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.