Robert W. Harnais has joined the MBA officer ranks as secretary.
On Sept. 1, Harnais and the other returning officers will begin
their work for the 2011-12 association year.
Harnais is with Mahoney, Diamond and Harnais Law Offices in
Quincy, where his general practice concentrates on criminal,
family, real estate, labor and
consumer law.
Harnais was first exposed to the MBA when he first sat on the
MBA's House of Delegates, its governing body. Since his involvement
with HOD as president of the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic
Attorneys (an affiliated bar of the MBA), he has enjoyed several
years of volunteer service for the organization.
'The energy here is tremendous," said Harnais, who looks forward
to helping carry out the goals of President Richard P. Campbell and
his other fellow officers.
"I feel like I can be used to help support the organization's
diversity efforts," said Harnais, who has served as the co-chair of
the MBA Task Force on Diversity.
"I've enjoyed my involvement with the MBA. Learning from the
members' varying perspectives-whether it be through education
programming or in other forums made available through the MBA-has
been important for me professionally," said Harnais, who has served
on the MBA's Executive Management Board.
A past president of both MAHA and the National Hispanic Bar
Association, he remains highly involved with both
organizations.
In addition to his involvement with the MBA, Harnais is also a
member of the Norfolk County Bar Association. Since 2007, he has
served as a member of the Race and Ethnic Advisory Board for the
Massachusetts courts.
Harnais received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts,
Boston in 1984 and graduated from New England Law | Boston in 1989.
He resides in
Braintree.
Incoming MBA President Richard P. Campbell will continue to lead
the association's Centennial anniversary celebration efforts until
Dec. 2011. Campbell has set the following priorities for the
2011-12 year:
- Educating the public-at-large on the grave consequences from
underfunding the courts;
- Being a part of the policy debates and analysis of the Gateway
Cities in Massachusetts; and
- Evaluating the ongoing relevancy of law schools.
- The other officers are President-elect Robert L. Holloway
Jr., Vice President Jeffrey N. Catalano, Vice President
Marsha V. Kazarosian and Treasurer Douglas K.
Sheff.
Robert L. Holloway Jr.
President-elect
As MBA Treasurer in the 2010-11 association year, Holloway
chaired the Budget and Finance Committee. He also co-chaired the
MBA Strategic Planning Committee with Campbell.
Holloway is a shareholder and president of MacLean, Holloway,
Doherty, Ardiff & Morse PC in Peabody. Holloway is a long-term
member of the MBA's Ethics Committee, a member and past chair of
the MBA's Civil Litigation Section Council and a former regional
delegate to the MBA House of Delegates. Holloway received the MBA's
Community Service Award in 1993 and served on the Joint Bar
Committee on Judicial Nominations for six years. In August 2009,
Holloway began a three-year appointment to the Supreme Judicial
Court's Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, and is a
regular panelist for continuing legal education programs. Holloway
also is an emeritus member of the Board of Editors of
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, having served on that board
since 1981. Recognized by Boston magazine as a "Super
Lawyer" in the area of business litigation, Holloway is also a past
president of the Essex County Bar Association. A Topsfield
resident, Holloway has served as a member of the town's Board of
Health, as an elected representative to the Masconomet Regional
School Committee from 1990 to 1999, as director and president of
the Topsfield Athletic Association and as chair of the Danvers
Recreation Committee. In addition, he was a founding member of
Hospice of the North Shore and served for many years as a
corporator of Beverly Hospital.
Jeffrey N. Catalano
Vice President
Catalano led the successful efforts of the MBA Centennial
Commission Fundraising Subcommittee over the last year. He also
worked to develop the MBA Pro Bono Prescription in the spring,
launching a pioneering initiative that brings together volunteer
attorneys and medical professionals to promote the health and
well-being of low-income patients through legal advocacy.
Catalano is a partner at Todd & Weld LLP in Boston, where he
specializes in representing victims of catastrophic injuries in the
areas of medical negligence, product liability, auto accident,
class action and other personal injury cases. A chair of the MBA's
Volunteer, Recognition, Recruitment & Retention Task Force and
a member of its Executive Management Board, he is a past chair of
the MBA's Civil Litigation Section and has served on the MBA's
House of Delegates since 2006. A Massachusetts Bar Foundation
Fellow, Catalano is also a member of the executive committee for
the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. He is also on the
board of directors for the non-profit law firm Health Law Advocates
Inc., where his pro bono work includes patient advocacy and
representing chronically ill and impoverished people who are denied
access to health care services. In 2009, he received a "Hero from
the Field" award for his efforts in improving health care quality
and patient rights. Catalano was selected as a New England "Super
Lawyer" in 2009 and a "Rising Star" by Boston
magazine in 2005. He lives in West Roxbury.
Marsha V. Kazarosian
Vice President
Chair of both the MBA's Education Committee, and the Technology
Implementation Task Force, she served as co-chair of the MBA
Centennial Conference this past year.
Kazarosian is managing partner of Kazarosian Law Offices in
Haverhill, where she concentrates in civil rights litigation,
family law and discrimination. Kazarosian previously served as an
MBA secretary and vice president. Kazarosian has also served on the
MBA's Executive Management Board, House of Delegates, Joint Bar
Committee on Judicial Nominations, Nominating Committee and Gala
Dinner Committee. She has sat on a dozen association committees and
sections, including the Access to Justice, Civil Litigation, Family
Law and Probate Law section councils. In addition, Kazarosian is a
Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation. Long active in bar
associations across the state, she is a past president of the Essex
County Bar Association and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial
Attorneys. An accomplished trial lawyer, Kazarosian was recently
nominated as Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Top Women in
the Law, and was also named one of the top 10 lawyers in the
commonwealth in 1999 by the paper after successfully suing the
Haverhill Golf and Country Club for gender discrimination.
Kazarosian served a two-year term as one of 25 lawyers in the
commonwealth appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court's Pro Bono Panel, and a six-year term as a Hearings Committee
officer for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. She also
hosts an Internet radio program on Legal Talk Network. Kazarosian
lives in Haverhill.
Douglas K. Sheff
Treasurer
Sheff is chair of the Workplace Safety Task Force and has also
served as chair of the MBA Membership Committee and as co-chair of
the MBA Centennial Conference and Ball.
Sheff is senior partner at Sheff Law Offices in Boston, where he
specializes in all aspects of personal injury law and is considered
an expert in brain injury law. Sheff is also a member of the MBA's
Executive Management Board and Budget and Finance Committee. In
addition, he served two terms as MBA vice president, as MBA
secretary in 2008-09 and as chair of the MBA Civil Litigation
Section in 2005-06. He is also a Massachusetts Bar Foundation
Fellow. A past president of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial
Attorneys, he was honored with the group's inaugural Excellence in
Advocacy Award for his representation of children and adults who
have suffered traumatic brain injury. Sheff has been appointed
trustee of the National College of Advocacy, which provides
superior education and training for trial lawyers across the United
States. Sheff has been awarded the ORT Award for integrity in the
law and is a seven-time recipient of the American Association for
Justice's prestigious Wiedemann-Wysocki Award. In addition, Sheff
has been awarded the AAJ's New Generation Award and served as chair
to the AAJ's Council of Presidents, representing 50,000 attorneys
nationwide. A Boston magazine "Super Lawyer," Sheff has
also been recognized in Lifesavers for preventing injury
through aggressive representation of victims of defective products.
He resides in Boston