Warren F. Fitzgerald, a partner in the Boston firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald, has been nominated as Massachusetts Bar Association president-elect for the 2004-2005 association year. He currently serves as MBA vice-president and would become president in September 2005.
A trial lawyer, Fitzgerald received his undergraduate degree from Boston University in 1976 and his juris doctor from the Boston University School of Law in 1979.
Fitzgerald has served as treasurer and vice-president in recent years. He has chaired the MBA Budget and Finance Committee and for many years has served as a member of the Executive Management Board and the House of Delegates.
He is a former chair of the Civil Litigation Section, a former co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Rights, Liberties and Access to Justice and the Court Study Task Force. He has chaired and served on numerous other MBA committees.
Fitzgerald has been with Meehan Boyle since its founding in 1985. Prior to that, he was an associate with Parker, Coulter, Daley & White and with Hutchins and Wheeler.
In addition to his MBA activities, Fitzgerald is a past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, a sustaining member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and a member of the American, Women's and Essex County bar associations.
Fitzgerald's nomination was announced by the MBA Nominating Committee chair, former MBA president Joseph P.J. Vrabel.
The committee released its slate of proposed officers for 2004-2005, which includes: vice presidents - Mark D. Mason of Cooley, Shrair, PC, Springfield, and Edward W. McIntyre of Clinton; treasurer - Jeff Loeb of Rich May, PC, of Boston; and secretary - Kathrine A. Hesse of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, Boston.
Kathleen M. O'Donnell of Lowell, the current president-elect, automatically becomes president on Sept. 1, 2004.
O'Donnell, a longtime MBA member and officer who is associated with the Marcotte Law Firm in Lowell, is 2004-2005 President of the Massachusetts Bar Association
O'Donnell, who lives in Lowell, is an expert in auto insurance. She concentrates her practice in civil trial work, but also specializes in workers' compensation, criminal, probate and domestic law. A former instructor of legal practice skills at Suffolk University Law School (1980-82), she has lecture frequently on auto insurance issues at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
She is a graduate of Wheaton College, 1977; and earned her law degree at Suffolk University Law School in 1980.
O'Donnell has held every position as an Officer of the Massachusetts Bar Association. In addition, she had served on the MBA's Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Rights, Liberties and Access to Justice (co-chair, 2001-2004); Budget and Finance Committee (chair, 2002-2003); Amicus Committee (chair, 2001-2002) and Civil Litigation Section Council (chair, 2000-2001).
She has been involved with a number of other major legal organizations, including the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (president, 1995-1996); Association of Trial Lawyers of America (member since 1995; State Affairs Committee co-chair 1998-2004); American Board of Trial Advocates (first woman elected to Massachusetts Chapter); Greater Lowell Bar Association (president, 1990-1991; director, GLBA Conciliation Program, 1989-1996); Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (vice president, 2002-2003; member, Board of Directors, 1998-present).
In 1996, she testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on a proposed national no-fault insurance bill.
Throughout her career, O'Donnell has received numerous awards and honors. Among them: National Law Journal, named one of 12 most influential lawyers in Massachusetts, 2000; Greater Lowell Bar Association, Lawyer of the Year, 1992; Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, Distinguished Service Award, 1994; American Trial Lawyers Association, Service Award, 1996 and 1997; Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, named one of top 20 most influential lawyers in Massachusetts, 1997, named one of top 10 lawyers of the year, 1995; Essex County Bar Association, named one of leading women lawyers in Massachusetts, 1997.
In addition to her legal activities, O'Donnell has been involved in community service, including the Sohier Park Committee, York, Maine (chair, 1992-1993); Greater Lowell Rape Crisis Services (member, Board of Directors, 1990-1994); as well as several other Great Lowell organizations.
Regional Delegates Nominees for 2004-2005
Barnstable/Dukes/Nantucket (Region 1)
Susan A. Huettner, Falmouth
Plymouth County (Region 2)
Joan McDonough, Brockton
Bristol County (Region 3)
Denise Squillante, Fall River
Berkshire/Franklin/Hampshire (Region 4)
Veronica J. Fenton, Lenox
Hampden County (Region 5)
Paul P. Nicolai, Springfield
Essex County (Region 6)
Cynthia M. Sullivan, Danvers
Steven L. Wollman, Swampscott
Middlesex County (Region 7)
Hodges A. Brown, Jr., Cambridge
Martha Rush O'Mara, Melrose
Ellen R. Tanowitz, Newtonville
Norfolk County (Region 8)
John E. DeVito, Dedham
Fern L. Frolin, Wellesley
Suffolk County (Region 9)
Peter T. Elikann, Boston
John J. Morrissey, Boston
Denise I. Murphy, Boston
David W. White-Lief, Boston
Worcester County (Region 10)
Thomas A. Manning, Worcester
Geoffrey Spofford, Worcester
ARTICLE VI, Section 2 - Election
Section 2. Election. Except for the President, the Officers shall be elected by such members of the Association as have the right to vote for the election of Delegates, according to the Association's published Nomination and Election Procedures, as established and revised from time to time. In the event of any contest for the office of President-Elect, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary or Regional Delegate, the following procedures shall be followed:
(a) The President shall appoint as an Election Committee, three or more members of the Association who are entitled to hold office.
(b) No later than April 20 of each year, the Secretary shall mail printed ballots containing the names of all nominees to all members of the Association entitled to vote for said office with such return envelope as will enable the Secretary to authenticate each ballot without disclosing how the member of the Association voted and with such information concerning each of the nominees as the House of Delegates or Executive Management Board may by regulation determine.
(c) Only such ballots as are duly received by the Secretary in official return envelopes written forty-five (45) days after the mailing of ballots, shall be opened and counted by the Election Committee.
ARTICLE VII, Section 2 - Nominating Committee
Section 2. Nominating Committee. On or before January 20th in each year, the President and the Executive Director shall appoint a Nominating Committee of seven (7) members of the Association, consisting of the immediate past president, who shall act as chair, the two (2) most recent past presidents, should either or both agree to serve, two (2) members who have recently served on the House of Delegates and two (2) members who have not served on the House of Delegates within the past five (5) years. Not later than March 10th, the Nominating Committee shall file with the Secretary one or more nominations for President-Elect, two or more nominations for Vice President, one or more nominations for Treasurer, one or more nominations for Secretary and one or more nominations for each Regional Delegate. The President shall appoint a replacement for any person who chooses not to serve. The Nominating Committee may not nominate one of its own members to any such office nor may a member be nominated or run as a petition candidate for more than one office. The Nominating Committee's report, together with a copy of this Article VII, shall be mailed to all members of the Association entitled to vote not later than March 25th. Other nominations may be made for Officers by a petition signed by at least one hundred (100) members of the Association entitled to vote for Officers, and for Regional delegates by a petition signed by at least fifty (50) members of the Association entitled to vote from the region. All petitions shall be filed with the Secretary not later than April 10th. A member's region shall be where he or she maintains his or her principal office.