Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Gordon L. Doerfer named president-elect of the American Judicature Society
Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Gordon L. Doerfer has been named president-elect of the American Judicature Society at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco last month.
Previously, Doerfer served as treasurer and was a member of the executive committee of the American Judicature Society. He also served as a director from 1993 to 1999. Since 2001, he has been chair of the advisory committee for the American Judicature Society Center for Judicial Ethics.
Doerfer retired from the Massachusetts Appeals Court effective Aug. 31, and will now devote more time to his leadership role in the American Judicature Society. He will also pursue a post-judicial career as a private mediator and arbitrator.
“The American Judicature Society has played a crucial role since its founding in 1913 to help improve the justice system in this country,” he said. “I believe it will continue to do so in the years to come. The members, leaders and staff of the society come from a broad and dedicated base of citizens, lawyers, academics and judges. It has been an honor for me to be a part of this organization for many years, and I look forward to the opportunity to serve in an even more active capacity.”
Appeals Court Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza stated, “The election of Justice Doerfer to this important position is the capstone of an impressive judicial career. He is an exceptional judge, and I know that he will be instrumental in helping the American Judiciature Society to advance its important mission. We will miss him greatly at the Appeals Court, but we are pleased that his considerable talents are being recognized at the national level.”
Before serving as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Doerfer was an associate justice of the Superior Court from 1977 to 1981 and 1990 to 2001. From 1973 to 1977, he served on the Boston Municipal Court. He was in private practice from 1981 to 1990, specializing in civil litigation. A member of the American Law Institute, he has served as chair of the Administration of Justice Committee of the Boston Bar Association and president of the Boston Inns of Court. He is a trustee of the Flaschner Judicial Institute and past trustee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.
Doerfer received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1961 and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1966.
Randy Chapman Named President of MACDL
The Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers recently named Randy Chapman its president.
Chapman is a partner at Chapman & Chapman PC, where he concentrates on criminal defense work at the state and federal level. In 2005, Chapman was appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court as a member of the Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Law. Chapman has also served as former assistant district attorney in Essex County, where he prosecuted at the district and superior court levels and was the chief of the Motor Vehicle Homicide.
An active member in the Massachusetts Bar Association, Chapman has served as the chairman of both the Criminal Justice and Judicial Administration sections.
He has also served on the Board of Editors of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
Chapman has given a number of lectures around the country on the prosecution and defense of motor vehicle homicide and impaired driver cases, including speaking at the National Advocacy Center in South Carolina on behalf of the National District Attorney’s Association, and the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Associations.
He has written numerous articles on criminal justice issues and is currently a legal analyst for New England Cable News.
Two Boston firms selected as premier firms for women
Law firms that made the list of 2007 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women included include the Boston offices of Bingham McCutchen and Mintz Levin.
The list is published by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, a national consulting firm advising attorneys and legal employers on work/life balance and the retention and advancement of women. The winners were recognized for their work/life and women-friendly policies – including flex-time, child care and women-focused mentoring, leadership and networking programs.
“We are extremely proud to be recognized for the firm’s long-practiced, important and necessary efforts to promote and retain women,” said Chérie Kiser, managing partner of the Washington, D.C., office of Mintz Levin and a mother of two.
For more than 20 years, women have comprised 40-50 percent of law school graduates, and forward-thinking firms are recognizing that in order to retain and promote the best talent, they need to ensure women lawyers’ success.
“We are delighted to celebrate the firms that have begun to make strides with respect to women. Competition is the ultimate instrument of change, and my goal in partnering with Working Mother to create this list is to make work/life balance and women’s issues a basis of competition among law firms, as historically has been the case for salary or pro-bono,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, founder and president of Flex-Time Lawyers.
“I am pleased that our diversity, mentoring, women’s initiatives and human resources programs have resulted in Bingham being recognized as one of the nation’s ‘Best Law Firms for Women,’” said Boston partner, MBA member and firm-wide Diversity Committee Co-Chair Julia Frost-Davies. “Bingham continues to exceed industry averages for firms our size, and in the past two years alone, five women on a part-time schedule have been elected to the partnership.”
One of those new partners was Siobhan Mee of Bingham’s Boston office, who was elected partner earlier this year. She continues to work part-time. “The perception and the reality at Bingham is that although you are on a reduced schedule, you continue to meet the same standards of performance,” said Mee, a mother of two and a commercial litigator. “The firm understands that you have commitments and interests outside work, yet you still are fully engaged at work. It’s a great place to be.”