Boston Bar Association
The Boston Bar Association, which also goes by the acronym BBA, is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With headquarters located at 16 Beacon Street in the historic Chester Harding House, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, the BBA has roughly 10,000 members drawn from private practice, corporations, government agencies, legal aid organizations, the courts, and law schools. It traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, the lawyer who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the second president of the United States.
Mission
The Boston Bar Association's stated mission is: "To advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, to facilitate access to justice, and to serve the community at large."
Structure
Governed by a Council of 30 members, the Boston Bar Association has 24 sections and more than 100 committees dedicated to substantive areas of law as well as issues such as access to justice and the administration of justice.
Public Policy
The Boston Bar Association makes its public policy positions known via the filing of amicus briefs, the drafting of legislation, and official comments on proposed government actions. Recent public policy positions taken by the Boston Bar Association include:
- March 2010: The Boston Bar Association Task Force on the FY 2011 Judiciary Budget released their report. [1] The Report warns that further cuts to the Judiciary would have severe consequences for the administration of justice in the Commonwealth. [2]
- February 2010:The Boston Bar Association filed an amicus brief in the First Circuit of Appeals asserting the First Amendment rights of all litigants, including bar associations, to petition courts for the redress of grievances that have a reasonable basis in fact and in law – regardless of whether the courts ultimately grant or deny relief on the merits.
- December 2009: The Boston Bar Association released the Task Force Report Getting it Right: Improving the Accuracy and Reliability of the Criminal Justice System in Massachusetts.[3] The Report is the work product of a 20 person BBA task force comprising the broadest group of major players in the criminal justice system ever assembled to prevent wrongful convictions in the Bay State. The task force was co-chaired by Martin F. Murphy, a partner at Foley Hoag and David Meier, a partner at Todd & Weld, and appointed by then BBA President Kathy Weinman in the fall of 2008. The report makes three key recommendations:
- Enactment of a Massachusetts statute to guarantee post conviction access to DNA testing and to require preservation of biologic forensic evidence. (Massachusetts is one of only 4 states that does not have such a statute, and given the role DNA testing has played in exoneration of innocent but wrongly convicted people, the report says this is critical.)
- Expanding the membership and function of the state’s Forensic Science Advisory Board to include scientists and lawyers who are not prosecutors would put Massachusetts ahead of the curve nationally. (The report cites a 2008 study by the National Academy of Sciences raising serious questions about the scientific foundation of significant portions of forensic evidence admitted in courts.)
- Videotaping confessions. (Based on a 2004 decision of the Supreme Judicial Court most police departments are now recording confessions of suspects. The number of departments who are doing videotapes rather than just audiotapes is still in the minority. But the experience of those departments who are videotaping demonstrates that the evidence obtained is more effective because there is absolutely no doubt about what is happening, and there is nothing more powerful in a courtroom than a videotaped confession.)
- November 2006: The Boston Bar Association joined with The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and The Bar Association of San Francisco in filing an amicus brief in American Civil Liberties Union, Et Al. v. National Security Agency, et al., a case now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The brief urges the Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to affirm a lower court ruling that permanently enjoined the National Security Administration's warrantless surveillance program.[4]
- September 2005: The Boston Bar Association was one of a number of organizations which signed on to an amicus brief in United States v. Darryl Green. In addition the BBA drafted a petition to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts urging the Court to revise its jury plan to remedy the under-representation of minorities in the federal jury pool. [5]
- June 2005: Boston Bar Association President-Elect Edward P. Leibensperger testified before the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on the Judiciary, urging the defeat of all bills related to reinstating capital punishment in Massachusetts.[6]
Publications
Periodicals
Four times a year (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) the Boston Bar Association publishes a magazine called the Boston Bar Journal. The Journal is an online publication managed by a volunteer Board of Editors that presents timely information, analysis, and opinions in articles written by attorneys, judges, and others interested in the development of the law. The Journal is free to all Boston Bar Association members, and available as well to paid subscribers.
The Boston Bar Association also publishes BBA Week, a weekly e-newsletter that provides information on pro bono and public service opportunities, updates from law firms and the state and federal courts, previews of upcoming legal education programs and special events, and photo albums.
In addition, the Boston Bar Association's Sections and Committees publish E-newsletters.
Annual Events
The Boston Bar Association's two largest annual events are its Annual Meeting Luncheon in September, and its Law Day Dinner in May, both of which typically draw up to 1,500 lawyers and judges and feature prominent keynote speakers.
Annual Meeting Luncheon keynote speakers have included:
Law Day Dinner keynote speakers have included:
Boston Bar Association Orchestra Annual Summer Concert
The Boston Bar Association Orchestra is a full-symphony orchestra composed primarily of attorneys and law-related professionals. Its premiere performance took place at the Harvard Club of Boston in January 1985. Since then, the Orchestra has performed every year at locations such as Faneuil Hall and the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade. The Orchestra also provides music for conferences held in the Boston area, such as the 1993 American Bar Association Winter Meeting.
The Boston Bar Association has established public service programs utilizing lawyer volunteers. Among these programs are:
- The M. Ellen Carpenter Financial Literacy Program - co-sponsored by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Massachusetts – designed to teach high school students about budgeting, making sound credit choices and avoiding bankruptcy.[8][9]
- The Boston Bar Association Summer Jobs Program – conducted in partnership with the Boston Public Schools, the Boston Youth Fund, and the Boston Private Industry Council, it places juniors and seniors from Boston's public high schools in paid summer internships at Boston law firms, corporate law departments, and law-related public agencies.
- The Lawyer-for-the-Day Project at the Boston Housing Court – provides pro bono lawyers to assist unrepresented tenants and landlords on summary process day.[10]
- The Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association – provides pro bono civil legal assistance to low-income clients.
Leaders
Current Officers
- President: Lisa C. Goodheart, Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C.
- President-Elect: James D. Smeallie, Holland & Knight LLP
- Vice-President: Paul T. Dacier, EMC Corporation
- Treasurer: Julia Huston, Foley Hoag LLP
- Secretary: Carol Starkey, Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch Ford
Past Presidents
Notable Boston Bar Association Past Presidents have included:
References
- ^ http://www.bostonbar.org/prs/nr_0910/Judiciary_Budget_3-8-10.pdf
- ^ http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/03/bar_association.html
- ^ http://www.bostonbar.org/prs/reports/BBA-Getting_It_Right_12-16-09.pdf
- ^ http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/aclu_v_nsa.pdf
- ^ http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/us_v_green.pdf
- ^ http://www.bostonbar.org/pp/deathpenalty071405.pdf
- ^ htt://www.bostonbar.org/pp/amicus/goodridge_v_dph.pdf
- ^ The Boston Globe : "In 1992, young adults carried almost $1,500 on their credit cards. By 2001, their debt grew to nearly $3,000"
- ^ The Boston Globe : "A crash course in credit"
- ^ The Boston Globe: "Few chances for lawyers to develop trial skills"
External links