Top (from left): Hon. Nancy Holtz (ret.) accepts the Daniel F. Toomey Excellence in the Judiciary Award from MBA President Marsha V. Kazarosian and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Publisher Susan A. Bocamazo.
Bottom (from left): Maria Cramer receives the Excellence in Legal Journalism Award from Kazarosian and Bocamazo.
Photos © Mike Ritter.
A diverse group of lawyers were honored for their achievements
at the May 14 Excellence in the Law event, which was presented by
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in partnership with the
Massachusetts Bar Association.
The MBA paid special tribute to the Hon. Nancy Holtz (ret.) and
Boston Globe crime and legal reporter Maria Cramer. Holtz
received the Daniel F. Toomey Excellence in the Judiciary Award and
Cramer was presented with the MBA's Excellence in Legal Journalism
Award.
The annual Excellence in the Law event, which was held at the
Marriott Long Wharf Hotel, also featured award presentations to
individuals in the following categories: Up & Coming Lawyers,
Excellence in Pro Bono, Paralegal, Marketing and Firm
Administration. A portion of the proceeds from the event was
donated to the Massachusetts Bar Institute Public Service Fund,
which helps support community services throughout the state.
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. The current chair of the
MBA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, 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,
construction litigation, first degree murder, kidnapping and home
invasion.
Cramer began her career in New Jersey covering municipal
government at the Trenton Times. In December 2003, she was
hired to work for Globe South, the suburban zones section
of the Boston Globe, and was quickly promoted to metro
staff as a general assignment reporter in 2005. Cramer was assigned
to cover Boston Police, a beat that sparked her love for trial
coverage and broke news on some of the biggest stories in the city.
She has led 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. In 2013, she was part of the team that
won the Pulitzer for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and
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.
Look in the June Lawyers Journal for full event
coverage.