MBA's first Hispanic
president aims to restore camaraderie
Massachusetts Bar Association President Robert W. Harnais has
seen lawyers bring out the best and the worst in people --
including themselves.
Harnais saw one extreme early in his career when he was held
hostage for several hours by a man who was angry that his lawyer
(not Harnais) had lied to him.
"I've seen clients rely on lawyers to their own horrible
detriment. That's the worst part of the profession," Harnais said.
"But I've also seen lawyers work wonders for clients."
For Harnais, perhaps no one matched the description of an
honorable lawyer better than attorney Peter Muse, one of his best
friends, who died in 2012 after a courageous battle with brain
cancer. Harnais calls Muse's death a "beautiful tragedy" -- tragic
because a good man was taken away too soon, but beautiful in the
outpouring of gratitude Muse received from clients in the years
before and after his death. Calling Muse "a great mentor," Harnais
said, "He helped me become the lawyer I am, the man I am, the
father I am."
Muse was one of several like-minded lawyers in Quincy to whom
Harnais was drawn in the early 1990s, including Daniel Bennett (now
state secretary of public safety and security); Juvenile Judge
James Torney; David Mahoney (his law partner); attorneys Daniel
O'Malley, Jack Diamond, Steve Jones and John Cascarano; and in
recent years Superior Court Judge Raffi Yessayan, Kevin Mullen,
George Hardiman, Tom Cavanagh, Jack Greene, Dan Dilorati and Jack
Garland. They practiced in the same courts, shared office space and
developed a strong sense of camaraderie.
"It was what the practice of law should be. People got along,"
Harnais said. "Just a group of people practicing law - a great
bunch of people to bounce things off. We worked hard, had fun doing
it and enjoyed the work we did."
Now as MBA president -- the first Hispanic president in the
association's history -- Harnais wants to restore that same feeling
of camaraderie across the commonwealth. It's something he fears has
gotten lost as the profession has become more of a business.
"We're not as civil as we used to be," Harnais said. "The
profession is by nature adversarial. But some have turned it into a
street fight and made it more personal."
Harnais has a saying -- "Look back, step back and pull forward."
It's all about lifting someone up when he or she needs a hand.
Harnais has been the beneficiary of such assistance in his own
career, and he feels the MBA, as the statewide bar, should lead the
way in pulling the bar forward. He hopes to spread a message,
county by county across Massachusetts, that the MBA is the place
where all members of the Massachusetts bar can reconnect with that
sense of community again.
A community discovered
Growing up in Quincy, Harnais discovered his calling after high
school when he saw the film "Breaker Morant," the 1980 Australian
movie about a court martial.
"I walked out and wanted to be a lawyer," Harnais recalled. "It
just turned me on to becoming a lawyer, fighting for people wrongly
accused."
Not knowing any lawyers, Harnais became, in his words, a
"courthouse groupie," and started hanging out at Quincy District
Court between classes at University of Massachusetts Boston during
the day, and his restaurant job at night. After several months of
observing lawyers and court personnel, he got noticed and was
offered a chance to volunteer at the clerk's office. Later, when
Arthur Tobin became clerk magistrate, it turned into a paying
job.
Working in the clerk's office was the beginning of a series of
opportunities that exposed Harnais to the legal world even more.
One of his most interesting experiences occurred when his transfer
to the Probation Department at Quincy Court involved being a part
of the state's first electronic monitoring program. As the first
official test subject to wear one of the electronic bracelets,
Harnais had "the most famous ankle at the time," he said, with
officials visiting from other states to see how it worked.
With the support of his Quincy District Court colleagues,
especially the help of a longtime friend and his daughter's
godfather, Larry Falvey, Harnais attended law school in the
evenings at New England School of Law (now New England Law |
Boston). A subsequent job during law school working as a bilingual
investigator for then-Middlesex District Attorney Scott Harshbarger
further expanded his horizons.
It didn't take Harnais long after his admission to the bar in
1990 to see how much good he could accomplish as a lawyer. Harnais
recalls that on one of his very first cases he represented a woman
who was seeking to get her children back. While she couldn't afford
to pay him, she sent him a thank-you card.
"The fact that she took time to thank me gave me a great sense
of satisfaction -- a feeling [that] you can help someone," Harnais
said.
"And that's what we should be doing," he added. "Making money is
expected, but making a difference is respected."
However, Harnais feels his greatest accomplishment is his
family. He and his wife Leslie have three children: Courtney, an RN
and graduate of the University of Maine, where she played soccer
all four years; Rob, a freshman at Ohio Wesleyan, where he was
recruited out of Worcester Prep School to play football; and Josh,
a junior at Archbishop Williams High School, where he plays on the
basketball team. He also has a stepdaughter, Jackie. Despite his
busy schedule, Harnais always makes it a point to attend his
children's activities. He is very thankful for his wife's
understanding about the commitment he has made to his profession
and his clients.
The bar connection
Harnais spent the next decade building a general practice where
helping people is a daily occurrence. It still is today. He handles
both criminal and civil cases, including municipal work, and he
also serves as general counsel to Norfolk County Sheriff Michael
Bellotti, who gave Harnais an "incredible opportunity."
He has particularly enjoyed his criminal defense work, in part
because of the close-knit nature of the criminal law bar.
"I really enjoy the camaraderie that there is in the courts
among criminal attorneys," he said, "DAs and defense
attorneys."
He has found a similar feeling at bar associations like the MBA
and the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys (MAHA),
where he first became active in bar work. He credits attorney Julio
Hernando for introducing him to MAHA, which was where he first
realized the value of camaraderie and networking on a grander
scale. He soon became very involved, and was ultimately elected
president of MAHA.
"I'm in awe that MAHA let me be their president," said Harnais
with deep appreciation. "MAHA gave me an incredible
opportunity."
Part of that opportunity included representing MAHA on the MBA's
House of Delegates. He said he was immediately impressed by the
MBA's CLE and networking opportunities - and, most of all, the
ability to interact with lawyers all over the state who did the
same things he did.
"I looked around at the HOD and said, 'They're just like me,'"
Harnais recalled. "I saw a lot of people I could connect with."
Now with many years of active MBA leadership under his belt,
Harnais understands all the ways the MBA works for the bar and how
user-friendly it is with its educational and networking
opportunities. He also wants people to continue to look to the MBA
as a powerful voice on issues of importance to the bar.
For example, Harnais said he will continue the MBA's advocacy on
behalf of eliminating mandatory minimums for certain drug crimes.
It's an issue he's particularly attuned to because of his practice.
Not only has he defended people accused of drug crimes, but he's
also seen through his work with the sheriff's office how valuable
treatment options can be when they're available.
"What we're looking at is alternatives to mandatory sentences.
Nobody is saying people should never go to jail. Jail has a place.
But what happens when you let them out? Nothing," Harnais said.
"We're talking about an epidemic of people dying, families being
destroyed. We need to make sure there is some kind of
treatment."
Harnais is also looking forward to continuing the MBA's strong
relationship with the courts. "Everyone who walks in the courthouse
door expects the system to work," he said." It's up to us --
lawyers and the courts -- to work together so that it won't
fail."
Of course, Harnais also won't forget about what drew him to the
bar in the first place -- a place where he could hang out with
people just like him, unwind and even have some fun. The MBA has
been a great place to help him escape, he said, "not from work, but
from the pressures of work. We all need people to hang around with
who know what we're going through and have the same pressures."
As president, Harnais is planning to visit with small groups of
people around the state to hear what people have to say -- or even
just to swap stories. In this small way, he hopes to return the
"community" to our legal community, and restore the civil
and professional nature that attracted so many people -- including
him -- to the bar in the first place.
Jason M. Scally is the director of media and
communications for the Massachusetts Bar Association.