Lawyers Journal
By Lee Ann Constantine
In late January, Gov. Deval L. Patrick led his budget
recommendations for fiscal 2013. Recognizing the tremendous cuts
already endured by the court system, Patrick recommends level
funding for the courts and grants transferability among Trial Court
accounts.
By Richard P. Campbell
The law economy in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts annually
suffers the introduction of 2,500 newly minted lawyers competing
for approximately 720 identifiable paying jobs. Those new lawyers
come to the commonwealth from nine law schools resident in the
state1 and another seven law schools resident in the contiguous New
England states.2
With the exception of three law schools that tend to place their
graduates in large national law firms, federal government agencies
and academic positions, 3 most graduates of the New England law
schools direct their job searches to the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.The math is both incontrovertible and depressing.
Each year, these 16 law schools churn out more than 1,500 graduates
who will not have jobs as practicing lawyers when they pass the bar
and likely will never have satisfactory careers as fulltime
practicing lawyers able to financially support themselves and a
family.
By Tricia M. Oliver
In January, the Massachusetts Bar Association launched a
high-profile awareness campaign on the effects of underfunded
courts through a series of videos, billboards and other outreach.
The campaign launched shortly before Gov. Deval Patrick released
his proposed fiscal 2013 budget and will continue leading up to the
House and Senate budget debates in April and May,
respectively.
As part of this campaign, four public service announcement-style
videos have been produced and released so far. The videos highlight
the negative impact of inadequate court funding through the
perspective of judicial leadership, attorneys, academic leaders and
court staff. The four videos debuted in January and February and
can be found at www.massbar.org or YouTube. Two more videos will be
posted in the weeks ahead.
By Tricia M. Oliver
Members of the legal community, elected officials and other
community leaders convened at the University of Massachusetts
School of Law in Dartmouth on Jan. 26.
Leading voices on Massachusetts' Gateway Cities served as featured
forum panelists, including Rep. Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford) and
Sen. Benjamin Downing (DPittsfield), chairs of the Gateway Cities
Caucus; Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Undersecretary for Business Development Michael Hunter; and MassINC
Research Director Benjamin Forman, among others.
Much of the discussion focused on the New Bedford community, a
designated Gateway City. Common themes were the need for improving
educational attainment in gateway communities and collaboration
among groups with common interests and goals to bring about
positive change