Mone, presented the matter to HOD.
The MBA's Mandatory Minimum CLE Task Force, co-chaired by MBA Vice
President Marsha V. Kazarosian and Christopher A. Kenney, a region
10, Worcester County delegate, provided an overview of its report.
The seven-member task force, created in September, met with and
sought input from MBA members, affiliated bars, MCLE, the Board of
Bar Overseers and Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. "The
message was Massachusetts lawyers are a very self-motivated group,"
Kazarosian said. "Many are not against CLE, just the mandatory
aspect of it."
MBA Treasurer Douglas K. Sheff gave an positive report, noting the
MBA is operating with a profit in the first quarter of its fiscal
year, new members have increased 10 percent over the same time
period last year and CLE has grossed more than anticipated in part
due to the success of the MUPC series.
Catalano alerted HOD that he is now forming a committee to decide
how to distribute funds collected for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Scholarship, which was created with money raised above the amount
needed for last year's Centennial Celebration.
For more information, look in the February
Lawyers Journal.