Certainly, I am biased, but this year at the Young Lawyers
Division was a success. This is absolutely because our board
members were, once again, phenomenal. From our first meeting of the
2015-2016 year, it was clear to me that the board was full of great
ideas and ready to get down to business.
This year, with the help of Tara Lynch's Community Service
Committee, we had another successful event at the Greater Boston
Food Bank. We surpassed our fundraising goal in the Lawyers Have
Heart 5K. We collected goods for Cradles to Crayons, food for our
Thanksgiving Food Drive and signed up potential bone marrow donors
for Gift of Life.
Meghan Slack and Mike Leard exceeded all of my hopes for our
Education Committee. They kept our educational calendar full with
panels, such as Persuasiveness in the Courtroom, Conducting Client
Intake Interviews, Introduction to MCAD, Going Solo, a Judge's
Panel for New Lawyers and a SkiLE panel on depositions.
We continued to engage our young and young-at-heart lawyers with
fun, low-stress networking events. Adam Ponte organized our Witches
Woods Halloween event and again got us great seats to a Celtics
game. Janet Raheb made sure our Cuatro de Mayo party in Worcester
was well organized and well attended. Our year is not quite over
yet, and I'm sure our Quest Night at Boda Borg and our End of Year
Cruise will be a great time as well.
Jason Armiger's Law Student Committee worked hard to make
contact with all of the law schools and put on several panels for
our law student member. Ralph Gillis's particularly popular
Legislative Special Committee, gave us a rousing debate on
paternity leave. And Steven Ayr's Technology Special Committee kept
us abreast of modern advancements in communications. Mark Preiss
and his Nominating Committee gave us a board for next year that I
am sure will continue to develop friendships, entertaining events,
community service opportunities and education for young
lawyers.
Thank you, Jeffrey Morlend, for being someone who every
committee of the YLD was able to rely on when they needed help.
Thank you, Laura Smith and John Pregmon, for helping us with all of
our ideas, even though they were sometimes a bit
unconventional.
I will miss being on the board of the YLD: our "unofficial
meetings," Mike's minutes, awkward moments when people forgot to
mute their phones, the parade of stylish dress socks and the annual
cookie party. During my time on the board, I have seen my fellow
young lawyers achieve so much: pay off their student loans, get
married, get new jobs, buy homes, make partner, win huge cases,
pass the patent bar and the list goes on. I know our newer board
members will strengthen their networks and thrive in the YLD.
Certainly, under the guidance of the incoming Chair Victoria
Santoro, the YLD will continue to be a community and a resource for
young lawyers and law students.
Melissa Conner served as the 2015-16 MBA Young
Lawyers Division chair