Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Announces 2005 Lawyers of the Year

28 December 2005

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is delighted to announce its Lawyers of the Year 2005. These prestigious awards are bestowed annually upon attorneys who have made great contributions in a range of practice areas and exhibited personal sacrifices and professional dedication. The winners will be honored at a gala awards dinner, 2006 Excellence in the Law Celebration, on February 16th at The State Room in Boston.
"It would be impossible to compile a list of all the attorneys who accomplished great things over the past year. But we think these attorneys exemplify the best of what lawyering is all about," said David L. Yas, publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
The 2005 Lawyers of the Year are as follows:
Howard M. Cooper (Boston, Todd & Weld, Founding Partner, Hometown -- Concord)
He overcame major legal odds when he sued the Boston Herald for defamation
and won a $2.1 million verdict on behalf of his client, Superior Court
Judge Ernest B. Murphy.
Rosemary J. Cooper (East Longmeadow, Sole Practitioner, Hometown -- Northampton)
Tired of the low hourly wages that accompanied court-appointed cases, she
filed a petition with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking higher
compensation -- and won.
Paul T. Dacier (Hopkinton, EMC Corp., General Counsel & Senior Vice President, Hometown -- Sherborn)
In 2005 he put the finishing touches on what could be his crowning
achievement -- a settlement in a patent-infringement case with Hewlett- Packard in the form of a minimum $325 million to be paid to EMC over five
years.
Robert A. George (Boston, Robert A. George & Associates, Founder, Hometown -- Westwood)
This criminal-defense stalwart had his hands full representing clients in
several high-profile cases over the past year.
Christine M. Griffin (Washington, D.C., U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Commissioner, Hometown -- Dorchester)
An innovative civil rights advocate for people with disabilities, she has
been named to sit on the five-member Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission until July 1, 2009.
Patrick T. Jones (Boston, Cooley Manion Jones LLP, Founding Partner, Hometown -- Ithaca, N.Y.)
He wrapped up a sad but fitting end to the Victoria Snelgrove case when he
obtained a sizeable settlement for the family of the young woman
accidentally killed by police officers in a celebration outside of Fenway
Park.
Gloria C. Larson (Boston, Foley Hoag LLP, Co-Chair of the Government Practices Group, Hometown -- Roswell, N.M.)
Thanks to her efforts, she and her team have catapulted Boston into one of
the top 10 convention markets in the country.
Barry S. Pollack (Boston, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Partner, Hometown -- Brooklyn, N.Y.)
He managed to convince a Connecticut jury to render a $27 million verdict
on behalf of his client, a Massachusetts mother, in an international
child abduction case against Executive Jet Management.
Michael C. Wilcox (Worcester, Aloise & Wilcox, Partner, Hometown -- Shrewsbury)
He shocked the legal community in Worcester when a jury came back in favor
of his client -- who was injured by a drunk-driver -- to the tune of
$19.5 million.
John P. Zanini (Boston, Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Chief of Appeals Bureau, Hometown -- Winchester, Conn.)
He oversees a team of 12 attorneys that is working on dozens of briefs and
approximately 150 open appeals at any given time. Under his guidance, a
number of important cases were litigated in 2005 that have helped shape
Massachusetts criminal law.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is the state's premier source of legal information for practicing attorneys. It is a division of closely-held Dolan Media Company, based in Minneapolis, which operates daily and weekly law and business newspapers in 21 U.S. metro markets. For more information about Lawyers of the Year 2005, please contact Henriette Campagne at (617) 218-8192 or henriette.campagne@lawyersweekly.com. For further details about The Excellence in the Law Celebration, please visit http://events.lawyersweekly.com.
CONTACT: David L. Yas, Esq.
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
david.yas@lawyersweekly.com
Tel: 617-218-8112