Photo Credit: Jason Scally
Superior Court Judge Dennis J. Curran gives a presentation on presumptive mediation at the January House of Delegates meeting
The Massachusetts Bar Association's House of Delegates (HOD)
convened in January at the MBA's headquarters in Boston, where HOD
members voted to support the addition of an access to justice
component to the bar exam.
Supreme Judicial Court Justice Ralph D. Gants, co-chair of the
Access to Justice Commission, presented the proposal outlined in
the Access to Justice Commission Report. According to the findings
of the commission, many law school graduates are not prepared for a
career in small or solo practice due to a lack of practical
training in these areas. Professor Russell Engler of New England
Law | Boston, who also spoke about the proposal, noted that law
school students often pick courses based on bar exam topics that
exclude subject areas necessary for a community lawyer. Gants
reported that nearly half of Massachusetts practitioners are solo
and small firm lawyers.
Prior to the vote, President Douglas K. Sheff welcomed members
back from the holidays and provided an update on recent charitable
initiatives. Sheff thanked volunteers who helped feed approximately
2,000 people in the Boston area for Thanksgiving by contributing
both time and money to the Christmas in the City Annual Turkey
Drive. He also noted that the legal community has raised $800,000
for the Boston Lawyers House Project, an effort to fund permanent
housing for the homeless at the Pine Street Inn. The fundraising
goal is $1 million and Sheff noted that once that goal is reached
other organizations will likely contribute matching funds.
Also at the meeting, the HOD also voted unanimously to support,
in principle, Senate Bill 70, An Act Relative to Limited Liability
Companies. Euripides Dalmanieras, chair of the Business Law Section
Council, introduced attorney James Silva, who provided background
on the bill, which aims to lower the annual report fee for an LLC
with six or less employees. Silva noted that lower fees may
encourage more businesses to form an LLC.
Guest speaker Superior Court Judge Dennis J. Curran gave a
presentation on presumptive mediation. Based on the large,
overwhelming workload of cases within civil sessions, Curran has
conducted his own independent study on ADR and mediation options
during the last four years. According to Curran, by offering the
opportunity of mediation, his case workload decreased by more than
40 percent.
Rounding out the topics of discussion was Howard Neff, the
executive director of the Judicial Conduct Commission, a group
responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct
against state court judges and recommending discipline of judges
when necessary to the Supreme Judicial Court. Neff reviewed the
Code of Judicial Conduct, how to file complaints, what type of
complaints the commission can investigate, how complaints are
resolved and what type of action can result from these
investigations under the statute.