SUMMER SOCIAL
MBA HONORS
Networking on Boston’s waterfront
BAR NEWS
Volunteer Recognition Dinner
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WBZ and MBA pair up to offer legal advice
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SEE PAGE 2 FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF THIS ISSUE’S CONTENTS.
VOLUME 20 | NUMBER 1 | SEPTEMBER 2012
WWW.MASSBAR.ORG
Legislative News Gov. Deval Patrick signs landmark health care and “workers’ right to know” bills BY LEE ANN CONSTANTINE AND JENNIFER ROSINSKI
The dog days of summer brought along an active bill signing period. Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed two bills that the Massachusetts Bar Association has been closely monitoring and lobbying for. The health care cost control bill was signed by the governor on recently passed
on Aug. 6. The bill contains specific language that facilitates an approach of disclosure, apology and offer (DA&O) to address medical malpractice claims. An historic and unprecedented partnership between physicians and attorneys in Massachusetts has led to these significant reforms to medical liability system, allowing for improvements to resolving 3 Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed the “workers’ right to know” bill on Aug. 6.
PRESIDENT’S VIEW ROBERT L. HOLLOWAY JR.
We’re in it together The Massachusetts Bar Association has a long and proud history. I am honored to commence my service as president of this great organization and thank everyone for this wonderful opportunity. As lawyers and citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we have shared values. We benefit from those shared values, but also bear the burden of the privilege of being lawyers. We have taken oaths to uphold the constitutions of both the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As all of you know, the United States Constitution was based upon the Massachusetts Constitution. Massachusetts is among the few states that call themselves commonwealths. It is useful to note that the word commonwealth derives from the “the common weal” and means generally public welfare, general good or advantage. The word commonwealth connotes, in essence, that we all are in this business of society (however that may be defined from time to time in its particulars) together. Being “in this together” is a useful premise to contemplate as we all work through our daily lives, practicing law in the private or public sector, serving as judges or otherwise using our legal education and experience to address and find solutions for problems. Being “in this together” also relates to the notion of being inclusive, another useful premise, I think. The Hon. Louis Brandeis, a great lawyer and great jurist, was among those who, more than 100 years ago, founded the MBA, 2
PHOTO BY MERRILL SHEA
Setting the right tone
Incoming MBA President Robert Holloway Jr. and the lessons of music BY CHRISTINA P. O’NEILL
When Robert Holloway Jr. tried out for the all-male Glee Club at Amherst College in his freshman year in 1964, he applied as a first tenor. The first tenor is usually the smallest group in a four-part male chorus because of the demand to hit the highest notes. The fallback was second tenor, which is easier to sing. Holloway vied for the smaller group to increase his chances of getting accepted. “He would have gotten picked, anyway,” says Amherst classmate and friend John Stifler, who now teaches economics at UMass-Amherst. “I was interested that he had such a pragmatic approach to the whole thing.” Holloway, the MBA’s incoming president, seems to have a pragmatic knack for hitting the right notes in many other endeavors, but all who know him say he does so in a way that makes other people shine. He is president and shareholder of MacLean, Holloway, Doherty, Ardiff & Morse PC in Peabody, and a past president of the Essex County Bar Association. He has served on the Massachusetts Bar
Association’s Ethics Committee, and is an emeritus member of the Board of Editors of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, serving on that board since 1981. He is a regular volunteer as a judge for moot court arguments at Harvard Law School and at Boston University School of Law, where he received his JD degree in 1973. And in his spare time, you may find him at a piano
or keyboard in any of several North Shore restaurants or other venues, either solo or with band mates.
THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM Meeting Holloway for the first time, the first thing that comes across is that despite his small stature, he proj16
PHOTO BY JEFF THIEBAUTH
Section leadership begins work for 2012-13 association year MBA officer slate The chairs and vice chairs of the MBA’s 17 sections and Young Lawyers Division have been selected and will convene council meeting beginning in September. Section councils were invited to an orientation program at the MBA offices in mid-August. The program provided the information and direction necessary for the volunteer leaders to hit the ground running with the onset of the 2012-13 association year on Sept. 1.
“This diverse and talented group of section council leaders will shoulder much of the important work of the MBA. Section council work is essential to the MBA objective of promoting excellence in the profession, and the section council leaders are crucial to that mission,” said MBA President Robert L. Holloway Jr. Aside from publishing relevant articles in their practice areas in the MBA’s publications
and planning timely CLE offerings, section leaders sit on the governing body of the association — the MBA House of Delegates. Section leadership also has a crucial role in developing the MBA’s legislative positions. For more information on the section leaders, visit www.massbar.org and search “press room” to find the various press releases issued on their respective appointments.
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