Issue Watch #08 – Executive Orders, Judicial Confirmations, Legislative Update, & More

Issue Watch is a monthly newsletter distributed to BBA members. For more on joining the BBA, visit bostonbar.org/join-now/. 

The news out of the federal government recently has been head-spinning and frequently alarming. We continue to monitor all developments to identify those that may be in conflict with the BBA’s mission and its values. Particularly troubling, as we noted in our membership newsletter last week:

An executive order strikes at the core of the rights of transgender people to be free from discrimination by, for example, declaring that only two genders exist and prohibiting the issuance of documents that do not align with a person’s assigned gender at birth.

The BBA will continue to support Massachusetts’ anti-discrimination laws, which uphold the principle of equal justice for all.

Another executive order takes aim at DEIB programs throughout the federal government, orders changes in job titles, and seeks to limit federal contracts with companies that engage in related efforts. This was followed up by an administrative step toward firing all federal employees in positions overseeing DEIB, going so far as to demand that employees report on any attempt “to obscure the connection between [any] contract and DEIA or similar ideologies.” Bar associations are among the groups specifically cited for potential federal investigation.

In keeping with our commitment to DEIB in the legal profession and beyond, we remain in regular contact with employers, schools, and experts in the field about what effect these changes will have. Last week, we hosted a roundtable discussion to hear directly from all who share our concerns.

Yet another executive order attempts to undo over a century of precedent concerning the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment by declaring, for the first time, that birthright citizenship does not extend to all newborns whose parents were not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Though this executive order was enjoined by a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington State, we will continue to monitor this matter.

For now, you can read up on the BBA’s Principles Concerning Immigration Policy, which define our core values with regard to immigration-related issues and serve as a foundation for the BBA’s ongoing engagement in this area.

The new Administration’s comprehensive assault on the rights of immigrants and their families is too multi-pronged to detail here. But those Immigration Principles were developed to provide a lens through which to assess such policies, and we stand by them.

Since before the inauguration, we have been partnering with PAIR in an on-going series of trainings for lawyers who want to volunteer to take on immigration cases.

These actions were not entirely unforeseen, and in November we previewed these actions and more. We will continue to follow this news from Washington; to listen to our members, grantees, and partners; and, of course, to stand behind our mission: to advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, facilitate access to justice, foster a diverse and inclusive professional community, and serve the community at large. As Governor Healey said recently, we will not change who we are.

Judicial Confirmations

New to the District Court Bench:

Hillary McCamic served as a Staff Attorney with CPCS for 13 years, representing indigent criminal defendants in the Lawrence Public Defender office, responsible for handling serious criminal matters in the District and Superior Courts. She previously owned a solo private practice focused exclusively on criminal defense and served as an Essex County Bar Advocate representing indigent clients.

New to the Probate & Family Court Bench:

Jennifer Bingham represented clients in all aspects of divorce, including complex property division, business valuation, alimony, child support, child custody and antenuptial agreements. She also founded and led a small firm and solo practice and offered alternative dispute resolution in family law at Bingham Dispute Resolution. She has also been a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer in the Accounting and Law Departments of Babson College.

New to the Juvenile Court Bench:

Tiffanie Ellis-Niles was most recently founding partner and managing attorney at Lyles and Niles, where she handled bankruptcy, family law, probate, and landlord/tenant cases. She graduated from Suffolk Law School and previously served as president of both the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys.

Karin Wilinski was a Needham solo practitioner for nearly 30 years, handling child-welfare cases and investigations, as well as estate planning, probate matters, and adoptions. She worked previously at Samek & Faneuil and CPCS. She is a graduate of BU Law School.

New to the BMC bench:

Connor Barusch was most recently CPCS’s Director of Criminal Defense Training. Prior to this, they were a Trial Attorney at CPCS, representing clients throughout Boston and Roxbury. Judge Barusch is a Founding Advocate for the Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates and a member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, as well as now the first openly transgender judge in the history of the Commonwealth.

Dana Pierce was the Director of Externships at Harvard Law School, where she led the placement process for all clinical externship students while also providing general clinical program advising and ensuring that all externship placements comply with ABA standards, after having been an ADA in both Suffolk and Plymouth Counties. Judge Pierce has also served as Vice President and Counsel to State Street Bank and Trust Company, where she managed the resolution of legal, operational, and policy related inquiries for several international entities.

New Nominations

Land Court

Sarah Turano-Flores: has spent the past 19 years at Nutter McClennen & Fish, where she is a partner in the Real Estate Department and a member of the Development, Land Use, and Permitting Practice Group.

Probate & Family Court

Evelyn Patsos is the Court’s Deputy Legal Counsel and Elder Justice Innovation Grant Project Director, after serving as a Deputy Assistant Register and Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code Magistrate in the Worcester court. Before that she was in private practice, focusing on all aspects of domestic relations law, including divorce, custody, and pre- and post-nuptial agreements.  

Laurel Barraco is Owner and Attorney at Callahan, Barraco, Inman & Bonzagni, representing clients in all phases of litigation pertaining to divorce, modifications, contempt actions, restraining order hearings, paternity suits, and adoptions, since 2016

Bethany Brown is Founder and Managing Partner of the Law Office of Bethany C. Brown where for more than two decades she has concentrated on family law, handling all facets of domestic relations and probate practice. She has also served as a Union Representative with the Service Workers International Union Local 254.

Brian Salisbury is a Partner at Doherty, Dugan, Cannon, Raymond, & Weil, P.C., where his practice includes all aspects of divorce and family law litigation, probate and fiduciary litigation, serving in fiduciary roles, and serving as a Special Master, Discovery Master, Category F Guardian ad Litem investigator in domestic matters, a Category V Parent Coordinator, and a Category D Guardian ad Litem in probate/fiduciary matters.

BBA Leadership Meets with More Chief Justices

This past month, President Matt McTygue met with new Appeals Court Chief Justice Amy Blake (joined by Vice President Mark Fleming) and Housing Court Chief Justice Diana Horan (joined by President-Elect Suma Nair).

Chief Justice Blake—whose ceremonial swearing-in took place only last week—has hit the ground running, with initiatives to help new judges transition onto the Court and to hire additional attorneys to help the overworked assistant clerks. She also addressed her DEI initiative and expressed a goal of implementing a new case-management system by the end of this year.

Chief Justice Horan expressed concerns about a coming wave of cases stemming from anticipated shelter terminations and an end to COVID-era housing funds. Her goal is to add new judges to that Court’s bench. In the meantime, she’s working on making forms uniform across all courthouses and on preparing for the implementation in May of a new law providing for sealing of some eviction records.

Comments to the Courts

We submitted comments on proposed rules changes this past month on behalf of our Business & Commercial Litigation Section, pointing out one suggested addition to a proposed amendment of Superior Court Rule 9A, in keeping with that Court’s stated goal of conforming the Rule’s provision on e-mail service with the corresponding section of the MRCP.

News U.S. Attorney Appointed

Leah Foley, a long-time federal prosecutor, has been appointed interim US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, following the resignation of US Attorney Joshua Levy. Foley’s name is expected to be formally submitted to the US Senate to take the position on a permanent basis. Prior to joining DOJ, she served as counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Legislative Update

We’re at the end of the first month of a new two-year legislative session, and the big news from our perspective comes from the Governor’s budget and the bill-filing process…

Governor Maura Healey filed her proposal for the FY26 state budget (formally known as H. 1), and the news was not great for most of the BBA’s priorities (as outlined in our letter to her):

1. Funding for legal services, through MLAC, was level-funded at $51 million—$3 million short of our (and their) request.
2. The Governor’s budget recommends appropriations for the Trial Court and CPCS that are well short of maintenance-level.
3. The budget would fund the Access to Counsel program for legal representation for tenants and owner occupants in eviction proceedings that was established in the current year’s budget, though at $2.5 million rather than the full $5 million that we, and the coalition we’re part of, had requested.
4. There is no provision on expanded language access and inclusion, as urged by another coalition the BBA has joined.

The budget process is now in the hands of the Legislature, and we will continue to advocate to them on behalf of all these items.

Meanwhile, in order to be considered “timely filed” (and thus avoid having to go through some additional procedural hurdles), legislation must be submitted by mid-January at the start of each session. Here are just some of the BBA’s priority bills, as filed this term…

• RUFADAA and Trust Decanting
  Each of these uniform laws earned the BBA’s endorsement at the urging of our Trusts & Estates Section (T&E). And each was filed by both Sen. Barry Finegold and Rep. Jay Livingstone.
• MIDDA and Alimony-Guideline Reform
  These bills came out of our Family Law Section: The former—governing interstate depositions and discovery—is also based on a model from the Uniform Law Commission, and the latter is an effort to adjust for the elimination of tax-deductibility for alimony payments at the federal level.
  The MIDDA bill was filed by Rep. Livingstone (though there are two other bills that aim for the same result), and the alimony bill by Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. Adrianne Ramos (albeit in slightly different form).
• Voidable Transactions and UCC Updates
  These two other uniform laws were proposed by the Bankruptcy Section (with the former also having been worked on by T&E). Rep. Alice Peisch filed both—updating, existing state law to, respectively, strengthen creditor protections and address emerging technologies.
• Access to Counsel and Language Access
  As noted above, we are seeking to have these measures included in the state budget. At the same time, we will be urging the Legislature to take them up through the regular legislative process—as with all of the other bills included here. Sen. Sal DiDomenico filed both in the Senate, while Reps. Dave Rogers (with Chair Mike Day) and Adrian Madaro, respectively, filed them in the House.

That’s a lot to start the year with! Next time, I expect to have an update on committee appointments at the Legislature and who-knows-what from DC. Until then, be well!