Attorney John G. Brooks of Weston received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation for his efforts to improve civil legal services for indigent people.
Brooks received the award from Stephen H. Oleskey, outgoing chair of the MLAC Board of Directors at the MLAC’s annual meeting in April.
Brooks’ achievements include serving as the first chairman of the Boston Legal Assistance Project; president of Greater Boston Legal Services, the Boston Bar Association, the Boston Bar Foundation and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers and director of the Legal Services Corporation.
He has received the Boston Bar Association Public Service Award, the Arthur von Briesen Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award. In 1988, the John G. Brooks Legal Services Award was established by the Boston Bar Association, and he received an honorary LL.D. degree from Northeastern University for his commitment to legal services to the poor.
MLAC also elected officers at its annual meeting. Attorney Janet Kenton-Walker of Klieman, Lyons, Schindler and Gross was elected chair of the Board of Directors. Kenton-Walker was first appointed to the MLAC board in 2001, nominated by the Massachusetts Bar Association. She is a trial attorney whose areas of practice include criminal defense, domestic relations and family law, as well as business and general civil litigation.
New directors appointed to the board by the Supreme Judicial Court included attorneys Martha Rush O’Mara of Melrose and Miriam H. Babin of Fall River.
O’Mara was nominated to the board by the Massachusetts Bar Association. She was president of the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers in 2003. She hosts and produces MAWL’s “The Legal Line” on BNN, Boston’s cable network.
Babin, an assistant register at the Bristol County Probate Court, was nominated to the board by the presidents of the County Bar Associations. She was recently installed as vice president by the Bristol County Bar Association.
Other officers installed by the Bristol County Bar Association at its annual meeting include Lisa A. Nates of Taunton, president, and Susan L. Jacobs, practicing in Attleboro, secretary.
Burns & Levinson LLP, a leading regional law firm based in Boston with additional offices in Providence, R.I., and Washington, D.C., has announced that Zachary G. Darrow and Eric R. Everett have joined the firm as partners in its Real Estate Group. Both came to the firm from Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP. Darrow and Everett together created the legal structure and documentation for one of Rhode Island’s largest high-end condominium developments.
Darrow’s practice concentrates in commercial real estate law, including leasing, transactional, condominium law, zoning and land use, and development/redevelopment. He represents national retailers, regional and national developers and various non-real estate entities with first-hand real estate needs. He received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law, and his B.S., magna cum laude, from Fitchburg State College. He has served as a center fellow for the Center for the Study of the American Presidency.
Everett focuses on commercial real estate law, including acquisitions, zoning and permitting, leasing matters and condominium law. He represents the landlords of two large high-technology office parks in the Boston metro west area and has worked extensively with a Fortune 100 retailer in its site acquisition and ground leasing program. He received his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Lawrence University.
Margolis & Associates — including Harry S. Margolis, Jennifer K. Rankin, and Alyssa Adams — is moving its Boston office from 137 Newbury Street to 535 Boylston Street as of June 1. The telephone number remains the same. The firm also maintains an office in Framingham.