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MBA to honor Judge Sandra Lynch and WBUR with excellence awards

Issue April 2013 By Tricia M. Oliver

The Massachusetts Bar Association will honor the Hon. Sandra Lynch, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and WBUR-FM's News Department at a May 2 event co-presented by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The judicial and media honors will be two among several bestowed at the annual Excellence in the Law event taking place at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Lynch has been selected to receive the Daniel F. Toomey Excellence in the Judiciary Award and WBUR-FM has been chosen to receive the association's Excellence in Legal Journalism Award.

Lynch is the first woman to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and in 2008, became its first female chief judge. Lynch is the ninth chief judge of the First Circuit Appeals since Congress created the position in 1948.

As chief judge, Lynch serves as executive officer of both the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the Judicial Council of the First Circuit. She represents the First Circuit in biannual meetings of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judiciary's national policy making body.

"Judge Lynch represents and delivers on the highest standards of judicial leadership. We are delighted to honor her distinguished appellate service on the federal bench," MBA President Robert L. Holloway Jr. said.

A graduate of Wellesley College and the Boston University School of Law, Lynch was a trailblazer throughout her career. Following law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Raymond Pettine of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island and was the first female law clerk on that court. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Lynch served as an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and as general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Education. In addition, she was a partner in the Boston law firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot, where she was the first woman to chair the litigation department.

In addition to presenting the Toomey Award to Lynch, Holloway will also present WBUR with the Legal Journalism Award.

According to Holloway, WBUR's journalistic standards made the station a clear selection as the recipient of this year's journalism award.

"The station's stellar news reporters and producers put together thoughtful and timely news pieces on topics highly relevant to and involving the Massachusetts legal community," said Holloway, who noted WBUR's coverage of the state drug laboratory scandal, increased unemployment following law school, judicial accountability and medical malpractice reform among other timely topics.

With operations based on the campus of Boston University, WBUR-FM is the preeminent news and information public radio station in Massachusetts, reaching close to 500,000 listeners each week. With its extensive newsroom, WBUR produces hourly local newscasts, original reporting, investigative and feature series, and in addition, has a robust - and growing - digital presence at wbur.org.

The station enjoys its success as a Top 10 public radio station in America, producing programming such as Car Talk, On Point, Here & Now and Only A Game. WBUR produces a daily news magazine program, Radio Boston, and carries NPR News programs like Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me.