Top: MBF Trustees and Annual Meeting Speakers (first row, from left): Treasurer Melissa Langa, Past President Richard Grahn, President Angela McConney Scheepers, Vice President Perry Wu and Secretary Ed Dombroski. Second row: Erika Parry, Allie Ford, Chris Sullivan, Hon. Marguerite Grant, 2022 Great Friend of Justice Dr. Jim O’Connell, Kim Winter, Hon. Maynard Kirpalani, Hon. Mark Mason, Susannah Thomas and Grantee Speaker Matt Selig. Third row: David Henderson, Tara Dunn, Hon. Scott Peterson, MBA President Tom Bond and Paul Klehm.
Second from top: The MBF recognized 19 new Life Fellows at the meeting, including (from left): Hon. Maureen Monks, Jeff Ganz, Kim Winter, Tom Bond, Melissa Langa and Stephen Seckler.
Third from top: This was the first event in over two years that the MBF was able to gather with grantees, including (from left): Margaret Talmers of the Women’s Bar Foundation, Elizabeth Matos of Prisoners’ Legal Services, Anna Richardson of Veterans Legal Services and Emmylou Manwill of MetroWest Legal Services.
Bottom: Newly elected President Angela McConney Scheepers (second from left) was joined by colleagues, including (from left): Cameron Drake, Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA) intern and BC Law student; Chief Magistrate Edward McGrath; Amy Onyonyi, DALA intern and BC student; Abiola Adelakun DALA business manager; and attorney Olubunmi Olutu of the Department of Mental Health and a fellow Dartmouth alum.
At the Massachusetts Bar Foundation's Annual Meeting on June 7, Dr. Jim O’Connell of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program was honored with the Great Friend of Justice Award, Angela McConney Scheepers was elected president of the foundation for the coming year, and Matt Selig of Health Law Advocates delivered the Grantee Address. Over 150 MBF Fellows, grantees and friends attended the event at the JFK Library.
The MBF’s Great Friend of Justice Award is presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to justice, consistent with the MBF’s values and mission. Dr. O’Connell’s lifelong dedication to social justice exemplifies the spirit of this award.
Dr. O’Connell graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1970 and received his master’s degree in theology from Cambridge University in 1972. After graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1982, he completed a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
In 1985, Dr. O'Connell began full-time clinical work with homeless individuals as the founding physician of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which now serves over 13,000 homeless persons each year in two hospital-based clinics (Boston Medical Center and MGH) and in more than 60 shelters and outreach sites in Boston. With his colleagues, Dr. O’Connell established the nation’s first medical respite program for homeless persons in September 1985, with 25 beds in the Lemuel Shattuck Shelter. This innovative program now provides acute and sub-acute, pre-and post-operative, and palliative and end-of-life care in the freestanding 104-bed Barbara McInnis House.
Also at the event, the MBF honored 19 lawyers and judges who recently completed their financial pledges to the MBF Society of Fellows, and elections were held for the coming year. The MBF elected the following officers and trustees:
Officers
- President Angela C. McConney Scheepers, Esq.
- Vice President G. Perry Wu, Esq.
- Treasurer Melissa Langa, Esq.
- Secretary Edward F. Dombroski Jr., Esq.
- Past President Richard J. Grahn, Esq.
Trustees- Hon. Mark D Mason
- Valerie C. Caldwell, Esq. (second term)
- Edward F. Dombroski Jr. (second term)
- Paul J. Klehm, Esq.
- James F. Martin, Esq. (second term)