eJournal

The Massachusetts Bar Association will hold its Annual Dinner on Thursday, May 2, at the Westin Boston Seaport District, 425 Summer St., Boston.

The event will feature a keynote address by Sean K. Ellis, director of the Exoneree Network of the New England Innocence Project, and the presentation of the Legislator of the Year Award to State Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues, the President’s Award to Hon. Angela M. Ordoñez, the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship to Johanna Merlos, and the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award.

Sponsorships

Champions of Justice — $10,000

Silver Sponsor — $2,5000

• Table for 8
• Half-page advertisement in program
• Logo/firm name projected at event and featured on MBA website
  

Bronze Sponsor — $1,750

• Table for 8
• Logo/firm name projected at event
• Firm name included in program

Thank you to our current sponsors:

Champions of Justice:

MBA Insurance Agency

Gold:

CNA Insurance
Justia
Kenney & Sams, P.C.
Meehan, Boyle, Black & Bogdanow PC
Morrison Mahoney LLP
Nifty Marketing
Peabody & Arnold LLP
Rubin & Rudman LLP 
Turco Legal

Silver:

Arrowood LLP 
Association of Assistant Clerks and Magistrates
Breakstone, White & Gluck PC
Burns & Levinson
Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford LLP
Dempsey Associates
Diller Law
Eden Rafferty
FAZ Forensics
Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP
Jones Kelleher LLP
Kazarosian Costello LLP
Keches Law Group PC
Massachusetts Bar Foundation
McGrath & Kane
Milne Law PC
Ringler Associates
Robins Kaplan LLP
Sheff & Cook LLC
Todd & Weld 
UMass Law 

About Sean K. Ellis

Ellis is an exoneree, motivational speaker and fierce advocate for reforms to the criminal legal system. At the age of 19, Ellis was arrested for the murder of a police officer and was wrongfully convicted at his third trial, only after two juries could not reach a unanimous verdict. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Significant police corruption and misconduct, including witness coercion, evidence tampering and misleading forensic evidence, led to Ellis’ wrongful conviction.

He was fully exonerated in 2021 after spending nearly 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and his story is now the subject of the Netflix docuseries Trial 4. In 2020, he co-founded the Exoneree Network, a peer-led program funded by the New England Innocence Project, to support the practical, emotional and spiritual reentry needs of exonerees as they process the trauma of long-term incarceration and work to rebuild their lives in freedom.

Ellis is frequently invited to speak to help spread awareness about wrongful convictions throughout New England. He spoke at NEIP’s 2020 Voices of the Innocent: Power in Community virtual event and was an exoneree storyteller at the inaugural Voices of the Innocent: Still We Rise in 2019. 

Individual Tickets and tables

Click here to purchase individual tickets and here to purchase a table for eight.

Registration for this event is due by Friday, April 26, at noon.

Questions regarding this event can be directed to MBA Membership and Marketing Manager Heather Robertson by email at Hrobertson@massbar.org. To register over the phone, please call (617) 338-0561.