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Officers, regional delegates elected to serve 2004-2005 term

Issue July 2004

Massachusetts Bar Association President Richard C. Van Nostrand has announced that the following members have been elected to serve as officers and regional delegates of the Massachusetts Bar Association for the 2004-2005 membership year, which begins Sept. 1.

President

Kathleen M. O'Donnell, a longtime MBA member and officer who is associated with the Marcotte Law Firm in Lowell, is 2004-2005 president of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

O'Donnell, who lives in Lowell, is an expert in auto insurance. She concentrates her practice in civil trial work, but also specializes in workers' compensation, criminal, probate and domestic law. A former instructor of legal practice skills at Suffolk University Law School (1980-82), she has lecture frequently on auto insurance issues at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

She is a graduate of Wheaton College, 1977; and earned her law degree at Suffolk University Law School in 1980.

O'Donnell has held every position as an officer of the Massachusetts Bar Association. In addition, she had served on the MBA's Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Rights, Liberties and Access to Justice (co-chair, 2001-2004); Budget and Finance Committee (chair, 2002-2003); Amicus Committee (chair, 2001-2002) and Civil Litigation Section Council (chair, 2000-2001).

She has been involved with a number of other major legal organizations, including the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (president, 1995-1996); Association of Trial Lawyers of America (member since 1995; State Affairs Committee co-chair 1998-2004); American Board of Trial Advocates (first woman elected to Massachusetts chapter); Greater Lowell Bar Association (president, 1990-1991; director, GLBA Conciliation Program, 1989-1996); Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (vice president, 2002-2003; member, Board of Directors, 1998-present).

Throughout her career, O'Donnell has received numerous awards and honors. Among them: National Law Journal, named one of 12 most influential lawyers in Massachusetts, 2000; Greater Lowell Bar Association, Lawyer of the Year, 1992; Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, Distinguished Service Award, 1994; American Trial Lawyers Association, Service Award, 1996 and 1997; Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, named one of top 20 most influential lawyers in Massachusetts, 1997, named one of top 10 lawyers of the year, 1995; Essex County Bar Association, named one of leading women lawyers in Massachusetts, 1997.

President-elect

Warren F. Fitzgerald, a partner in the Boston firm of Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald, currently serves as MBA vice-president and will become president in September 2005.

A trial lawyer, Fitzgerald received his undergraduate degree from Boston University in 1976 and his juris doctor from the Boston University School of Law in 1979.

Fitzgerald has served as treasurer and vice-president in recent years. He has chaired the MBA Budget and Finance Committee and for many years has served as a member of the Executive Management Board and the House of Delegates. He is a former chair of the Civil Litigation Section, a former co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on the Preservation of Rights, Liberties and Access to Justice and the Court Study Task Force. He has chaired and served on numerous other MBA committees.
Fitzgerald has been with Meehan Boyle since its founding in 1985. Prior to that, he was an associate with Parker, Coulter, Daley & White and with Hutchins and Wheeler.

In addition to his MBA activities, Fitzgerald is a past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, a sustaining member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and a member of the American, Women's and Essex County bar associations.

Vice presidents (2)

Mark D. Mason is a principal at Cooley, Shrair, P.C., of Springfield. He currently serves as MBA treasurer.

A family law and business litigator, Mason is an adjunct professor at Cambridge College and former professor at Bay Path College in Longmeadow and Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee. He serves on the MBA Executive Management Board and House of Delegates. Mason is former chair of the New Lawyers Section and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and former secretary of the Judicial Administration Section Council.

Edward W. McIntyre of Law Office of Edward W. McIntyre, Clinton, is chair of the Supreme Judicial Court's Clients' Security Board; a member of the Supreme Judicial Court's Pro Bono Standing Committee; and a BBO hearing officer.

He has served on MBA Board of Delegates from 1998-04, and is chair of the MBA's Judicial Administration Section Council. He also is a member of the Executive Management Board, Judicial Evaluation Task Force, Anniversary Fee Task Force, Mock Trial & Conversations programs, and the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and Grant Review Committee. He is past president of the Worcester County Bar Association.
Treasurer

Jeffrey B. Loeb of Rich May, a Professional Corporation, of Boston, is a business litigator with significant experience in general civil litigation and business and commercial law. Currently MBA Secretary, Loeb is former chair of the New Lawyers Section Council; former Region 6 (Essex County) Delegate on the House of Delegates; has served on Budget and Finance Committee, Policy and Governance Committee, Executive Management Board and Committee on Sections; and frequent lecturer and contributor for MBA Continuing Legal Education programs.

He is a member of the Essex County Bar Association, Massachusetts Association of Trial Attorneys and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

Secretary

Katherine A. Hesse is a founding partner and litigator/counselor at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane of Quincy, Boston and Springfield. An active 25-year MBA member, speaker and section/committee leader, she serves on the MBA House of Delegate and Executive Management Board and as a Holmes Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.

Region 9 (Suffolk County)
Delegates (4)

Alice B. Burkin of Boston is a trial partner at Duane Morris, a national law firm. An active member since 1992, Burkin speaks on numerous MBA educational panels and lectures extensively to professionals in the legal and healthcare communities. She founded and chaired "Mothers-in-Law," formally a long-standing MBA committee devoted to life-balance issues and networking.

John J. Morrissey of Boston is a partner with Quinn and Morris and a member of the Board of Governors of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. He is a former member of the MBA Young Lawyers Section Council.

Douglas K. Sheff of Sheff Law Office, Boston is past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, governor of the Association of Trial Attorneys of America and trustee of the National College of Advocacy.

John P. Zanini of Boston is legal counsel to the District Attorney of Suffolk County and Chief of Appeals. MBA involvement includes Criminal Justice Section Council member, 1999-2000, 2001-present; section editor for MBA Section Review, 2001; co-chair Appellate Subcommittee of Criminal Justice Section, 1999. He co-authored MBA amicus brief, Commonwealth v. Pelosi.