SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT APPOINTS TWO NEW MEMBERS TO CLIENTS'
SECURITY BOARD; NEW CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR ALSO NAMED
Boston, MA - The Justices
of the Supreme Judicial Court today announced the appointments
of attorneys Jeanne Koehr of Westford and Kathryn A.
O'Leary of Concord to the Clients' Security Board, effective
December 1. Ms. Koehr's three-year term will expire on
December 1, 2007. She fills the vacancy left by the resignation
of Ms. Evelynne Swagerty. Ms. O'Leary's five-year term
expires on December 1, 2009.
The
Justices also named attorney John R. Gobel of Pittsfield
as the new Chair of the Clients' Security Board and attorney
Peter G. DeGelleke of Concord as the new Vice Chair.
Ms.
Koehr presently serves as the Attorney General's designee
on the Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies
and Bonds. Prior to her present position, she managed
a general law practice in Lexington for fifteen years.
From 1997 until 2004, she was a member of the Hearing
Committee of the Board of Bar Overseers. Ms. Koehr graduated
magna cum laude from Chaminade University in Hawaii with
a B.S. degree, and received a J.D. degree, magna cum
laude, from New England School of Law. She is a member
of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Middlesex
County Bar Advocates. She also serves as a Trial Advisor
to the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School.
Ms.
O'Leary is a trial attorney with the Worcester law firm
of Gould & Ettenberg, P.C. where she has worked since
1997. Before joining Gould & Ettenberg, she worked
at Madan and Madan, P.C. in Boston and in the Boston
office of Day, Berry & Howard. She is presently a
member of the Worcester County Bar Association, Senior
Women's Practice Group, and the Concord Attorney Round
Table. She has participated as a volunteer in the Suffolk
and Middlesex County Bench/Bar Committees and the First
Circuit Gender and Ethnic Bias Study. Ms. O'Leary holds
a B.A. degree from Boston College and a J.D. degree,
cum laude, from Suffolk University School of Law.
A
partner in the Pittsfield law firm of Gobel & Hollister,
Mr. Gobel was appointed to the Clients' Security Board
in 2001. He succeeds Edward W. McIntyre as Chair. Mr.
Gobel is a member of the Berkshire Bar Association, the
Massachusetts Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
Appointed
to the Clients' Security Board in 2003, Mr. DeGelleke
is a solo practitioner in Concord, and is of counsel
to the Concord law firm of McWalter, Barron & Boisvert.
He succeeds Mr. Gobel as Vice Chair. Among Mr. DeGelleke's
affiliations are the Middlesex County and Central Middlesex
Bar Associations, the Massachusetts Bar Association,
the National and Massachusetts Associations of Criminal
Defense Lawyers, the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys,
and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He served
two terms as a Hearing Officer on the Board of Bar Overseers
Hearing Committee.
Established
by the SJC in 1974, the Clients' Security Board consists
of seven attorneys who oversee the disbursement of funds
to clients who have been victimized by attorney defalcation.
Through a portion of the annual registration fees paid
by attorneys to the Board of Bar Overseers, Massachusetts
reimburses clients who have been victimized by instances
of attorney misappropriations.
