Each September, our Annual Meeting Luncheon marks a festive kickoff to the new BBA year. More than 1,200 attorneys, judges, legislators and members of the business community gather for the inaugural event, which is hosted by the incoming BBA president.
Annual Meeting Luncheon 2011
The BBA welcomed a sold out crowd to the 2011 Annual Meeting Luncheon on October 13 at the Westin Copley Place. Special thanks to the event steering committee and co-chairs Christina Miller of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office and Russell Beck of Beck Reed Riden LLP, for their hard work in making the event a success!
Keynote Speaker
The Boston Bar Association welcomed Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. as keynote speaker for the event. The Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and Founding and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Professor Ogletree is one of the most prominent legal theorists of our time. An award winning author and head of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, he examines highly complex and controversial issues of race, racism and discrimination and works to ensure that the justice system affords equal protection to all individuals. His most recent book, The Presumption of Guilt, explores the issues surrounding the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and examines the continued impact of race on American society.
Professor Ogletree has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, was awarded the ABA Spirit of Excellence Award in 2009 and received the City of Boston's first ever Rosa Parks Civil Rights Award.
Awards
The BBA presented two awards at this event.
Manisha Bhatt, a Senior Attorney in the Family Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services, and architect of the "Know Your Rights Project" of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston was honored with the John G. Brooks Legal Services Award. The Brooks Award was established in 1988 to recognize career legal services attorneys for outstanding work on behalf of indigent clients in greater Boston.
Mary Ryan, a partner in Nutter McClennen & Fish's Litigation Department and a member of the firm's Land Use practice group, and a past president of the Boston Bar Association, was honored with the Thurgood Marshall Award. The Marshall Award was established in 1991 to recognize private attorneys in greater Boston for extraordinary efforts to improve, develop, or deliver civil or criminal legal services to low-income clients in Massachusetts.
Questions? Contact Christine Cheung at ccheung@bostonbar.org or (617) 778-1930.