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Francis Morrissey receives Silver Shingle Award at Boston University School of Law

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021
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Top: Francis C. Morrissey with Boston University School of Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig.

Bottom (from left): Katie Morrissey (his daughter), Onwuachi-Willig, Professor Stephen G. Marks and Morrissey.

Boston University School of Law has honored Massachusetts Bar Association Executive Management Board member Francis C. Morrissey of Milton with its Silver Shingle Alumni Award for Service to the School. The award, a tradition at the School of Law since 1967, is presented each year in recognition of notable contributions to the legal profession, leadership within the community and unfailing service to the school. Morrissey received the award on Oct. 1 at a ceremony attended by members of his family, including his brother, MBA Past President John J. Morrissey, as well as current MBA President Thomas M. Bond.

Morrissey, a partner in the law firm of Morrissey, Wilson & Zafiropoulos LLP, concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, insolvency, and distressed acquisitions and divestitures. Morrissey has been a member of the faculty at BU School of Law since 2008 and has taught and mentored countless students. His passion in the classroom and devotion to students and colleagues were recognized in 2012 when Morrissey was honored with the John S. Baerst Award for Excellence in Teaching. 

In addition to practicing law and teaching, Morrissey has consistently done important pro bono work, particularly in the areas of debtor-creditor law and bar discipline. By way of example, Morrissey led the MBA’s successful efforts to lobby the General Court to update Massachusetts’ version of the Uniform Commercial Code, and he helped launch the MBA’s Student Loan Bankruptcy Assistance Project. Similarly, in a case of first impression, Morrissey obtained a ruling from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the First Circuit that a student borrower’s ownership of exempt property is not a per se bar to an undue hardship discharge. Morrissey also was one of the principal drafters of the MBA’s successful amicus brief in In the Matter of Gregory M. Olchowski, a case before the Supreme Judicial Court that concluded unidentified funds in IOLTA accounts should be remitted to the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee. These engagements have made broad and lasting changes in the laws of the commonwealth. Finally, Morrissey has served, by appointment of the SJC, as vice chair of the Clients’ Security Board and was recently reappointed by the court to serve a second term on the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Oversight Committee. 

Long active in the MBA, Morrissey has served in a number of leadership roles in the organization, including as chair of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship Committee, chair of the Business Law Section Council and member of the MBA’s Executive Management Board.

“Frank was surrounded by his family, friends, and adoring students as he was honored and added to the short list of luminaries who have received the prestigious Silver Shingle Award from Boston University School of Law," said Bond. "He has selflessly given so much to the Massachusetts Bar Association, and to the legal community. I was pleased to be a part of his celebration, and am proud to call him my friend.”