Reflections of a Boston Lawyer

When I moved to Boston after graduating law school in 1979, I knew very little about basketball.  For me, at the time, the only sport worth watching was baseball, and I quickly became a fan of the Boston Red Sox.  It wasn't long, however, before I started to take notice of the Bird-era Celtics teams.  My first real exposure to the Celtics came in June of 1981.  I worked near City Hall Plaza, and decided to wander out to see the Celtics Championship celebration on the steps of City Hall.  The Plaza was packed with fans going wild as the Celtics players arrived at City Hall.  One of the fans held a placard commenting on the dietary habits of Moses Malone, who had made disparaging remarks about the Celtics at the beginning of the Finals.  Larry Bird, seeing the sign, voiced agreement with the comments, the crowd cheered, and I had a new sports hero.  (I was still young enough to consider sports stars heroes in 1981). The next season I had the opportunity to buy into a share of seaso

Like everything in this world, I suppose, Christmas has many meanings.  The meaning it has to any given person depends a great deal on who the person is, in what tradition the person was raised, in what culture the person now lives, and in what stage of life the person finds himself or herself.  Christmas means something different to a child than to an adult, to a Christian than to a non-Christian, to a Christian who takes the story of Jesus' birth literally than to one who interprets it metaphorically, and perhaps to an American than to a person from another country. My own beliefs surrounding the Christmas story have evolved as the rest of my beliefs and understandings have changed throughout my life.  But some things have not changed.  They are the constants underneath the story, the universal values that hold true in any culture, in any religion, and in any era, regardless of what one thinks about Jesus and Christianity.  These values play out in many arenas, and are celebrat

As an officer of the Boston Bar Association, this week I had the profound privilege of addressing the newest members of the Massachusetts Bar as  they took their oaths to defend the Massachusetts and United States Constitutions and to observe the high standards of ethics and professionalism expected of Massachusetts lawyers.  The ceremonies take place several times in the span of one week, twice a year, at Faneuil Hall, perhaps the most historic building in the City of Boston.  (The Great Hall, where the ceremony takes place, is pictured here . )  The ceremony is entertaining and informative (thanks to the outstanding work of Supreme Judicial Court Clerk Maura Doyle), and inspirational (thanks both to Clerk Doyle and to the inspired remarks and calls to public service of the various Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court who take turns presiding over the Court session).  This year the occasion has been a little bittersweet, as many of the new lawyers either have been unable to find job