Law Day - Boston Bar Association

Thank you for joining the Boston legal community at historic Boston Symphony Hall to celebrate the rule of law, the role of lawyers in our community, and the strength of the legal network in Boston at our Law Day Celebration. It was wonderful to see so many faces—both familiar and new—in person for the return of this event, and to experience such an uplifting and inspirational program.

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About the Event

The 2023 Law Day Celebration took place on June 15 from 5:30-9:30pm at historic Boston Symphony Hall, one of the premier concert halls in the world. Guests enjoyed an exceptional cocktail reception featuring gourmet food, open bars and live entertainment. Following the reception, guests were invited to the Orchestra floor and onto the balconies for a keynote address from Governor Maura Healey and awards presentation.

The Keynote Speaker

Maura Healey is the 73rd Governor of Massachusetts. She was sworn in on January 5, 2023, becoming the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person elected Governor in Massachusetts history.

Healey was elected Massachusetts Attorney General in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. As the People’s Lawyer, she took on the issues that impact residents across Massachusetts, including the opioid epidemic, the climate crisis, escalating health care costs, and student loan debt. She also routinely protected the rights of consumers, workers, students, seniors, immigrants and the LGBTQ and disability communities. In May 2015, Healey launched the Community Engagement Division, a first-of its-kind division that brought the Attorney General’s Office and its work into neighborhoods and communities across the state.

Healey attended Harvard College, where she captained the basketball team, and then spent two years as a 5’4” starting point guard on a professional basketball team in Austria. She attended Northeastern University School of Law, motivated by a commitment to public service and a desire to help people.

She went on to work in private practice before leaving to serve as Chief of the Civil Rights Division in the Attorney General’s Office, and later overseeing two of the office’s most prominent divisions: the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau and the Business & Labor Bureau. During this time, she led the first state challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act and held banks and lending companies accountable after the 2008 financial crisis.

2023 Honorees

The Thurgood Marshall Award

Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero, Nixon Peabody

The BBA recognizes Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero of Nixon Peabody LLP with the Thurgood Marshall Award for his outstanding commitment to providing pro bono services to refugees, deportees, and asylum seekers, among his many other contributions to the community.

Ronaldo maintains an active pro bono practice that includes securing a precedent-setting decision from a U.S. Court of Appeals that resulted in the return of a deportee after more than 12 years. He successfully obtained a federal injunction to block the imminent deportation of 50 Indonesian refugees, and co-counseled to effectuate the reunification of a family separated by U.S. border policy. He has argued and won pro bono before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and was named Nixon’s inaugural Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. Ronaldo serves on the boards of the ACLU of Massachusetts and the East Boston Social Centers, in addition to his involvement with the BBA, where he serves as co-chair of the Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors.

“It will be my honor to accept this award with the knowledge that it is a means by which the BBA is communicating its recognition of the experiences of the clients I have been privileged to represent: those who have come to our nation, often at great peril, seeking safety and a better life, risking more than we will ever know for the freedoms that we so often take for granted. It is my professional pride to represent them in the courts when I can, and it will be a true pleasure to represent them at this ceremony. I am so grateful that the BBA will be focusing the attention of the bar on their experiences.”
Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero
Nixon Peabody

The Thurgood Marshall Award recognizes attorneys in private practice in greater Boston for their extraordinary efforts in enhancing the human dignity of others through improving or delivering civil or criminal legal services to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s low-income population.

The John G. Brooks Award

Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC)

The BBA will present the John G. Brooks Legal Services Award to Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC)for their outstanding efforts in advocating for access to education for immigrant and migrant children, who have the steepest barriers to education access.

In particular, the BBA will recognize senior attorney Diana I. Santiago, who oversees MAC’s Adelante: Advancing the Education Rights of Immigration and Migrant Children program. In this role, Diana offers education advocacy and training to immigrant and migrant parents and community groups in Massachusetts. She also participates in systemic advocacy at the school district, state agency, and legislative levels to remove access barriers to education for immigrant, migrant, and multilingual children. Diana also leads MAC’s Immigrant and Multilingual Children with Disabilities Coalition, a statewide coalition of multilingual and multicultural special education attorneys and advocates with a focus on language access in education, barriers to immigrant parent participation in the special education process, addressing the needs of English learners with disabilities, and the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline on English learners.

“MAC is deeply honored to receive this award, and it is especially meaningful to be receiving this from the BBA, which has been a steadfast supporter of MAC’s work for so long. We are thrilled that you will particularly recognize Diana Santiago, whose work has been transformative for so many immigrant and migrant families as well as culturally and linguistically diverse students in Massachusetts. Thank you for recognizing her tireless commitment and the powerful impact she and MAC have had on the lives of so many children and their families.”
Anna Krieger
Executive Director, Massachusetts Advocates for Children

The John G. Brooks Award was established to recognize professional legal services attorneys for their outstanding work on behalf of the indigent of greater Boston.

The President’s Award

The Martha’s Vineyard Attorneys
Recognizing those involved with helping the migrants sent to the island in the Fall of 2023

BBA President Chinh Pham will present the 2023 President’s Award to the following attorneys involved in providing representation and assistance to the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard in the Fall of 2022, for their fast-acting and courageous work providing resources and assistance in a time of need.

Lawyers for Civil Rights
Iván Espinoza-Madrigal
Oren Sellstrom
Mirian Albert
Jacob Love
Myraida Melendez

Foley Hoag LLP
Ken Leonetti
Neil Austin
Madeleine Rodriguez
Matthew Casassa
Matt Miller
Nicole Smith
Benjamin Weissman
Jasmine Brown

Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts

Emily Leung
Emily Brunelle
Dwayne Franklin
Karen Guinn
Meagan Hecht
Elizabeth Mullins
Sedri-Ann Murray
Caddie Nath-Folsom
Saimithra Reddy
Courtney Snegroff
Marin Tollefson Almeida

Pro Bono Immigration Attorneys

Lead Pro Bono Attorneys

Susan Church
Demissie & Church
Rachel Self
Rachel M. Self, P.C.
Julio Henriquez
Law Offices of Julio Henriquez
Janeth Moreno
Moreno Law
Heather Yountz
MLRI (Massachusetts Law Reform Institute)

Pro Bono Attorneys Handling Individual Asylum Cases
Carmen Bello
Immigration Law Office of Carmen Bello
Caitlyn Burgess
MacMurray & Associates
Stephanie Bonilla
SB Law PLLC
Stephen Born
Mills & Born
Juan Bravo
Mills & Born
Melissa Chua
NYLAG
Lauren Reiff
NYLAG
Maria Fernanda Garcia Syngros
NYLAG
Jodi Ziesemer
NYLAG
JoAnn Dodge
Dodge Law
Cynthia Feldmann
Feldman & Feldman
Matthew Gonnella
Brooks Law P.C.
Maggie LaPoint
Fish & Richardson
Stefanie Marzouk
Marzouk Law LLC
Molly McGee
Law Office of Molly McGee
Dayanna Moreno
Acacia Center for Justice
Adriana Lafaille
ACLUM
Susan Roses
Rian Center
Daniel Santiago
Mabel Center
Jill Seeber
Mabel Center
Eliana Nader Magaletta
McCarthy & Nader, PC
Ondine Sniffin
Law Office of Ondine Galvez Sniffin
David Spitzer
Law Office of David Spitzer
Robert Warren
Law Offices of Attorney Robert M. Warren