Achievements across the legal community were celebrated at
Excellence in the Law, an event co-presented by Massachusetts
Lawyers Weekly and the Massachusetts Bar Association on May 1 at
the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.
The MBA paid special tribute to the Hon. Suzanne V. DelVecchio
(ret.) and Carl Stevens of WBZ News Radio 1030. DelVecchio was
presented with the Daniel F. Toomey Excellence in the Judiciary
Award and Stevens was honored with the Excellence in Legal
Journalism Award.
The event also featured award presentations for excellence in
Pro Bono, Marketing, Firm Administration, Paralegal and Up &
Coming Lawyers. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be
donated to the Massachusetts Bar Institute Public Service Fund,
which helps support community services throughout the state such as
the Elder Law Program, the Tiered Community Mentoring Program, the
Judicial Youth Corps Program, the Law Day Initiative, pro bono
programs and the popular high school Mock Trial Program.
DelVecchio, a senior mediator and arbitrator at Commonwealth
Mediation & Conciliation Inc., is a former Superior Court chief
justice. As chief justice, DelVecchio implemented the Superior
Court's Business Litigation Session. Her distinguished career also
includes serving as the regional administrative justice in Plymouth
County, as a staff attorney for the Boston Legal Aid Society and as
corporate counsel for the City of Boston. DelVecchio sits on the
MBA's Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice Attorney
Compensation, which examines the impact of low prosecutor and
public defender salaries on the state's criminal justice
system.
"Excellence usually comes in threes," MBA President Douglas K.
Sheff told the audience. "So where is the triad of excellence in
the law? The answer is Judge Suzanne DelVecchio. Without her, our
legal community would be incomplete, less human and considerably
less colorful."
"This is special. This really means a lot to me coming from my
colleagues," said DelVecchio after receiving her award.
Stevens is an award-winning general assignment reporter for WBZ
News Radio 1030. During his career at WBZ, Stevens received the
first-ever Edward R. Murrow National Award for Writing. In 1996,
Stevens and WBZ received the prestigious Murrow Award for Feature
Reporting on a story entitled "Blue M&M's." Named "Best Radio
Reporter" by Boston Magazine, Stevens also uses a video camera to
report on unique and enterprising stories for RadioVision on
wbz.com.
"These days it's so easy to paint lawyers and judges alike in a
negative light," said Sheff. "But Carl Stevens is not like most
reporters."
Making light of his spot in the event's program, Stevens noted
that "following Suzanne DelVecchio is like following David Ortiz in
the batting order."
A total of 38 awards were presented including 25 to Up &
Coming lawyers, those attorneys who have been members of the bar
for 10 years or less but have already distinguished themselves as
rising stars in the state's legal community.