From left: Elaine M. Epstein accepts the 2015 MBF President's Award from MBF President Robert J. Ambrogi.
Elaine M. Epstein, Esq., a partner at Todd & Weld LLP and
Massachusetts Bar Association past president, received the 2015 MBF
President's Award at the Massachusetts Bar Foundation Grantee
Reception held in Boston on October 15.
The MBF President's Award is given to individuals and
organizations who have demonstrated exemplary service to the
Massachusetts Bar Foundation, as well as to the Massachusetts legal
community, through their leadership and commitment to increasing
the availability of legal services for low-income people in the
state.
Epstein was honored for her longstanding support of the MBF and
its mission to increase access to justice. A dedicated volunteer
and generous donor, she has served on numerous committees and
boards for law-related organizations. In addition to serving on the
MBF board of trustees, the Mass. IOLTA Committee and as a past
president of the MBA, she was also the founder and first president
of the Women's Bar Association. She is a member of the MBF's
Society of Fellows President's Circle and a Fellow of the American
Bar Foundation.
"Elaine Epstein truly represents the very best of the legal
profession," said MBF President Robert J. Ambrogi of Rockport, "and
it is our great privilege to honor her outstanding dedication to
the Massachusetts Bar Foundation."
The event was also an opportunity for the MBF to celebrate its
current grant recipients and their work, which includes providing
civil legal services to people who otherwise could not afford them
and improving the administration of justice in the
commonwealth.
This year, the MBF awarded more than $1.9 million in grants
through its annual Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA)
Grants Program. These grants will fund 82 programs conducted by 54
nonprofit organizations throughout Massachusetts. Representatives
of many of these organizations were in attendance.