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Member Spotlight

Issue May 2007

MBA is well represented on ABA’s 12th National Conference on Children and the Law faculty The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law co-sponsored, with Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Program, the American Bar Association’s 12th National Conference on Children and the Law, “Promoting Children’s Interests:
Preparation, Practice and Policy Reform.”
Harvard hosted the conference April 13-15 in Cambridge.

The conference looked at an array of issues relating to the representation of children and parents in cases involving government intervention in the family.

ABA President Karen J. Mathis and Harvard Law School Dean of the Faculty of Law Elena Kagan presented opening
remarks. In addition, Judge Judith S. Kaye, chief judge of the State of New York, presented the program’s opening keynote.
Attorneys and judges from across the country participated in panel discussions and trainings, including the following members of the MBA: Elizabeth Bartholet, Harvard Law School, Cambridge; Susan Cole, Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center, Boston; Judge Martha P. Grace, Massachusetts Juvenile Court Department, Boston; Wendy E. Millette, Holland & Knight, Boston; Massachusetts Sen. Karen Spilka, Boston; and Margaret Winchester, Public Counsel Services, Worcester.

Spackman named chief of Not-for-Profit Organizations Division by Coakley Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley named David G. Spackman, an attorney with extensive experience in the health care industry, as chief of the Not-for-Profit Organizations Division, formerly the Public Charities Division. The Not-for- Profit Organizations Division of the attorney general’s office, which is part of the Business & Labor Bureau, is responsible for representing the public’s interest in the proper use and solicitation of charitable funds.
Spackman, who joined the office on April 23, is a shareholder in the Health Business section of Greenberg Traurig, one
of the largest law firms in the United States. Spackman has represented health care clients involved in organizational changes, including hospital system mergers, sales, acquisitions and joint ventures across the country.

Locally, he played a key role in the acquisition of MetroWest Medical Center and Saint Vincent Hospital by Vanguard Health System, the acquisition of Hale Municipal Hospital and Deaconess-Nashoba Hospital by Essent Healthcare, the reorganization of HealthAlliance Hospitals with UMass Memorial Health System, and the structuring of several hospital joint ventures between for-profit and non-profit partners.

Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Spackman served as general counsel to the City of Boston’s Department of Health and
Hospitals from 1977 to 1985. He is a graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin and Suffolk University Law School.
Gibson named to steering committee for Villanova Law School campaign Daniel P. Gibson, managing partner of Gibson & Behman, has been named to the steering committee for the Villanova Law School Building Fundraising Campaign.

Gibson, who earned his Juris Doctor from Villanova School of Law, will be part of the committee charged with a major fundraising effort to construct the new 170,000-square-foot law school building, expected to be completed in August 2009.

Gibson started Gibson & Behman, a mid-sized law firm headquartered in Burlington, Mass. The firm, which has offices throughout the United States and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has donated roughly $200,000 to the school.

Mason and others selected to serve on Business Litigation Session Advisory Committee by Chief Justice Rouse Superior Court Chief Justice Barbara J.

Rouse announced that the Hon. Ralph D. Gants will replace the Hon. Allan van Gestel in the Business Litigation Session when he retires in January. Gants will preside over the first session. Rouse also established a Business Litigation Session Advisory Committee.

Her appointments include MBA President Mark D Mason and MBA Past President Wayne A. Budd. Other MBA member appointments include Michael B. Keating, Foley Hoag LLP, Boston; Joan A. Lukey, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston; James C. Donnelly Jr., Mirick O’Connell, Worcester; and Sandra L. Jesse, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Boston.