e-Journal
09-20
Top: MBA 2012-13 President Robert L. Holloway Jr. speaks at his Sept. 13 President's Reception.
Middle (from left to right): MBA Treasurer Marsha V. Kazarosian, MBA Vice President Robert W. Harnais, MBA COO and Chief Legal Counsel Martin W. Healy, MBA Secretary Martha Rush O'Mara, MBA President Robert L. Holloway Jr., MBA President-elect Douglas K. Sheff and MBA Vice President Christopher P. Sullivan at the Sept. 13 President's Reception.
Bottom: MBA President Robert L. Holloway Jr. (middle) celebrates the start of his presidential term with his family.
Photos by Jeff Thiebauth.
New MBA year and president Holloway celebrated at opening reception
A night of great music and warm revelry welcomed Massachusetts
Bar Association President Robert L. Holloway Jr. as more than 100
colleagues and friends gathered at the RegattaBar at the Charles
Hotel on Sept. 13 in Cambridge to celebrate the opening of the
2012-13 association year.
Following a jazz and blues infused set from a band of musicians
that included Holloway's friends, President-elect Douglas K. Sheff
offered a retrospective introduction of the MBA's newest president,
eliciting hearty laughter from the crowd.
Including photos from his time as a rugby player at Amherst
College, Sheff regaled the group with vignettes from Holloway's
life as a sportsman, musician, family man and lawyer.
"When Holmes and Brandeis started the MBA 101 years ago, they
wanted to create a diverse membership," Sheff said. "So it makes
sense that the president of our great organization should be
well-rounded, versatile and able to lead such a diverse
membership."
The MBA's membership and education programming will be the
central focus of Holloway's year, which he hopes will be a year of
coming together. "We're all in this profession together. We're all
in this society together," Holloway said. "That's what we're
committed to," he said of the officers and himself, "working
together to address the issues of our profession."
Click here to view
reception photos.
Chief Justice Ireland speaks at the 2011 MBA Bench-Bar Symposium.
PHOTO © MIKE RITTER 2011Bench-Bar Symposium to feature Chief Justice Ireland’s Annual Address
The Massachusetts Bar Association's Annual Bench-Bar Symposium
will feature Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick L.
Ireland's Annual Address to the Legal Community. The event will
take place on Wednesday, Oct. 17, beginning at 4 p.m. at the John
Adams Courthouse.
"We are delighted to once again provide the stage for Chief
Justice Ireland's much anticipated annual remarks," said MBA
President Robert L. Holloway Jr., who will provide welcome remarks
and introduce Ireland at the annual event. Ireland's 2012
address will be his second, following his inaugural State of the
Judiciary delivered in fall 2011. Ireland was sworn-in as chief
justice in December 2010.
Trial Court Administrator Lewis H. "Harry" Spence will serve as
another featured speaker at the Oct. 17 event. This will be
Spence's first public address since historic court reform led to
his hiring in April 2012 as the first non-judicial professional to
the Trial Court Department's business operations. Spence's most
immediate focus has been on a comprehensive strategic planning
process for the Trial Court launched earlier this year, work toward
updating the Trial Court's personnel policies and practices and the
development of a new capital plan for court buildings, in
coordination with the state's Division of Capital Asset
Management.
The 2011 court reform legislation split the management of the
Trial Courts between judicial and business operations, "a move that
had been championed by the Massachusetts Bar Association for
decades," said Holloway. He explained that MBA Past President and
former member of the Court Management Advisory Board Leo V. Boyle
will also provide remarks at the Oct. 17 symposium. Boyle was
instrumental in launching MBA's advocacy on court reform when he
served as president in 1990-91.
The event is FREE to attend for members of the Massachusetts
judiciary and bar; however, those interested in attending should
register as space is limited.
The speaking program will be followed by a networking
reception to begin at 4:45 p.m.
MBA Policy and Operations Director Lee Ann Constantine.
Constantine named new MBA Policy and Operations Director
Lee Ann Constantine has been named the MBA's new Policy and
Operations Director. Previously serving as the MBA's Legislative
Activities Manager, Constantine has served the MBA in various roles
since 1998. In her new position, Constantine takes on an expanded
role as a liaison to the MBA's key contacts in the legislative,
judicial and executive branches of government. She will continue to
play an important administrative role as she works with the MBA's
volunteer leadership on shaping the association's policies and
positions as it anticipates and responds to critical issues of high
relevance and impact on the Massachusetts legal community.
As Constantine joins the MBA's senior management team, she will
continue to report to Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating
Officer Martin W. Healy.
"Lee's institutional knowledge and professional acumen are
beneficial additions to the association's senior staff," said
Healy. "Since her start with the MBA nearly 15 years ago, she has
proven to be an increasingly valuable asset to the MBA's
legislative activities department and the association as a
whole."
Constantine began her newly expanded role on Sept. 1.
Legislative News
DPH Drug Laboratory information
The Massachusetts Bar Association has been asked by the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security to inform the criminal bar of critical information in the
wake of the news of wrongdoing by a former chemist at the
Department of Public Health's Drug Laboratory at the Hinton State
Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain. The following links are to
an important practice alert and a related non-disclosure and
attestation form.
To view the practice alert, click here.
To view the form, click here.
Featured member benefit: Casemaker upgrade provides state-of-the-art search capabilities
Belong to the MBA and save hundreds of dollars every month on legal research
Casemaker has released the newest version of its legal research
software, which provides users with state-of-the-art search
capabilities and more.
Unlimited Casemaker use is provided to you FREE as a member of
the Massachusetts Bar Association, which saves you hundreds of
dollars every month in legal research.
New Casemaker features include:
- A Universal Search Bar: The Casemaker search
bar appears at the top of every page, for your convenience.
Modeled after Google's familiar search, Casemaker now allows for
faster search results via a more intuitive interface.
- Organization: Casemaker offers a personalized
search history, which allows you to save and reuse your
research.
- Consolidation: You can save research in
folders organized your way.
MBA member Reynolds wins iBelong raffle
Tell us why you belong today
MBA member Kathleen B. Reynolds has been selected as the winner
of the MBA's iBelong raffle. Reynolds, who shared by email why she
belongs to the MBA, has received a free pass to a continuing legal
education session of her choice, excluding conferences, during the
2012-13 association year.
"I belong to the MBA because it offers many benefits: Casemaker,
LRS, CLEs and other terrific resources. The staff members are
abundantly helpful, courteous, promptly responsive and respectful.
I have considered joining other bar associations (women's, county,
etc.), but find the MBA offers everything I need and then some.
Keep up the great work!"
--
Kathleen B. Reynolds, Black & Vitelli LLC, MBA Member since
2008
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LPM Tip
Group Psychology: Focus groups can help attorneys launch marketing projects
Companies use focus groups
all the time, in order to test and refine products and product
offerings for the market. Most of the time, this strategy works out
quite well -- sometimes, less well: notable exceptions being made
for brownies, candy bars
and whatever product development team greenlighted the Edsel.
Many attorneys, especially
solo attorneys, get boxed into their original ideas, which
remain unrefined by constructive feedback. But, it is the rare idea
that is perfect from its embryonic state (though, I think, replacing
hamburger buns with donut halves is pretty close), such that
almost every product/product offering could likely be improved with
honest and germane input. If you think of your pricing and service
offering as products that you sell (which you should), the efficacy
of using focus groups to refine lawyers' 'products' becomes more
obvious.
When you think about it, this is not all that much different from
what you do when you
access your mentors: you're sourcing a group (preferably) of
colleagues to get useful pointers respecting case-specific or
general business strategy.
In addition to making you think more fully about what you're
doing, and offering you starting points for tweaking your sales
pitches (pricing, service; the comprehensive
elevator speech) utilizing focus groups can offer these
specific advantages:
- You're allowed an advance preview of consumer reaction -- and,
you can always
test your jokes. (It's a good idea to include laypersons, who
are trusted advisors, in your focus groups (when client
confidentiality is not at issue), in order to gain a better sense
of a client or potential client's possible sense of what you'd be
offering them.)
- A more relaxed trial atmosphere (think: spring training) in
which to get
the kinks out. (This is also a good time to develop feedback
surveys, and to gain perspective on whether you're asking the right
sorts of questions.)
- Picking up verbal, body language and other cues is an important
skill for anyone to have; but, this is especially so for business
people, who are far more successful when they can pinpoint personal
needs and provide solutions that answer for same. Your use of focus
groups can be an effective method to test your ability to pick up
these cues . . . because you can ask the group participants if you
were right about what you were anticipating.
So, if you've got a seminar series to launch, or if you're
tweaking your pricing model or adding a new service offering,
consider utilizing a focus group, in order to get yourself ready
for launch. Just keep in mind that folks are busy; and, if you want
them to serve as focus group members . . . you may just have to buy
them lunch. Might I suggest the
following?
Tip courtesy of Jared Correia, Law Office Management Assistance
Program.
Published September 20, 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 Cynthia E.
MacCausland.
News from the courts
Massachusetts Court System FY 2011 Annual Report released; Carey reappointed chief justice of the Probate & Family Court
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Massachusetts Court System FY 2011
Annual Report released
Click
here to view the submitted Annual Report on the State of the
Massachusetts Court System for Fiscal Year 2011.
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Carey reappointed chief justice of
the Probate & Family Court
Trial Court Chief Justice Robert A. Mulligan has
announced the reappointment of Chief Justice Paula M. Carey of the
Probate and Family Court to a second five-year term in accordance
with G.L. c211B, §5. Carey's new five-year term will commence on
Sept. 27, 2012.
Carey was appointed as a judge in the Probate and Family Court in
2001. In 2004 the Massachusetts Judges Conference presented her
with a Judicial Excellence Award and in 2006, she received the
Daniel J. Toomey Judicial Excellence Award from the Massachusetts
Bar Association. Other awards include the Distinguished Jurist
Award from the Mass. Association of Women Lawyers (2009), Boston
Bar Association Citation of Excellence (2011), Middlesex Bar
Association Distinguished Jurist Award (2011) and the Haskell
Freedman Award of the Mass. Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
(2011).
The Probate and Family Court Department is comprised of 14
divisions with 51 authorized judicial positions across the
commonwealth. The Massachusetts Trial Court includes seven court
departments with 380 judges who deliver justice to thousands of
people daily in 101 courthouses across the state.
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Upcoming CLE seminar and program schedule
Learn why the iPad is quickly becoming the trial technology tool of choice at the Sept. 25 "iPad for Litigators" 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
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
Considering, Preparing
and Conducting Mediation and Arbitration
Hearings
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 4-7 p.m.
Western New England University School of Law, 1215 Wilbraham Road,
Springfield
Managing Your Work
Search Process -- Networking
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 10 a.m.-noon
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
Making Your Job Easier
with ADR
Thursday, Oct. 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Boston College Law School, 885 Centre St., Newton
SAVE THE DATE
22nd Annual Family Law Conference
Friday, Oct. 26-Saturday, Oct. 27
Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club, 55 Lee Road, Lenox
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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.
Section News: Upcoming meetings and special section events
Attend the Sept. 24 Individual Rights, Property Law and Access to Justice section council meetings. Join in the Sept. 25 Business Law Section council meeting. Register for the Sept. 27 Criminal Section Council meeting and the Labor & Employment open meeting on MCAD's ADR initiative. Assist the Probate and Family Court by attending the Oct. 5 Conciliation Training.
Individual Rights &
Responsibilities Section Council meeting
Monday, Sept. 24, 4-5:30
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The next meeting of the Individual
Rights & Responsibilities Section Council is scheduled for
Monday, Sept. 24 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. All section members are
invited to attend.
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Property Law Section Council
meeting
Monday, Sept. 24, 5:30-7
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The next meeting of the Property Law
Section Council is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 24 from 5:30 to 7
p.m. All section members are invited to attend.
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Access to Justice Section Council
meeting
Monday, Sept. 24, 6-7:30
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The next meeting of the Access to
Justice Section Council is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 24 from 6 to
7:30 p.m. All section members are invited to attend.
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Business Law Section Council
meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 6-7:30
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The next meeting of the Business Law
Section Council is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 25 from 6 to 7:30
p.m. All section members are invited to attend.
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Criminal Justice Section Council
meeting
Thursday, Sept. 27, 5:30-7
p.m.
MBA, 20 West St., Boston
The next meeting of the Criminal
Justice Section Council is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27 from
5:30 to 7 p.m. All section members are invited to attend.
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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.
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Conciliation Training
Friday, Oct. 5, 8:30 a.m.-5:30
p.m.
Boston Bar Association, 16 Beacon St., Boston
Are you wondering how you may assist
the Probate and Family Court at a time when budgetary constraints
and staffing shortages create particular challenges, while
simultaneously learning skills that may expand and grow your law
practices at little or no cost to you?
The Massachusetts Bar Association and Boston Bar Association
cordially invite family law practitioners with at least five years
of domestic relations experience to participate in a conciliation
training at the BBA, 16 Beacon St., Boston on Friday, Oct. 5 from
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Presenters include:
- Hon. Robert W. Langlois (ret.)
- Fran Giordano, Esq.
- Lloyd Godson, Esq.
- Geraldine McEvoy, Esq.
- Eugene Nigro, Esq.
- Joanne Romanow, Esq.
- Victoria Rothbaum, Esq.
- Gayle Stone-Turesky, Esq.
At this program, you will become
certified as a conciliator, enabling you to be placed on the
Probate and Family Courts' list of trained conciliators. Attendance
at the program is FREE, except for the fees associated with
materials if you do not print them out yourself.
In exchange, you will be asked to commit to volunteering for at
least one day at the Probate and Family Court as a conciliator or
for a "conciliation" project such as the pilot program at the
Suffolk Probate and Family Court.
There are limited spots left to participate in this unique
opportunity, so please respond quickly if you wish to attend.
Participants will be able to attend on a first come, first serve
basis.
If you are already a trained conciliator and are interested in
volunteer conciliation opportunities, please contact the Boston Bar
Association's Family Law Steering Committee. Registration is
required to attend.