The Massachusetts Bar Association will honor the Hon. Nancy
Holtz (ret.) and Boston Globe crime and legal reporter
Maria Cramer at the May 14 Excellence in the Law event,
co-presented by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Holtz has
been selected to receive the Daniel F. Toomey Excellence in the
Judiciary Award and Cramer will be presented with the MBA's
Excellence in Legal Journalism Award.
The annual Excellence in the Law event, which will be held at
the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel, will also feature award
presentations in the following areas: Up & Coming Lawyers,
Excellence in Pro Bono, Paralegal, Marketing and Firm
Administration.
About Hon. Nancy Holtz (Honoree, Daniel F. Toomey
Excellence in the Judiciary Award)
Holtz, a former Superior Court judge with more than 30 years of
legal experience, is now a "go to" mediator and arbitrator for
high-stakes and complex matters for JAMS. Holtz began her career as
a trial attorney, as assistant corporation counsel for the City of
Boston's Law Department, and then became partner at Merrick and
Louison, where she tried complex civil and criminal jury trials in
U.S. District Court and Massachusetts Superior Court. Holtz went on
to serve as commissioner of the Alcoholic Beverages Control
Commission, before becoming secretary and general counsel of the
Executive Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. Holtz
was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1996 where, for 15
years, she presided over civil and criminal cases, including
significant multimillion dollar business litigation and
construction litigation and first degree murder, kidnapping and
home invasion.
About Maria Cramer (Honoree, Excellence in Legal
Journalism Award)
Cramer, the recipient of the Excellence in Journalism Award, has
lead the news pack on cases like Philip Markoff, otherwise known as
the Craigslist Killer, Clark Rockefeller, and the Woolson Street
murders, the killings of three adults and a two-year-old boy on a
Mattapan street. The Globe has sent her to Guatemala,
Costa Rica, London and Germany to follow not only crime stories but
political news. In 2013, she was part of the team that won the
Pulitzer for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. In 2014, she
was assigned to cover the state's court system full time and has
broken stories on the Aaron Hernandez case and the Parole
Board.