The Honorable Stephen E. Neel
became a member of the Commission in November of
2004. He became Vice Chairman in November 2006, and
was elected Chairman in April 2009. Judge Neel has
been an Associate Justice of the Superior Court
since 1992. He was previously a partner at Goodwin,
Procter & Hoar and at Herrick & Smith, where he
specialized in complex civil litigation. Judge Neel
is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law
School. He has served as Chair of the Superior
Court's Civil Committee and Civil Steering
Committee, as Regional Administrative Justice for
Civil Business in Middlesex County, as a member of
the Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Committee on
Dispute Resolution, and as Chair of the Superior
Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution
Sub-Committee. Judge Neel has received the Lifetime
Achievement Award of the Middlesex County Bar
Association, and the Judge of the Year Award of the
Frank J. Murray Inn of Court.
Renee M. Landers, Esquire, who was appointed to
the Commission in 2004, was elected its Vice
Chairman in April of 2009. Ms. Landers is an
associate professor at Suffolk University Law
School. She was the President of the Boston Bar
Association for 2003-2004, after having chaired its
Diversity Committee and its Gender and Justice
Committee. She was Chair of the Board of Directors of
the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston for
2003-2005, as well as a Trustee of PBS affiliate WGBH. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Boston
College Law School, Ms. Landers has been an
associate and counsel at Ropes & Gray and was an
assistant professor at Boston College Law School.
She served the federal government as a Deputy
Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Policy
Development and as Deputy General Counsel of the
Department of Health and Human Services. For the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, she has served as
Deputy Secretary of State and Acting Supervisor of
Public Records. She is a member of the American Bar
Association and a past president of the Board of
Overseers of Harvard University.
The
Honorable Paul F. LoConto was appointed a member
of the Commission in 2006. Judge LoConto has been a
Justice of the District Court Department since
December, 1985, and presently serves as the First
Justice of the Worcester District Court. In
addition, Judge LoConto has served as Regional
Administrative Justice since 1999 and a member of
the Western Appellate Division of the District Court
since 1989, presently serving as the Presiding
Justice. A graduate of Boston College, Judge LoConto
earned his Juris Doctor degree at Suffolk University
School of Law and a Masters in Law at Boston
University School of Law. A former Clerk/Magistrate
in the District Court, Judge LoConto has served on
the District Court Committee on Caseflow Management
and as a member of the Supreme Judicial Court
Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluation.
The Honorable Mary Anne Sahagian
was appointed to the Commission in 2008. First
appointed to the bench in 1999, she currently serves
as the First Justice of the Essex County Probate and
Family Court. Judge Sahagian has served on the
Probate and Family Court Education Committee and the
Judicial Enhancement Committee. She previously
served as chair of the Probate and Family Court
Committee on the Development of the Guardian Ad
Litem Standards. Prior to her appointment to the
bench, Judge Sahagian was in private practice for
nineteen years. She is a member of the Massachusetts
and Essex County Bar Associations, as well as the
National Association of Women Judges, the
Massachusetts Judges Conference, and the
Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers.
Judge Sahagian is a graduate of the University of
Lowell and Suffolk University Law School.
David J.
Martel, Esquire,
was appointed
to the Commission in 2006. He is a member of the
firm of Doherty, Wallace, Pillsbury and Murphy, P.C.
in Springfield. Mr. Martel is a graduate of College
of the Holy Cross and Catholic University Law
School. He began his practice in New York City with
the firm of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine. He has
served as Town Counsel to the Town of Longmeadow
since 1979 and also serves as Town Counsel to the
Towns of Ludlow and Hampden. Mr. Martel is a former
President of the Hampden County Bar Association. He
also currently serves as Clerk and Member of the
Executive Committee of the Affiliated Chambers of
Commerce of Greater Springfield, as a Trustee of
Springfield Cemetery and as a Director and former
President of the Springfield Public Forum.
Joseph D.
Steinfield, Esquire, was appointed to the
Commission in 2008. He is a partner at the
Boston law firm of Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye LLP,
after many years as a partner at Hill & Barlow, P.C.
Mr. Steinfield specializes in business and First
Amendment litigation. In 2000, he served as special
counsel to New Hampshire's House Judiciary Committee
and lead counsel during the impeachment trial of the
Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In
1984, Mr. Steinfield was elected as a Fellow of the
American College of Trial Lawyers and served as its
State Chair for Massachusetts. He is currently a
member of its Judiciary Committee. Mr. Steinfield is
also a member of the American Law Institute and
teaches at Boston College Law School. He previously
served as Chair of the Massachusetts Clients'
Security Board and was the founding Chair of the Law
Clerks' Society of the Supreme Judicial Court.
Mr. Steinfield, who is a graduate of Brown
University and Harvard Law School, served as Law
Clerk to Justice Paul C. Reardon of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Jacklyn
Garcia Duran
was appointed
a lay member of the Commission in 2006 and was sworn
in on January 11, 2007. Currently, Ms. Duran
is attending Suffolk University Law School in
Boston. Prior to attending law school, Ms.
Duran served as the Executive Director of the
Judicial Nominating Commission for the Office of
Governor Deval L. Patrick as well as former Governor
Mitt Romney. In addition, Ms. Duran was a
paralegal in the Litigation Department of Goodwin
Procter LLP in Boston. Ms. Duran received a BA in
International Relations as well as Hispanic Language
and Literature from Boston University.
Elizabeth W. Vorenberg was appointed a lay
member of the Commission in 2009. She is a graduate
of Wellesley College. Before moving to Massachusetts
in 1970, she founded and directed Joint Foundation
Support, which provided research and administrative
services to small foundations wanting to support
civil rights and civil liberties. Her most recent
position was as Assistant Commissioner for Research,
Planning and Evaluation in the Commonwealth's
Department of Public Welfare. She was the first
State CHINS Coordinator responsible for transferring
status offenders (runaways, truants, "stubborn"
children) from the Department of Youth Services to
the Welfare Department's Office of Social Services.
From 1978 to 1983 she was deputy director of the
Massachusetts Advocacy Center (now Mass. Advocates
for Children) monitoring policy relating to juvenile
justice and child welfare. She is the Founding
President of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform and is a past president of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Rosemary J. Corley was appointed a lay member of
the Commission in 2009. She is a consultant in
teacher mentoring, curriculum development, and early
childhood education and serves on the Board of the
Boys & Girls Clubs of MetroWest. Prior to her recent
retirement, Ms. Corley taught for 35 years in the
Hudson Public Schools, developing programs for
students with significant learning challenges. She
additionally served as a professional development
presenter, parent educator, science and technology
camp director, and teacher association officer. She
served the United Way of Tri-County for decades as a
campaign coordinator and Board member, receiving the
Reynolds and Lifetime Achievement Awards. She is a
graduate of Fitchburg State College with a B.S. in
Special Education and an M.Ed. in Consulting
Teaching. She is a member of the Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development and the
Council for Exceptional Children.
