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MBA 2010 Nominating Committee members announced

Issue February 2010

Massachusetts Bar Association President Valerie A. Yarashus has announced the members of the 2010 MBA Nominating Committee. The committee is charged with reviewing the nominations submitted for consideration for MBA officer positions for the 2010-11 association year to begin Sept. 1, 2010.

Massachusetts Bar Association Immediate Past President and Nominating Committee Chair Edward W. McIntyre is a solo practitioner in civil litigation in state and federal court, concentrating his practice in the areas of spinal cord and brain injury law. A U.S. Army veteran and longtime MBA volunteer, McIntyre has been a member of the House of Delegates since 1998, sat on the MBA President's Task Force on Judicial Evaluations and the MBA's ABA Nominating Committee. In addition to serving as president, McIntyre served two terms as MBA vice president and one as secretary. He also fulfilled one-year appointments as vice-chair and chair of the Judicial Administration Section Council. Chair of MBA's Judicial Performance Evaluation Standing Committee since 2004, McIntyre is a former recipient of the MBA's Community Service Award and is a Massachusetts Bar Foundation fellow and trustee.

Warren Fitzgerald (2005-06 MBA president) is the founding manager of Fitzgerald Law Firm and Fitzgerald Dispute Resolution. Fitzgerald has been a member of the MBA's Executive Management Board, the Budget and Finance Committee and the House of Delegates for many years and is a former chair of the Court Reform Task Force and the MBA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee as well as past co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Rights, Liberties and Access to Justice. In addition to his MBA activities, Fitzgerald is a past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, a member of the American, Boston, Women's and Essex County bar associations.

Mary Jo Kennedy is a member of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas LLP in Springfield, where she focuses on employment and medical malpractice law. Kennedy is currently the Hampden County regional delegate to the MBA's House of Delegates and is a member of the MBA's Executive Management Board. Kennedy has also served on the Board of Directors of the Hampden County Bar Association since 2000 and served as president from 2003 to 2004. Kennedy has successfully represented employers before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and physicians before the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. In addition, Kennedy is the coordinator of the MBA's Employment Law Practice Group.

Christopher A. Kenney is a founding member and managing shareholder of Kenney & Sams PC, where he focuses on trial and appellate advocacy. Kenney is currently a co-chair of the MBA's Civil Litigation Section Council, has served as a special assistant attorney general and as an adjunct faculty member at Boston University School of Law. Kenney was awarded the highest rating by the Martindale Hubbell National Law Directory, ranked one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine, named a "Super lawyer" and included in the 2009 and 2010 editions of The Best Lawyers in America. Kenney attended Boston University School of Law and is president-elect of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and past president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association.

Margaret D. Xifaras is a founding member of Lang, Xifaras & Bullard, where she focuses on family law. Xifaras is the former chair of MBA's Family Law Section and a frequent MBA panelist and presenter on family law and ethics issues. Additionally, Xifaras is a former Massachusetts Bar Foundation president and MBF Louis D. Brandeis Life Fellow. In 2009, Xifaras was awarded MBA's President Award which is given for significant contribution to the work of the MBA. Xifaras is also an active member in the Bristol County and New Bedford bar associations.

Gina Y. Walcott is the executive director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Inc., which is Massachusetts' only lawyer assistance program. Before working for LCL, Walcott spent more than eight years as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts and six years as an assistant attorney general for the commonwealth. Walcott is an active member in MBA's Lawyers in Transition Committee, co-chairs the Women's Bar Association's Women of Color Committee and is a past president of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association. Walcott has been a recent recipient of the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly "Women of Justice" award and was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Boston Junior Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Walcott is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation's Society of Fellows.

David W. White Jr. is a principal of Breakstone, White & Gluck PC of Boston, where he concentrates in personal injury, insurance company bad faith, medical practice and professional liability litigation. Prior to serving as president for the 2007-08 association year, White chaired the MBA's Civil Litigation Section Council, the Law Management Section Council and the MBA Annual Conference in 2005. White also served on the Joint Bar Committee and the Governance Task Force and co-chaired the Anniversary Fee Task Force. A recipient of the 2004 Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly "Lawyer of the Year" Award, White was also chosen as a "Super Lawyer" in the field of plaintiff's personal injury law by Boston Magazine from 2004 through 2009, and was one of Massachusetts' Top 100 Lawyers in 2005 and 2006.