Murphy concludes term as Mass Bar President, MBA embraces change
August 31, 2021
Partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Department, Denise I. Murphy completed her term as President of the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA), effective Sept. 1. She began her presidency with a promise to work toward making systemic changes to legal processes that adversely impacted historically underrepresented people in the legal community.
“Meaningful change, she insisted, needed more than words; it needed action. And for Murphy, change needed to start at the MBA itself.
After some introspective reflection with fellow MBA leaders and important conversations with allies in the legal community, Murphy put into action plans to enhance the association’s longstanding mission to provide a welcoming, supportive environment where people with differing viewpoints could come together for thoughtful discourse. She reinvigorated the MBA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Standing Committee (“DEI Standing Committee”), which included a liaison from every section council, and tasked the committee with exploring ways the MBA could become more attentive to the needs and concerns of lawyers of color and others who traditionally lacked an equal voice in the profession.” *
Read more about the steps Denise took to normalize these conversations and be a catalyst for change on the MBA website here.