Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Newsmakers
Professional Groups
Frederic N. Halstrom of Halstrom Law Office, Boston, and Steven H. Schafer of Schafer & Associates, Boston, have been re-elected to the board of governors of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, representing the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Halstrom has been a governor continuously since 1986, and Schafer also served last year on the ATLA board.
Kevin Murphy, a senior vice president and attorney with Meridian Investment Inc., has been appointed as commander of the 3rd Legal Services Organization in Boston, which provides legal assistance for reserve soldiers and their families.
Jay L. Fialkow, a partner in the Boston firm Kaye, Fialkow, Richmond & Rothstein, has been named a national vice chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. He is also chairman of the board of the New England Histadrut Committee, former president of the Jewish National Fund and a member of the board of trustees at Beth Israel Hospital.
The following attorneys were elected to the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation: Officers: Philip D. Woodbury, president; Michael L. Leshin, vice president; Gail L. Perlman, vice president; Harriet H. Onello, secretary; and Jeanne S. Kangas, treasurer. Directors: Carole Christensen, S. Tracy Fischer, John A. Fiske, Oran Kaufman, Earl Kuntsman, Diane Neumann, Harriett H. Onello, Gail L. Perlman, Laura Rogers, Lester Wallerstein, Susan Sprague Walters, Janet Weinberger, Barbara N. White, Janet Miller Wiseman, and Philip D. Woodbury.
Dana E. Casher of Krulewich & Associates of Boston has been elected treasurer of the New England region of the Commercial Law League of America. A 1982 graduate of Brandeis University, Casher received a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1987.
The following attorneys have been elected as officers to the Asian-American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts: Kenneth W. Luke, president; Frank A. Flynn, vice president; Rebecca A. Lee, secretary; and William D. Chin, treasurer. The following attorneys have been elected as directors: Russell Chin, Sylvia Chin-Caplan, Jane M. Hong, Jonathan Lee and Andrew Leong.
The following attorneys have been elected as officers to the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association: Daniel J. Griffin Jr., president; Patricia A. Barbalunga, president-elect; Francis J. Lynch III, vice president; John J. Ryan Jr., vice president; John P. Fitzgerald, secretary; John P. Ryan, treasurer. Members of the board of directors are: William T. Bogaert, Barbara H. Buell, Christopher A. Duggan, Susan A. Hartnett, Paul P. O’Connor, Nancy F. Pelletier, Brian P. Voke, George E. Wakeman, and Lawrence B. Wernick.
New Associations
Susan Kang has left the litigation firm of Martin, Magnuson, McCarthy & Kenney in Boston to join the civil rights division of the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.
Richard J. O’Brien has left Cain, Hibbard, Myers & Cook to open his own office in Pittsfield where he will continue to concentrate his practice in civil litigation, criminal defense and appellate work. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Northeastern University School of Law.
Richard M. Sharkansky, former patent counsel of Raytheon Co., has joined the Boston firm of Fish & Richardson as a partner where he will concentrate on patent prosecution, evaluation and opinions. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and has a master’s degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. While an engineer at Raytheon, he earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School.
Holly J. Krapf and Barbara Yore Schochet have joined Halstrom Law Offices. Krapf, formerly an associate in the law offices of Neil C. Lofton in Wakefield and the Quincy firm of Geary, Weafer & Garretson, is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Western New England College School of Law. Schochet, formerly an associate of Livingston & Markle in Houston and staff attorney at Texas Children’s Hospital, has both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Promotions
Peabody & Brown has named the following attorneys as partners of the firm: John H. Cornell III, Thomas G. Gunning, Victor G. Milione, Robert M. Shea, and John Stadler. Cornell and Gunning are partners in the business law department, and Milione is a partner in the bankruptcy and loan enforcement group. Shea is a partner in the labor and employment law group of the litigation department; Stadler’s practice is in products liability.
Honors
The following attorneys were awarded a citation of excellence at the annual meeting of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America: Anthony Tarricone, Robert V. Costello, Walter A. Costello Jr., Leo V. Boyle, Frederic N. Halstrom, Steven H. Schafer, Michael K. Gillis, Robert Bonsignore, and Douglas K. Sheff.
