Boston University School of Law Alumni Elected Officers of Massachusetts Bar Association
Christopher A. Kenney (’90), John J. Morrissey (’92), and Grace V.B. Garcia (’98) named president, president-elect and secretary, respectively.
Boston University School of Law alumnus Christopher A. Kenney (’90) was named president of the Massachusetts Bar Association for its 2018–19 year, which begins on Sept. 1. During his year as president, Kenney will seek to strengthen the MBA’s role as a partner to the legal profession, and promote civics and civic responsibility in Massachusetts through education, empowerment and engagement. Kenney is joined on his leadership team by fellow BU Law alumni John J. Morrissey (’92), who was named president-elect, and Grace V.B. Garcia (’98), who was named secretary.
About MBA President Christopher A. Kenney (’90)
Attorney Christopher A. Kenney is a founding member and managing shareholder of Kenney & Sams PC in Boston. He has tried cases before every level of the state and federal trial court system in Massachusetts, and in several other states across the country. Kenney has served as an appellate advocate before the Massachusetts Appeals Court, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
A member of the MBA’s Executive Management Board, Kenney also serves as co-chair of the MBA Leadership Academy, a position he has held since the Leadership Academy’s inception in 2016. He is a former chair of the MBA’s Civil Litigation Section and the MBA’s Consumer Advocacy Task Force, and he has also served in the MBA’s House of Delegates.
In addition to his work with the MBA, Kenney is a former president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association (MassDLA), former president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and former copresident of the Boston Inn of Court. The MassDLA named Kenney the 2012 Massachusetts Defense Lawyer of the Year. He has consistently been recognized by Best Lawyers in America since 2009.
Kenney has served as an adjunct faculty member at Boston University School of Law, and frequently writes and lectures for business groups, trade associations and bar associations. Most recently, Kenney was appointed to serve as the director of the IADC Trial Academy at Stanford University Law School.
Kenney was a Paul J. Liacos Scholar at Boston University School of Law. In 2012, BU Law honored Kenney with the Silver Shingle Award for outstanding service to the school. He also earned his BA from the College of the Holy Cross (NCAA Scholarship). Kenney lives with his wife and four children in Sudbury.
About MBA President-elect John J. Morrissey (’92)
John J. Morrissey is a trial attorney and a founding partner of Morrissey, Wilson & Zafiropoulos LLP in Braintree. He practices in the areas of plaintiffs’ personal injury, including wrongful death, catastrophic injury and workers’ compensation claims. He also represents individuals and businesses in commercial and real estate disputes. An accomplished trial lawyer, Morrissey has been named a New England Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers every year since 2005.
He is a member of the MBA’s Executive Management Board, the Leadership Academy Steering Committee and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship Committee, and serves as an arbitrator on the Fee Arbitration Board. A past MBA vice president, treasurer and secretary, Morrissey has served in the House of Delegates, and as chair of the MBA’s Judicial Administration Section Council. He also previously chaired the MBA’s Membership Committee. In 2013, Morrissey volunteered for the MBA Marathon Bombing Victims’ Legal Assistance Program, where he provided free legal services to victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Morrissey was appointed to the Board of Bar Overseers of the Supreme Judicial Court in 2015, and in 2017 was appointed to serve as vice chair. He has served as a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys’ Board of Governors and its executive committee. Morrissey is also a life fellow and has served as a member of the Grant Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.
He serves as a director of Independent Bank Corporation and Rockland Trust Company and as a rotating member of its executive and trust committees. Morrissey served as a commissioner of the Hingham Conservation Commission appointed by the board of selectmen between 2014 and 2017.
In addition to earning his JD at BU Law, Morrissey graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1989. He is a resident of Hingham, Mass.
About MBA Secretary Grace V.B. Garcia (’98)
Attorney Grace V.B. Garcia is a partner at Morrison Mahoney LLP in Boston, where she has 20 years of trial experience and has obtained successful outcomes on behalf of her clients in both state and federal court. She concentrates her practice in the areas of product liability, construction law, OSHA, commercial litigation, employment litigation, premises liability and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cases. In 2013, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly selected her as one of the “Top Women of the Law.”
In addition to serving as MBA secretary, Garcia is a member of the MBA’s Executive Management Board and Budget & Finance Committee. She has chaired the MBA’s Volunteer Recognition Committee since 2011, and she previously served on the Civil Litigation and Business Law section councils. Garcia has also served as a regional delegate to the MBA’s House of Delegates.
Garcia is a board member and past president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association. She is also active with ALFA International, where she serves as a member of the board and has held leadership positions on its Construction Law, Product Liability and Complex Tort and Women’s Initiative practice groups. In addition, Garcia is a member of the Safety Committee of the Massachusetts Associated General Contractors, as well as a member of the Construction Law Steering Committee of the Defense Research Institute.
She is a frequent lecturer on the topics of OSHA, risk transfer and indemnity issues, defending traumatic brain injury cases, best discovery practices, and deposition techniques. A former legal writing and research instructor at Boston University School of Law, Garcia has also authored several legal articles and has provided expert commentaries for Lexis on issues, such as indemnity, premises liability and collateral estoppel.
In addition to graduating from BU Law, Garcia graduated with honors from the University of Rochester in 1994. She is a resident of Braintree, Mass.
Alongside Kenney, Morrissey and Garcia the other 2018–19 MBA officers include Vice President Denise I. Murphy of Westwood and Treasurer Thomas M. Bond of Hopkinton. Martin W. Healy is the MBA’s chief legal counsel and chief operating officer. Full bios and photos for all MBA officers are available upon request.