Boston Bar Association

Infobox Non-profit
Non-profit_name = Boston Bar Association
Non-profit_
Non-profit_type = Bar Association
founded_date = Incorporated 1861
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area_served = Law
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homepage = [http://www.bostonbar.org www.bostonbar.org]
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The Boston Bar Association, which also goes by the acronym BBA, is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With headquarters located at 16 Beacon Street in the historic Chester Harding House, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, the BBA has roughly 9,500 members drawn from private practice, corporations, government agencies, legal aid organizations, the courts, and law schools. It traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, the lawyer who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the second president of the United States.

Mission

The Boston Bar Association’s stated mission is: “To advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, to facilitate access to justice, and to serve the community at large.”

Structure

Governed by an elected [http://www.bostonbar.org/about/council.htm Council] of 25 members, the Boston Bar Association has 20 [http://www.bostonbar.org/sc/mg0203.htm Sections] and more than 100 committees dedicated to substantive areas of law as well as issues such as access to justice and the administration of justice.

Public policy

The Boston Bar Association makes its public policy positions known via the filing of amicus briefs, the drafting of legislation, and official comments on proposed government actions. Recent public policy positions taken by the Boston Bar Association include:

* "November 2006": The Boston Bar Association joined with The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and The Bar Association of San Francisco in filing an amicus brief in "American Civil Liberties Union, Et Al. v. National Security Agency, Et Al", a case now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The brief urges the Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to affirm a lower court ruling that permanently enjoined the National Security Administration’s warrantless surveillance program. [http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/aclu_v_nsa.pdf]

* "September 2005": The Boston Bar Association was one of a number of organizations which signed on to an amicus brief in "United States v. Darryl Green". In addition the BBA drafted a petition to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts urging the Court to revise its jury plan to remedy the under-representation of minorities in the federal jury pool. [http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/us_v_green.pdf]

* "June 2005": Boston Bar Association President-Elect Edward P. Leibensperger testified before the Massachusetts LegislatureJoint Committee on the Judiciary, urging the defeat of all bills related to reinstating capital punishment in Massachusetts. [http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/deathpenalty071405.pdf]

* "September 2002": The Boston Bar Association filed an amicus brief in "Goodridge v. Department of Public Health" in support of gay marriage as a civil rights issue stating that discrimination against gays and lesbians is unacceptable and unconstitutional. [http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/goodridge_v_dph.pdf]

Publications

Periodicals

Five times a year the Boston Bar Association publishes a magazine called the " [http://bostonbar.org/pub/bbj/index.htm Boston Bar Journal] ". The "Journal" is managed by a volunteer " [http://bostonbar.org/pub/bbj/boe/index.htm Board of Editors] ", and all articles are written by lawyers and judges. It is free to all Boston Bar Association members, and available as well to paid subscribers.

The Boston Bar Association also publishes " [http://bostonbar.org/pub/bw/index.htm BBA Week] ", an E-newsletter that lists upcoming events in the week ahead, and highlights the achievements of members. In addition, the Boston Bar Association’s " [http://www.bostonbar.org/sc/mg0203.htm Sections and Committees] " publish E-newsletters.

Task force publications

Other publications of the Boston Bar Association are produced by task forces, and include:
* "Desegregation: The Boston Orders and Their Origin" (1975)
* "The Role of Gender in the Legal Profession" (1988)
* "Drugs and Justice: A System Abandoned" (1989)
* "Drugs in the Community: A Scourge Beyond the System" (1990)
* "The Massachusetts Courts in Crisis: A Model for Reform" (1991)
* "The Crisis in Corrections and Sentencing in Massachusetts" (1991)
* "Parenting and the Legal Profession: A Model for the Nineties" (1991)
* "A Call for Continued Excellence: Fair Compensation for Our Judges and Judicial Employees" (1992)
* "Expectations, Reality and Recommendations for Change" [dealing with the issue of professional fulfillment of lawyers] (1997)
* "Facing the Grail" (1999) [dealing with the challenge of work-life balance for lawyers]
* "Appellate Administration of Justice: A Crisis in Massachusetts" (2000)
* "Judicial Salaries in Massachusetts" (2000)
* "Parole Practices in Massachusetts and Their Effect on Community Reintegration" (2002)
* "The Parents’ How-to Guide to Children’s Mental Health Services in Massachusetts" (2004) (with support from Children’s Hospital Boston)
* " [http://www.bostonbar.org/prs/nr_0809/GideonsNewTrumpet.pdf Gideon’s New Trumpet: Expanding the Civil Right to Counsel in Massachusetts] " (2008)

Annual Events

The Boston Bar Association’s two largest annual events are its Annual Meeting Luncheon in September, and its Law Day Dinner in May, both of which typically draw up to 1,500 lawyers and judges and feature prominent keynote speakers.

Annual Meeting Luncheon keynote speakers have included:
*John Mortimer (1991)
* [http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/SAFIRE-BIO.htm William Saffire] (1992)
*Mort Zuckerman (1993)
*Carl Rowan (1994)
*Warren Rudman (1995)
*Jonathan Kozol (1996)
*James P. Carroll (1997)
*David Halberstam (1998)
*Eileen McNamara (2000)
*Joe Klein (2002)
*Linda Greenhouse (2003)
*Emily Rooney (2004)
*Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2006)
*Neal Katyal (2007)
*Jeffrey Sachs (2008)

Law Day Dinner keynote speakers have included:
*Arthur R. Miller (1991)
*Justice Harry Blackmun (1992)
*John Le Carré (1993)
*Matthew V. Storin (1994)
*Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (1995)
*Justice Stephen Breyer (1996)
*Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (1997)
*Judge Patricia McGowan Wald (1998)
*Judge Constance Baker Motley (1999)
*Marvin Kalb (2000)
*Susan Estrich (2001)
*Justice Anthony Kennedy (2002)
*Judge Guido Calabresi (2003)
*Judge Barrington Daniels Parker, Jr. (2004)
*Jamie Gorelick (2005)
*Harold Koh (2006)
*Deval Patrick (2007)
*Cass Sunstein (2008)

Boston Bar Association Orchestra Annual Summer Concert

The Boston Bar Association Orchestra is a full-symphony orchestra composed primarily of attorneys and law-related professionals. Its premiere performance took place at the Harvard Club of Boston in January of 1985. Since then, the Orchestra has performed every year at locations such as Faneuil Hall and the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade. The Orchestra also provides music for conferences held in the Boston area, such as the 1993 American Bar Association Winter Meeting.

Service to the community

The Boston Bar Association has established public service programs utilizing lawyer volunteers. Among these programs are:

* The M. Ellen Carpenter Financial Literacy Program - co-sponsored by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Massachusetts – designed to teach high school students about budgeting, making sound credit choices and avoiding bankruptcy. ["The Boston Globe" : [http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2005/05/22/in_1992_young_adults_carried_almost_1500_on_their_credit_cards_by_2001_their_debt_grew_to_nearly_3000/?page=full "In 1992, young adults carried almost $1,500 on their credit cards. By 2001, their debt grew to nearly $3,000"] ] ["The Boston Globe" : [http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/05/06/a_crash_course_in_credit/?page=full/ "A crash course in credit"] ]
* The Boston Bar Association Summer Jobs Program – conducted in partnership with the Boston Public Schools and the Boston Private Industry Council, it places juniors and seniors from Boston’s public high schools in paid summer internships at Boston law firms, corporate law departments, and law-related public agencies.
* The Lawyer-for-the-Day Project at the Boston Housing Court – provides pro bono lawyers to assist unrepresented tenants and landlords on summary process day. ["The Boston Globe": [http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/11/29/few_chances_for_lawyers_to_develop_trial_skills/ "Few chances for lawyers to develop trial skills"] ]
* The Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association – provides pro bono civil legal assistance to low-income clients.

Leaders

Current Officers

* President: Kathy B. Weinman, Dwyer & Collora, LLP
* President-Elect: John J. Regan, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
* Vice-President: Donald R. Frederico, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
* Treasurer: Lisa C. Goodheart, Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C.
* Secretary: James D. Smealie, Holland & Knight LLP

Past Presidents

Notable Boston Bar Association Past Presidents have included:

* John Adams (1761-1766) – 2nd President of the United States
* Moorfield Storey (1909-1913) – President of the American Bar Association
* Robert W. Meserve (1963-1965) – President of the American Bar Association
* John G. Brooks (1972-1974) - President of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and a director of the Legal Services Corporation
* John J. Curtin, Jr. (1979-1981) – President of the American Bar Association
* Gene D. Dahmen (1987-1988) – First woman to serve as President of the Boston Bar Association
* Rudolph F. Pierce (1989-1990) – First African American to serve as President of the Boston Bar Association
* Hon. Sandra L. Lynch (1992-1993) – First woman to serve as chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
* Hon. Margaret H. Marshall (1991-1992) – First woman Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

References

External links

* [http://bostonbar.org/ "Boston Bar Association Website "]
* [http://www.bostonbar.org/cle/index.htm "Boston Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Center"]
* [http://bostonbar.org/pub/index.htm "Boston Bar Association Publications"]
* [http://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/search_results.jsp?partnerID=19&jsessionid=686141083613456164 "West LegalEdcenter"]
* [http://www.vlpnet.org/ "The Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association"]