One hundred years ago this month, on Dec. 22, 1909, the first
organizational meeting of the Massachusetts Bar Association was
held in Boston at the Hotel Somerset. The mission of our founders
was stated as follows: "To cultivate the science of jurisprudence,
to promote reform in the law, to facilitate the administration of
justice, to further uniformity of legislation throughout the Union,
to uphold the honor of the profession of law, and to encourage
cordial intercourse among the members of the Massachusetts Bar …"
At that first meeting, the Hon. Samuel G. Elder acknowledged the
fact that the many other states had already established statewide
bar associations, but received applause when he quoted Pope:
"Be not the first by whom the new is tried, Nor yet the last
to lay the old aside."
Right from its inception (and contrary to the biases of the
day), the MBA welcomed African-American members and immigrants, and
by 1913, welcomed women members, making it one of the first bar
associations in the country to do so. Geographic diversity was
another hallmark of the early organization: two out of six
presidents and five out of six vice presidents between 1910 and
1915 practiced law "in the far corners of the commonwealth."
Progressive as the newly minted MBA was, it is somewhat
surprising to note that the requirements for becoming an attorney
were so lax that a person applying to the bar need not have even
completed high school, and judicial appointments were made without
any checks or balances provided by input from the bar on
competency.
I have often wondered what some of the founding members,
including Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Louis Brandeis, would think
now about what we have accomplished over the last 100 years.
We have made great strides in raising the professionalism of the
legal community and we have made quantum leaps ahead in legal
education, both in what we have done directly through the Mass.
Bar, as well as our work as a founding partner of MCLE. The Uniform
Probate Code signed into law earlier this year is a prime example
of our legislative efforts. Our bench-bar collaborative work
continues in full force, with examples ranging from the Joint Bar
Committee (which rates as qualified or unqualified all prospective
judicial nominees before the names are made public), to joint task
forces on numerous important topics and a significant amount of
coordinated work in lobbying for adequate court funding.
The two areas that are closest to my heart, though, are the
areas of diversity and access to justice. As the eighth woman
president of the association, I keenly feel the need to keep us
moving in the direction of inclusiveness for all. I am immensely
proud of the many, many hard-working MBA task forces and section
councils, but perhaps none more than our Diversity Task Force,
which is in the midst of revitalization and is blossoming under the
able leadership of the Hon. Angela Ordoñez and April English.
One of the Diversity Task Force's most exciting new projects is
its Tiered Community Mentoring program. In October, Justice
Roderick Ireland gave the keynote speech to a group of 40
participants who have been teamed up as follows: each team has an
attorney member of the MBA, a law student from Suffolk, a college
student from Roxbury Community College, and a high school student
from the John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science. These teams
will stay together for the year and provide mentoring, with
suggested activities ranging from attending a trial to observing a
House of Delegates meeting at the MBA. This mentoring program is
the result of a significant amount of thought and planning by Judge
Ordoñez, who is a visionary in designing programs that will make a
real difference, as well as her co-chair, April English, also a
hard-working and inspiring leader for the Mass. Bar.
In October, we were honored to co-sponsor the Long Road to
Justice re-dedication in the Brooke Courthouse. Through our
Diversity Task Force, we served as mentors to approximately 20
women who are formerly homeless or insecurely housed but are now
succeeding in college and are interested in legal or law-related
careers through the One Family Inc. program. Also in October,
officers attended the Mass. Black Lawyer's Association Passing the
Torch event for retiring and new African-American judges, as well
as the gala dinner for the National Association of Asian Pacific
American Lawyers Attorneys. The Mock Trial Program, which reaches
hundreds of teenagers and their families throughout the
commonwealth every year, is entering its 25th year.
The Equal Justice Coalition, of which the MBA is a founding
partner, had its annual meeting with bar leadership and then with
court leadership. EJC also honored six key legislators, and is well
underway in its planning for the annual Walk to the Hill to lobby
for legal aid funding on Jan. 27. Dial-A-Lawyer programs are held
regularly, both for the general public as well as for veterans. The
MBA celebrated October as Pro Bono Month, and our online Pro Bono
Opportunity Guide now lists over 100 programs which are accepting
volunteer attorneys.
With the MBA's first annual meeting on Dec. 10, 1910, and the
official filing of our Articles of Organization on June 21, 1911,
we have many important anniversaries coming up in the next two
years. We are delighted that our Centennial Commission, led by the
Hon. John Greaney (ret.), was scheduled to meet in early December
to plan for our year of celebrations for the 2010-11 association
year.
As a very human organization, we are far from perfect. We have
not yet fully accomplished, once and for all, the goals set forth
by our founders, nor is it realistic to expect that we will do so
anytime soon. But in the meantime, it is appropriate to remind
ourselves of our rich heritage, to remember that we are making
tangible progress, and to find inspiration in the work that remains
to be done.
1 All of the historical information in this column is taken
from Robert J. Brink's excellent book, Fiat Justitia: A History of
the Massachusetts Bar Association 1910 -1985. All quotes, unless
otherwise noted, are from this book.