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Issue March 2008

Dedicated attorneys honored for legal service and pro bono work at Annual Access to Justice Awards Luncheon

Four Massachusetts attorneys and two law firms will be honored at the MBA’s Annual Access to Justice Luncheon on March 6 at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. In past years, the Access to Justice Awards luncheon was held during the MBA’s Annual Conference. This year, the MBA transformed the luncheon into a separate program in recognition of its importance as a stand-alone event.
The luncheon and award ceremony offers a chance for colleagues to pay tribute to MBA members who make significant contributions to their clients’ lives and communities through their volunteer and pro bono work.

Deceit, consent, intent: New legislation attempts to close loophole that currently allows rape by fraud to go unpunished

Have you ever made up a fact about yourself to impress someone, hoping things will go really well and you’ll get lucky tonight? Misrepresented your income or achievements? Flirted under an assumed identity intending to score? And if you were successful, was it rape?

According to The Supreme Judicial Court and current Massachusetts law, sex by fraud or deceit does not constitute rape. But where does the “puffery” that many people would agree does not amount to a sexual assault cross the line into an act so morally offensive it should constitute a crime?