eJournal

As president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Damian J. Turco set an ambitious goal of helping to close the justice gap; supporting innocence project work; advancing attorney well-being and diversity, equity and inclusion; and evolving the MBA’s business to attract and retain more members.  

Justice is illusive for the many thousands of individuals who struggle to afford civil legal assistance. While the issue is far too vast for any single organization to address in one calendar year, Turco takes pride in how the MBA found new and creative ways to promote access to legal aid for deserving populations in the commonwealth. 

For Turco, whose presidency will conclude on Aug. 31, the mission of civil justice began at his introductory reception with an appeal to MBA members to consider their obligation to ensure a fair and equitable system for all court users. Then in October, he led the MBA in hosting a new event called the Fall Festival & Run for Justice, which raised $15,000 for legal aid programs and the New England Innocence Project. The festival served not only to help offset the fiscal constraints facing organizations that assist civil litigants and victims of wrongful convictions, but also to bring wider attention to the essential nature of their work.

“Talking about the justice gap and the groups working to end it is very important, so it was a subject of conversation for me at many of my speaking engagements as president,” Turco said. “It is vital that we continue to focus people’s minds on the need for us to devote time, energy and money to this issue.”

Alongside its support for service providers within the legal industry, the MBA partnered with the Superior Court to launch a new statewide Lawyer for the Day Program for self-represented parties on the civil docket. Spearheaded by MBA President-elect Victoria M. Santoro, the weekly virtual program serves litigants across the income spectrum and offers various forms of assistance, such as answers to specific legal questions, general guidance, and referrals to other entities. Noting that the MBA and Massachusetts Bar Foundation are among the driving forces behind the commonwealth’s existing Lawyer for the Day programs, Turco said that he was proud to add this program in the Superior Court where pro se litigants’ needs were otherwise unmet. 

Turco also focused his term on fostering broader understanding of legal technology and its important role in alleviating the unmet demand for legal help. Through a yearlong slate of CLE programs, Turco and other MBA panelists shared insights on the state of artificial intelligence in the legal profession and on individual tools to help solo and small-firm lawyers run more efficient practices, thereby more effectively serving more clients with less means. 

“If there has ever been a marathon of a leadership issue, it’s this one,” Turco said. “It is such an enormous issue. Millions of litigants go without representation annually in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of lawyers do pro bono, hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated to the cause, and more technology is available than ever before. Yet, the problem persists. We will ultimately solve this problem, but there is still very much to do.”  

One of Turco’s best opportunities to call for collective action to close the justice gap came at January’s Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, which topped 600 attendees in its return to the State House for the first time since 2020. Turco said that he was proud to join advocates in asking their elected officials for greater state investment in legal aid and to share the same message with federal lawmakers during a lobbying trip to Washington, D.C., in collaboration with the American Bar Association.

Supporting Innocence Projects

As part of its overall efforts to eliminate inequities in the legal system, the MBA similarly worked to bolster the reach of the Committee for Public Counsel Services Innocence Program, the New England Innocence Project and the Boston College Innocence Program. Following a successful charitable campaign at the Fall Festival, the MBA developed a training and volunteer program and recruited attorneys to contribute to these innocence programs. Volunteers attended an initial information session and then moved into assisting with either the preliminary assessment or advanced review of wrongful conviction claims submitted by prospective clients.

Rather than limit program participation to criminal practitioners, Turco said that organizers sought to include attorneys experienced in civil litigation and with other skillsets applicable to the needs of innocence groups. He said that the collaboration proved mutually beneficial to both sides, as volunteers harnessed their legal training in different but meaningful ways, finding unique purpose in the experience, and innocence leaders received a needed infusion of support from colleagues with a shared commitment to their cause. The MBA’s involvement in innocence work also resonated strongly with law students and young attorneys who are entering the profession with great aspiration to fight injustice and appreciate that their professional associations hold similar values, Turco said.

In the same way that he views access to civil representation as a profession-wide issue, Turco believes that because lawyers are the stewards of the legal system, they have a fundamental duty to advocate for wrongfully incarcerated people.

“One of the greatest tragedies in our justice system is that we have individuals currently convicted and incarcerated for crimes they have not committed,” Turco said. “When the system fails, it is our responsibility as a society, but also as bar leaders, to remedy those injustices.”

In a sobering example of how wrongful convictions can have grievous consequences, Sean K. Ellis of the New England Innocence Project spoke at May’s sold-out MBA Annual Dinner about his 22-year journey to exoneration for a crime he did not commit. Ellis moved the audience to complete silence as he shared the painful details of his sentencing and incarceration and his struggle to find purpose in life until he began helping fellow exonerees in their reintegration to society.
  

Empowering DEI

Concurrent with the MBA’s focus on access to justice, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) completed a robust year of programming on legal developments of interest to civil rights practitioners and advocates for diverse representation in the profession. In January, the MBA hosted a well-attended forum on the state of affirmative action and the future of DEI efforts at law firms and beyond. The program, co-sponsored by dozens of partner organizations and law firms, followed the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision on affirmative action in college admissions in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard. That program preceded another notable DEIC-led educational effort on restorative justice, including its current use in state courts, its effectiveness as an alternative to incarceration, and its broader role in reducing racial disparities in criminal sentencing.

Turco praised the DEIC for both its creativity in designing topical programs throughout the year and its sponsorship outreach to affinity bar associations to ensure that panel discussions involved a diversity of stakeholders within the legal profession. Likewise, the MBA co-sponsored events and educational programs presented by its affinity partners throughout the year, such as the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys, the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association.

To complement its educational offerings, the DEIC celebrated the accomplishments of seven attorneys from diverse backgrounds as part of a monthly eJournal feature first announced in October. Timed around federal holidays and monthlong observances, the DEI Spotlight series recognized state and federal jurists, leaders of legal services and social justice organizations, and attorneys in private practice, among others of distinction in the profession.

In addition to prioritizing diversity and inclusion for established members of the legal community, Turco noted that the MBA continued its commitment to helping students of color visualize their potential to become future lawyers. As in past years, the MBA directed much of its youth outreach to diverse and underserved communities, most notably through the MBA’s High School Mock Trial program, involving 111 high school teams this year, and volunteer-led civics presentations to hundreds of high school students during May’s monthlong celebration of Law Day.

“It is important that we continue to inspire more young people from disadvantaged communities to pursue careers in the legal profession,” Turco said.

Well-Being and Moving the MBA's Business Forward

Just as he regularly underscored the need for better service to court users, Turco also spoke openly about the topic of lawyer well-being and its central place in the advancement of the profession. Turco said that the MBA Lawyer Well-Being Committee has become a strong voice in normalizing conversations about mental health and substance use, having presented or co-sponsored more than two dozen wellness-related programs in the last few years alone. Given its status as a cornerstone issue in the legal community, lawyer well-being will remain a leadership priority for the MBA moving forward, Turco said.

Although not in the spotlight like other initiatives, evolving the MBA’s business strategy has been a focus of Turco’s throughout the membership year, with significant achievements made along the way. Under Turco’s leadership, the MBA allocated more resources and innovation to creating a better value proposition for law students and young lawyers. He led initiatives to better engage student leaders, including the MBA’s Student Group Shark Tank competition, and rallied support for additional staff to focus exclusively on law students and lawyers in their first few years of practice. While the summer tends to be a time of winding down projects, Turco formed and led a recruiting committee, resulting in over 60 new leaders joining the MBA’s section council and practice group ranks from a broad spectrum of experience, practice areas, employment types, and backgrounds. 

Turco proudly offered, “Being a leader at the MBA has had such a positive impact in my life, and that was true since I first became involved on a section council. There’s nothing I would recommend more to law students and attorneys who want to contribute to our community, create professional opportunities for themselves, and make some really great friends along the way.” 

Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Martin W. Healy echoed those sentiments and said that Turco has left the MBA well positioned to build on the foundational efforts of the last year.  

“Damian led the MBA in an exciting new direction as he identified innovative approaches to help bridge the justice gap and support the life-changing work of innocence organizations in Massachusetts,” Healy said. “His enthusiasm for the work of the MBA and his willingness to tackle large-scale issues for the betterment of society stand out as defining characteristics of his presidency and strong indicators of our continued forward momentum as an organization.”

As he prepares to transition out of his role as president, Turco said he is especially grateful that the experience came during his mid-40s, when he still has many years of practice ahead of him. With optimism for the future of the organization and the next stage of his career, Turco said that he will most fondly remember the solidarity of MBA leaders, members and staff in embracing these important initiatives.

“I had the great privilege of being the driving force on membership and leadership initiatives, DEI initiatives, innocence project work and well-being initiatives. In doing so, I had the benefit of the dedication and support of Marty and the officer team, the staff, and hundreds of active volunteer leaders at the MBA to make it all happen. Being able to lead with that kind of committed support from so many people to do important work was the best part.”