Top (from left): MAHA President-elect Jessica A. Massey, MAHA President Danilo Avalon, Appeals Court Associate Justice Diana L. Maldonado, Chief Justice of the Probate and Family Court Angela M. Ordoñez, MBA President-elect Marsha V. Kazarosian, MBA Treasurer and MAHA Vice President Robert W. Harnais and MBA President Douglas K. Sheff.
Second from top (from left): MBA Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Martin W. Healy, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen Milagros Ortiz, MBA President Douglas K. Sheff and MBA President-elect Marsha V. Kazarosian.
Middle (from left): Chief Justice of the Trial Court Paula M. Carey, MBA President-elect Marsha V. Kazarosian, Chief Justice of the Probate and Family Court Angela M. Ordoñez, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen Milagros Ortiz, Appeals Court Associate Justice Diana L. Maldonado and MBA President Douglas K. Sheff.
Second from bottom (from left): Gov. Deval L. Patrick's Chief Legal Counsel Kate Cook, MBA Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Martin W. Healy and Governor's Councillor Jennie L. Caissie.
Bottom (from left): MBA Treasurer Robert W. Harnais; Governor's Councillors Jennie L. Caissie, Michael J. Albano and Robert L. Jubinville; MBA President-elect Marsha V. Kazarosian.
The Massachusetts Bar Association and Massachusetts Association
of Hispanic Attorneys (MAHA) co-hosted a Sept. 25 reception during
Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the appointments of the Hon.
Angela M. Ordoñez as chief justice of the Probate and Family Court,
and the Hon. Diana L. Maldonado as associate justice of
Massachusetts Appeals Court.
MBA President Douglas K. Sheff welcomed everyone to the
reception and expressed how proud the MBA and MAHA were to honor
such "role models and icons in the Hispanic legal community."
Noting the MBA's strong, ongoing support for the Latino community,
Sheff said, "My only hope is that our [MBA] work has, and will
continue to, make you proud of us as well."
Ordoñez is Massachusetts' first Hispanic chief justice. She
received her law degree and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice
from Northeastern University. Appointed a Probate & Family
Court judge in 2000, Ordoñez was appointed first justice of Norfolk
County in 2011, after having served as first justice of Nantucket
County. In 2010, she was named a Distinguished Jurist by the
Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers and she is the recipient
of the Las Primeras Award from MAHA. Ordoñez created of the MBA's
Tiered Community Mentoring Program in 2009; while serving Nantucket
County, she created the Community Court Program and introduced a
Lawyer for the Day program.
"Chief Justice Ordoñez is a zealous crusader for women, a
tireless champion of her Hispanic culture and community, and a
full-time advocate of the underrepresented," said MBA
President-elect Marsha V. Kazarosian. "She is practical, organized
and empathetic. These are all things that make her so special . . .
they are what make her so effective . . . they are what make her
the best person for this job."
Maldonado is the first Hispanic judge appointed to the
Massachusetts Appeals Court. She received her law degree from
Northeastern University School of Law and her B.A. from State
University of New York at Stony Brook. First appointed as an
associate justice of the Chelsea District Court, Maldonado founded
and presided over the Chelsea Drug Court until she became the first
justice of the Chelsea District Court in 2009. She is a former
president of the Suffolk County Drug Court Advisory Board and
former board member of the New England Association of Drug Court
Professionals.
"In many ways, this appointment is just a homecoming, as Judge
Maldonado started her legal career in 1985 as a clerk to Justice
Frederick L. Brown of the Massachusetts Appeals Court," said MAHA
President Danilo Avalon. "Welcome home and congratulations Justice
Maldonado."