SJC presents Clients’ Security Board’s William J. LeDoux Award
At a ceremony on April 13 in the Seven Justice Courtroom of the John Adams Courthouse, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Frank M. Gaziano presented the Clients’ Security Board’s (CSB) William J. LeDoux Award to attorney Mary M. Howie in recognition of her outstanding efforts in helping Massachusetts clients recover significant financial losses resulting from the misuse of funds by an attorney who was disbarred in 2019.
Established in 1997 in honor of the late William J. LeDoux, a member of the CSB from 1987 to 1997 and chair for seven years, the award is offered to a lawyer who, serving pro bono, has demonstrated extraordinary skill and perseverance in representing one or more claimants before the CSB.
Howie, who practices with the Howie Law Office in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, was selected as the 15th award recipient by the CSB. It is not an annual award and was last presented to an attorney in 2018.
Howie represented two claimants, an estate where the remainder beneficiary was a special needs trust, and a woman suffering from mental disabilities, in successfully presenting claims before the CSB arising out of thefts by the same attorney.
Howie presented evidence demonstrating that the attorney, who was disbarred in 2019, had received the net proceeds from the sale of real estate that was jointly owned by his clients, a mother and daughter. He used the real estate proceeds to reimburse another unrelated client whose funds he had previously stolen, and to pay himself unearned and excessive fees.
In September 2020, the CSB awarded the mother’s estate $32,026 for her share of the stolen proceeds. This award was paid to a special needs trust that was the remainder beneficiary of the mother’s estate. In October 2022, the CSB awarded $151,840 to the daughter under the special needs trust.
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Finkle named new chief judge of
Bankruptcy Appellate Panel
Chief Judge David J. Barron, of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, announced this week that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Diane Finkle, of the District of Rhode Island, will assume the duties of chief judge of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP) for a four-year term, on May 17.
Finkle replaces U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Edward A. Godoy, of the District of Puerto Rico, who has served as the chief judge of the BAP since May 2019. Finkle's term will commence upon the expiration of Godoy's term as BAP chief judge. Finkle was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Rhode Island for a 14-year term in 2012.
The BAP, established by the Court of Appeals in 1996, consists of bankruptcy judges
from all five of the districts encompassed by the First Circuit (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island), who sit in panels of three to hear appeals directly from the bankruptcy courts of these districts. The chief judge of the BAP is responsible for its administrative oversight.