Parker and Natarajan convene group to analyze
solutions
The Massachusetts Bar Association has assembled a 13-member Task
Force on Law, the Economy and Underemployment to explore, identify
and analyze root causes of and potential solutions to the
underemployment of recent law school graduates in
Massachusetts.
Examining whether law schools can do a better job preparing
students for a career in the legal profession is one of MBA
President Richard P. Campbell's priorities for his 2011-12
term.
Like other professions, the current, weakened economy provides
bleak prospects for recent graduates, he said.
"Often burdened with upwards of $150,000 of debt, many new
students emerge from law schools unequipped to thrive in the
current law economy, raising issues regarding the expense and
effectiveness of the current three-year model," Campbell said. "A
lost generation of recent law school graduates has formed, many of
which are turning to solo practice without either prior experience
or access to mentors."
In addition to co-chairs Eric J. Parker and Radha Natarajan, whose
appointments were previously announced, the remaining members who
have been appointed include a judge, a recent law school graduate
and a college advisor.
Also, the deans at all nine Massachusetts law schools have been
invited to appoint a liaison to the task force in an effort to
build collaboration.
The task force members include:
- Hon. David Ricciardone, Massachusetts Superior
Court, Boston
- Heather Engman, Esq., Thornton & Naumes,
Boston
- Kyle R. Guelcher, Esq., Law Office of Kyle
Guelcher, Springfield
- John B. Koss, Esq., Mintz Levin, Boston
- Marc A. Moccia, Esq., Suffolk Law School 2011
graduate, Boston
- Denise I. Murphy, Esq., Rubin & Rudman,
Boston
- Lynn Sari Muster, Esq., Massachusetts Appeals
Court, Boston
- Elizabeth O'Connell, prelaw advisor, Wellesley
College, Wellesley
- Doreen M. Rachal, Esq., Bingham McCutchen,
Boston
- Paul Edward White, Esq., Sugarman, Rogers,
Barshak & Cohen, Boston
- Marc P. Zwetchkenbaum, Esq., Marc Z Legal
Staffing, Boston
Parker, the co-founder and managing partner of Parker Scheer LLP
in Boston, has more than 24 years of experience in complex personal
injury trial work. He Parker is an elected member and past chapter
president of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and is a member
of the American Association for Justice, the Massachusetts Academy
of Trial Attorneys, the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association and the
National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association.
He has been named a "Massachusetts Super Lawyer" by the publishers
of Boston magazine every year since the designation was
created in 2004, and served as chairman of the board of trustees of
the Media and Technology Charter High School of Boston. Parker sits
on the editorial board of Massachusetts Lawyers
Weekly.
Natarajan, a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel
Services in Somerville, is also vice chair of the MBA's Criminal
Justice Section Council. She represents individuals in the
Somerville, Malden and Woburn district courts, as well as Middlesex
Superior Court. She is an at-large delegate to the MBA's House of
Delegates and the 2011 recipient of the MBA's Access to Justice
Defender Award.
She is an instructor in the First Year Writing Program at Boston
University School of Law. A graduate of New York University School
of Law, Natarajan was the managing editor of New York
University Law Review.