The Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates (HOD) adopted the findings and recommendations of an American Bar Association report on democracy at its first meeting of the 2024-25 association year on Thursday, Sept. 26.
In the only new business of the meeting, MBA Vice President Samuel A. Segal introduced the ABA’s August 2024 bipartisan report on the Task Force for American Democracy, which detailed “the rise of misinformation, the normalization of political violence and a growing disillusionment with democratic governance,” and recommended actions for individual lawyers and bar associations to take in support of democracy and the rule of law. MBA Access to Justice Section Chair Nicole Paquin also spoke in favor of adopting the ABA report, noting its unanimous support from her section council. The HOD voted in favor of adoption.
Giving her first HOD report of the year, MBA President Victoria M. Santoro thanked her family, friends and colleagues for their support since the start of the year, including at her swearing-in ceremony held earlier in the month. She also praised the MBA’s Fall Festival and Run for Justice, which was held on Sept. 22 at Herter Park in Boston, noting that MBA Civil Litigation Section Chair Michael Molloy was the drummer of the festival’s headlining band, Karate Show.
Noting that September was Suicide Prevention Month and also National Recovery Month, Santoro spoke about the recent MassBar Beat podcast that she recorded on those topics with Amanda Rowan, chair of the MBA’s Lawyer Well-Being Committee and an assistant clerk magistrate in Middlesex Superior Court, and Dr. Shawn Healy, director of administrative operations and a clinical psychologist at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in Massachusetts (LCL).
Santoro also recounted a Boston Lawyers Group (BLG) event held earlier in the week, which drew approximately 170 law students of color and over 70 attorneys. Later in the meeting, MBA President-elect Michael H. Hayden added that the MBA is hoping to collaborate more with the BLG, whose mission is to increase the number of diverse attorneys in the Boston area.
Looking ahead, Santoro plugged the trio of in-person MBA programs on Oct. 10, including the full-day program for the Solopreneur Lawyer, the Reproductive Rights CLE and the MBA’s Welcome Back Reception. She also highlighted the Conflict Resolution Week program and a program on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s (DEIC) Mentoring Initiative, both on Oct. 17.
Turning to the Superior Court Lawyer for the Day program that she established last year, Santoro noted that Jess Landry will be serving as the coordinator of the program this year. MBA Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Martin W. Healy commended Massachusetts Bar Foundation Executive Director Susannah Thomas for working with Santoro to award an MBF grant to help support the Lawyer for the Day program this year.
Earlier, at the start of the meeting, Santoro held a moment of silence in honor of Worcester public defender and MBA leader Adrian Angus, noting that the legal community had suffered a great loss with Angus’ death a few days earlier. Angus was president-elect of the Worcester County Bar Association and a past winner of the MBA’s Access to Justice Defender Award.
Continuing a tradition among MBA presidents, Santoro also presented immediate past MBA President Damian J. Turco with an engraved chair as a thank you for his service, adding, “I feel he set a new bar for all of us.”
The next HOD meeting will be held on Nov. 14.