MA Clients' Security Board of the Supreme Judicial Court
MA State Emblem
Who We Are

BOARD MEMBERS

  • Who We Are

STAFF MEMBERS

The Clients' Security Board consists of seven members of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who are appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to serve as public trustees of the Clients' Security Fund. A portion of the annual fees paid by each member of the bar is allocated to the Fund.  Board members manage and distribute the monies in the Fund to members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by the dishonest conduct of a member of the bar acting as an attorney or a fiduciary. Board members receive no financial compensation for their time and efforts in performing their duties as Board members.

Board Members and Staff

Michelle M. Porter

Michelle M. Porter, Esq., Chair effective February 3, 2013 and a Board member since March 1, 2010, is a Director in the Private Client and Trust Group of Goulston &Storrs whose practice is focused on estate and tax planning, trust and estate administration and charitable giving.  Prior to her present position, she practiced with Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego, California.  Ms. Porter received a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross and her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.  She is a member and past co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Trusts and Estates New Developments Committee, a member of Professional Advisory Network of the Boston Foundation, a member of the Boston Estate Planning Council, and a volunteer attorney for the AIDS Action Committee.

Top of page

Edward S. Cheng

Edward S. Cheng, Esq., Vice Chair effective February 1, 2013 and a Board Member since December 1, 2008, is a partner in the law firm of Sherin and Lodgen LLP where he is co-chair of the Professional Liability Group. He specializes in complex commercial disputes, professional malpractice cases, insurance coverage disputes and real estate litigation. Mr. Cheng serves on the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability, as a Hearing Officer for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, as Co-chair of the Administration of Justice Section of the Boston bar Association and as treasurer of the Asian-American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts. Mr. Cheng frequently writes and speaks on legal malpractice law for many organizations, including the Boston, Massachusetts and American Bar Associations. Prior to his present position, he was with the law firm of Hill & Barlow. Mr. Cheng is a graduate of Princeton University and Boston college Law School, magna cum laude.

Top of page.

Francis C. Morrissey

Francis C. Morrissey, Esq., Secretary, appointed to the Board effective March 1, 2010, is a partner in the firm of Morrissey, Wilson & Zafiropoulos, LLP, Braintree, where he concentrates his practice on commercial litigation and insolvency matters.  His practice encompasses all aspects of the bankruptcy process, including contested and competing plan confirmation hearings, contested relief from stay and cash collateral hearings and fraudulent transfer and preference litigation. In addition, Mr. Morrissey is a faculty member for the LLM Program in Banking and Financial Law at the Morin Center at Boston University School of Law and New England Law | Boston.  He serves on the Legal Affairs Committee of the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Boston, as Co-Chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Annual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference and as Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Business Law Council.  Mr. Morrissey received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Top of page

D. Ethan Jeffrey

D. Ethan Jeffery, Esq., Treasurer, was appointed to the Board on January 1, 2011. He is a shareholder in the law firm of Murphy & King, P.C. where his practice focuses on representing debtors, trustees, and creditors in complex Chapter 11 cases, and representing debtors and creditors in non-bankruptcy restructurings and workouts. Mr. Jeffery received a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and a J.D. from Villanova Law School. Mr. Jeffery is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Executive Advisory Board for the Northeast Conference, is the co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Commercial Finance Committee, and is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Top of page

Joseph H. Baldiga

Joseph H. Baldiga, Esq., was appointed to the Board on March 1, 2012. As a partner in the Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy Group of the Worcester firm of Mirick O'Connell, LLP, he concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial creditor and debtor rights, bankruptcy proceedings, out-of-court loan restructurings and the purchase and sale of distressed businesses. Since 1998, Mr. Baldiga has also served as a panel Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee for the District of Massachusetts (Western Division), and has acted as an operating trustee, liquidating agent and court-appointed examiner in numerous matters. Mr. Baldiga received his law degree, magna cum laude, from Boston College Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston College, and previously served as co-chair of the Bankruptcy Section of each of the Boston Bar Association and the Worcester Bar Association.

Top of page

John G. Bagley

John G. Bagley, Esq., was appointed to the Board effective February 1, 2013. He is a partner in the Springfield office of Morrison Mahoney LLP, where he concentrates his practice in civil litigation. He is a past President of the Hampden County Bar Association; former Chairperson of the Mass Bar Association Judicial Administration Section; former Chairperson of the Hampden County Medical-Legal Society; has served on the Board of Editors of Mass Lawyers Weekly; and is a former member of the Mass Bar Association Committee on Judicial Appointments. In 2008, he was elected as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. In 2011, he was invited to Fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers and presently serves as a member of its State Committee. Mr. Bagley, a graduate of the College of Holy Cross and Suffolk Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1983.

Top of page

Amy S. Locke

Amy S. Locke, Esq., was appointed to the Board effective February 1, 2013. She is a senior litigation management associate at Coverys, a medical malpractice insurer. Prior to achieving this position, Ms. Locke was a career trial attorney who focused her practice on defending bodily injury claims, investigating and litigating suspected cases of insurance fraud, and analyzing coverage issues. She practiced at the Cambridge firm of Bellotti & Barretto and at the Boston regional office of Wilson Elser. Ms. Locke received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts/Boston and her J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School. In 2012, she earned the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) Designation and recently began teaching the Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance module for the RPLU program.

Top of page

Michael Fredrickson

Michael Fredrickson, Esq., is counsel to the Clients' Security Board. He received his bachelor's degree in English from Macalester College, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and did graduate work in English literature at the University of Toronto. After receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School, he worked for over five years as an associate at the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow before taking his present position with the Clients' Security Board. He also serves as general counsel to the Board of Bar Overseers, the state's lawyer disciplinary agency.

 Top of page

Karen O'Toole

Karen D. O'Toole, Esq., has been the assistant board counsel to the Clients' Security Board and the associate general counsel to the Board of Bar Overseers since 1989. From 1986 until 1989, Ms. O'Toole was an associate at the Boston firm of Hoch & McHugh practicing maritime law. She received her B.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University, her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan, and her J.D. from Northeastern University.

 Top of page

Adam Lutynski

Adam M. Lutynski, Esq. became assistant board counsel in 2002 after fourteen years as general counsel and secretary to an NYSE-listed technology solutions company.  He is also a former public defender, legal aid lawyer and law school instructor. B.S., Loyola University (Chicago) - J.D., University of Chicago Law School. 

  Top of page

HomeWho We Are / Filing A Claim / Claim Form   / Financial StatementClients' Security Board Rules / SJC Rules Governing CSBCase Summaries for Claims Decided in the Current Fiscal Year / CSB Annual ReportThirtieth Anniversary Report (1974-2004)CSB Recovery & Restitution   / National Client Protection Organization   / Links to Other States' Protection FundsLinks to Other Resources   / EspañolVietnameseContact Us Via E-mail