Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012
MBA 2012-13 officers begin term
The Massachusetts Bar Association slate of officers for the
2012-13 term has officially been set. Robert L. Holloway Jr., the
2011-12 president-elect, automatically succeeds to the office of
the president on September 1.
During his term, Holloway encourages all MBA members to actively
participate in the MBA through FREE section membership, social
events, advocacy and pro bono work -- to reap professional
benefits.
Here is the list of the officers and some of their
achievements.
Robert L. Holloway Jr.
President
Holloway is a shareholder and president of MacLean,
Holloway, Doherty, Ardiff & Morse PC in Peabody. He is a
long-term member of the MBA's Ethics Committee, a member and past
chair of the MBA's Civil Litigation Section Council, former
chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and a former
regional delegate to the MBA House of Delegates, the governing body
of the MBA. Holloway received the MBA's Community Service
Award in 1993 and served on the Joint Bar Committee on
Judicial Nominations for six years. In August 2009, Holloway began
a three-year appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court's
Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services. He volunteers
as a judge for moot court arguments at Boston University School of
Law and Harvard Law School, and as a trial advisor in the Harvard
Trial Workshop program. A regular panelist for continuing
legal education programs, Holloway also is an emeritus member of
the Board of Editors of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly,
having served on that board since 1981. Recognized by
Boston Magazine as a "Super Lawyer" in the area of
business litigation, he is also a past president of the
Essex County Bar Association. A Topsfield resident, he is
a former member of the Board of Health and was an elected
representative to the Masconomet Regional School Committee
from 1990 to 1999. Holloway was also a director of the
Topsfield Athletic Association for many years and served as the
organization's president. Prior to that, he served as member
and chair of the Danvers Recreation Committee. In addition,
Holloway was a founding member of Hospice of the North Shore
and served as a corporator of Beverly Hospital.
Douglas K. Sheff
President-elect
A senior partner at Sheff Law in Boston, Sheff is a
nationally renowned brain injury litigation expert and specializes
in all aspects of personal injury law. He is also a member of the
MBA's Executive Management Board and Budget and Finance Committee.
In addition, he served as treasurer, two terms as MBA vice
president, as MBA secretary and as chair of the MBA Civil
Litigation Section. Sheff is chair of the Workplace Safety Task
Force and has also served as chair of the MBA Membership Committee
and as co-chair of the MBA Centennial Conference and Ball. He is
also a fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of the MBA. Sheff is a past president of the
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, serving on its Board of
Governors for more than 20 years. He was recently honored with
MATA's inaugural Excellence in Advocacy Award for his
representation of children and adults who have suffered traumatic
brain injury. Sheff also holds the title of governor to the
American Association of Justice, where he has spent more than 20
years working nationally and locally on issues that affect the
trial bar. Elected by his national peers, Sheff is a past chair of
the AAJ's State Delegates and served as chair of its Council of
Presidents, representing 50,000 attorneys nationwide. Sheff is a
recipient of the AAJ's Next Generation Award and a seven-time
recipient of its Wiedeman Wysocki Award. He was appointed a trustee
of the National College of Advocacy. Sheff received the ORT Award
for integrity in the law, and as a Boston magazine "Super
Lawyer." He lives in the North End.
Robert W. Harnais
Vice President
Harnais is with Mahoney Diamond and Harnais Law
Offices in Quincy, where his general practice concentrates on
criminal law, family law, real estate, labor and consumer law. A
past MBA secretary, he has sat on the MBA's governing body -- House
of Delegates -- since 2006, has been a member of its Executive
Management Board and has served as co-chair of the MBA Task Force
on Diversity. He is a past president of both the Massachusetts
Association of Hispanic Attorneys and the National Hispanic Bar
Association, and remains highly involved with both
organizations. He is also a member of the Norfolk County Bar
Association. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the Race and
Ethnic Advisory Board for the Massachusetts courts. Harnais
received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Boston in
1984 and graduated from New England Law | Boston in 1989. He is
chairman of the Braintree Planning Board and is a football official
and former coach with Braintree Pop Warner. He lives in Braintree
with his wife, Leslie, and their children.
Christopher P. Sullivan
Vice President
Sullivan is a partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller
& Ciresi LLP in Boston, where he focuses on the civil jury
trials of complex litigation matters, such as financial and
securities cases and intellectual property. Sullivan has previously
served as an MBA member-at-large of the House of Delegates and as a
member of the Executive Management Board. He also sat on the Civil
Litigation and Business Law section councils. Sullivan also served
as tri-chair of the Federal Practices and Procedures Committee. In
addition to his MBA involvement, Sullivan has served as president
of the Massachusetts chapter of the Federal Bar Association
(2010-2011) and is currently the FBA's vice president for the First
Circuit. He has also served as an instructor for the National
Institute of Trial Advocacy. As an accomplished trial lawyer,
Sullivan has been named a New England "Super Lawyer" by Super
Lawyers magazine every year since 2004. Sullivan graduated
from the College of Holy Cross in Worcester in 1971, and he is
currently an Executive Board Member of the Holy Cross Lawyers
Association. He went on to receive his J.D. from Fordham University
Law School in 1975, and is New England Chapter Vice President of
the Fordham University Law School Alumni. He is a resident of
Hingham.
Marsha V. Kazarosian
Treasurer
Kazarosian is managing partner of Kazarosian Law
Offices in Haverhill, where she concentrates in civil rights
litigation, family law and discrimination. Kazarosian previously
served as an MBA secretary and vice president. Former chair of both
the MBA's Education Committee and the Technology Implementation
Task Force, she has served on numerous committees and councils. In
addition, Kazarosian is a life fellow of the Massachusetts Bar
Foundation, the philanthropic partner of the MBA. She is a past
president of the Essex County Bar Association and the Massachusetts
Academy of Trial Attorneys. Kazarosian was among the Top Women in
the Law celebrated by Massachusetts Lawyers
Weekly in 2011. In 1999, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
named her one of the top 10 lawyers in the commonwealth after
successfully suing the Haverhill Golf and Country Club for gender
discrimination. She has been identified as one of the top woman
lawyers in Massachusetts and New England since 2006, when
Massachusetts Super Lawyers magazine chose her for its
cover story titled, "The Power of Marsha Kazarosian." Kazarosian
also served a two-year term as one of 25 lawyers in the state
appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Pro Bono
Panel, and a six-year term as a Hearings Committee Officer for the
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. In 2005, Kazarosian debuted
as the host of her own internet radio program on the Legal Talk
Network. Kazarosian is a corporator of the Pentucket Five Cents
Savings Bank and was a member of the Essex County 150th
Anniversary Committee. She has also served as a board member of the
Northern Essex Community College Foundation. Kazarosian received
her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1978 and
went on to earn her law degree from Suffolk University Law School
in 1982. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover. She
lives in Haverhill.
Martha Rush O'Mara
Secretary
O'Mara operates the Law Office of Martha Rush
O'Mara, where she focuses her practice in children's law. She
previously co-chaired the MBA's Juvenile & Child Welfare Law
Section and served on the Law Practice Management Section Council.
She also serves as an MBA designee on the Board of Directors of the
Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) and sits on the
association's Executive Management Board, as well as its governance
and membership committees. A former president of the Massachusetts
Association of Women Lawyers, Rush O'Mara previously served two
terms on the Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account
Committee (IOLTA), as well as two terms as a Hearing Officer for
the Board of Bar Overseers. Rush O'Mara serves as a judge for the
MBA's annual Mock Trial Program and has served as a mock trial
judge at Brandeis University and for the ABA's National Appellate
Advocacy Competition. Rush O'Mara devotes a significant amount of
time to her volunteer work in the Massachusetts legal community,
supporting pro bono projects and mentoring law school students and
recent graduates. Rush O'Mara received her B.S. from Salem State
College in 1974 and went onto to earn her law degree from New
England Law | Boston in 1990. She lives in Melrose.