Top (from left): Conference Co-chair Michael J. Leard, Esq.; Conference Co-chair and Young Lawyers Division Chair Meghan H. Slack, Esq.; Conference Co-chair Saraa Basaria, Esq.; and Keynote Speaker Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Esq.
Middle: YLD Chair Meghan H. Slack introduces the panelists on the civility in the courtroom session, including (from left) Hon. Kimberly S. Budd, Supreme Judicial Court; Hon. Anthony Campo, Suffolk Superior Court; Hon. Beverly J. Cannone, Suffolk Superior Court; Batool Raza, Esq., Boston Public Health Commission; Janet Raheb, Esq., Worcester County District Attorney's Office; and Jason Armiger, Esq., Gesmer Updegrove LLP.
Bottom: Thank you to our conference sponsors: Citizens Bank, Clio, Gesmer Updegrove LLP and Todd & Weld LLP.
The Massachusetts Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division held its Second Annual Symposium on Friday, Dec. 13, at the MBA in Boston. With multiple programming tracks offered throughout the day, this year’s symposium covered topics ranging from attorney-client relations to professional ethics and civility in order to fully prepare attendees for success in the early years of legal practice.
Keynote speaker Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, discussed how his upbringing by a single mother in a low-income immigrant community fueled his interest in social justice for society’s most vulnerable citizens.
“I approach the law through the lens of survival, and I’m here today to tell you that so should you,” Espinoza-Madrigal said. “Our rights, our dignity and our equality don’t have to wait for simple fact patterns or for picture-perfect clients with white picket fences."
Panelists included conference co-chairs Saraa Basaria, Michael J. Leard and Meghan H. Slack, as well as Hon. Kimberly S. Budd of the Supreme Judicial Court, Hon. Anthony Campo and Hon. Beverly J. Cannone of Suffolk Superior Court, and Hon. Bonnie H. MacLeod (ret.) of JAMS. MBA President John J. Morrissey spoke prior to the day’s final panel, “A Return to Civility,” which is one of his three areas of focus in promoting attorney wellness, along with inclusion and fellowship.