MA Bar Hosts 4th Annual Bench-Bar Symposium

On October 21st, the fourth annual Massachusetts Bar Association Bench-Bar Symposium will celebrate Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall’s decade of service as chief of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by presenting her with the MBA’s Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessey Award. Marshall will also present her Annual Address to the Legal Community. The event will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston. A reception will follow. Click here to RSVP.

Learn the Facts on “Tort Reform”

Massachusetts attorney John DiBartolo had a great Op-Ed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette recently:

On August 3 the Gazette published a column by Philip K. Howard, an attorney and chairman of Common Good, in which Mr. Howard advocates for “tort reform” as a way to reduce national health care costs. Howard, the author of Life Without Lawyers, has made a career of blaming various societal ills on our civil litigation system. Healthcare reform is just the latest vehicle he has found to advance his familiar attack on people who have been injured due to medical negligence.

However, tort reform is not a solution to the problem of skyrocketing healthcare costs, it is merely a distraction from a productive discussion about actually solving the problem.

Tort reform advocates do not seem to mind that their propositions are unsupported by facts. Insurance company payouts for medical malpractice claims amount to less than 1 percent of total U.S. healthcare costs. Restrictive tort laws cannot form a basis for healthcare reform when such measures would only affect a fraction of one percent of costs.

Howard’s latest version of tort restriction involves eliminating trials by jury – a right guaranteed us in the 7th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He suggests that the loss of this fundamental right will help eliminate what he calls the practice of “defensive medicine.” This theory suggests that costs of healthcare are high because physicians order many unnecessary tests and procedures out of fear that a failure to do so might later lead to a malpractice claim. This myth of defensive medicine is based upon anecdotal examples from very few physicians. This argument is also patently disrespectful of the overwhelming majority of physicians whose medical decisions are based upon sound judgment and motivated by care for their patients.

Ironically, Howard chose to quote an unnamed Texas physician who purports to order unnecessary testing to protect himself from malpractice claims. In a June 1, 2009 article in The New Yorker, Dr. Atul Gawande investigated the ever-rising costs of healthcare in the United States by comparing medical practices in McAllen, Texas with those at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. McAllen is a small town with healthcare costs that are among the highest in the nation and the Mayo Clinic provides top quality healthcare at some of the lowest costs nationally.

In the article, Dr. Gawande wrote of a physician in Texas who suggested that doctors were practicing defensive medicine. Dr. Gawande then pointed out, that Texas already had the most restrictive of tort reform laws and that medical malpractice awards had been drastically reduced. Another physician in the conversation then admitted that the reason for over utilization of services was not defensive medicine. There have been studies to support this admission.

The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy has reported that Medicare spending in Texas increased by almost 25 percent in the three years following that state’s adoption of restrictive tort laws. In fact, a University of Alabama study, published in the December 2008 issue of Health Sciences Review, reviewed data from 27 states that already have laws restricting torts and found that such laws do not impact the practice of defensive medicine and have not resulted in cost savings for healthcare consumers. Another 2008 study, published in the MIT Quarterly Journal of Economics, addressed the myth of defensive medicine as it related to the practice of obstetrics. After reviewing the vital statistics of millions of births, the authors concluded that tort restriction does not reduce the cost associated with the practice of defensive medicine.

If defensive medicine is not the reason for the high cost healthcare, then what is?

In Dr. Gawande’s article, he looked to the Mayo Clinic as an example of top quality healthcare at a low cost and asked how it was achieved. The Mayo Clinic managed this feat by putting the patient’s needs first. They eliminated financial incentives to order excessive testing and procedures by paying the medical staff salaries rather than having a fee for services model.

Here in Massachusetts, it appears we are independently reaching the same conclusion. On July 16, 2009, a Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System recommended to Governor Patrick that Massachusetts eliminate the fee for services model of paying physicians. In the alternative, physicians would be grouped into networks responsible for patients’ well-being and they would receive salaries – like the physicians at the Mayo Clinic.

Tort restriction harms those who have already been harmed irreparably and does absolutely nothing to reform healthcare or control its related cost.

Massachusetts Bar is now on Twitter

The Massachusetts Bar Association is now on Twitter.  Click here to get up-to-date information on MBA CLE programs and conferences, legislative activities and events. In addition, the MBA will post daily legal headlines and published e-Journal and Lawyers Journal articles.

Fundamentals of MA Civil Motion Practice

The Massachusetts Bar Association is hosting a CLE seminar on the “Fundamentals of Civil Motion Practice” on Tuesday, July 28th from 4oopm to 700pm at 20 West St. in Boston.

Nearly every civil case involves some aspect of motion practice. This seminar will address the procedural and substantive requirements of effective motion practice in both the state and federal courts, including procedural requirements for filing and drafting motions, advice on drafting motions and a discussion of the substantive aspects of common civil motions.

Featuring program chair:
Philip M. Hirshberg, Esq.
Morrison Mahoney LLP, Boston

Click here for more info.

Roger Williams University School of Law at Top of List of MASS Bar Passers

Stats don’t lie (especially when I am one of them). Click on the image for a larger image. 

Fundamentals of Effective Direct and Cross-Examination

The MA Bar Association has a great CLE coming up: Fundamentals of Effective Direct and Cross-Examination (Course #: CLW09).

At this event you can hear firsthand tips from top attorneys to help you be more effective in the courtroom, learn the essential issues and techniques of preparing your witness for direct examination and for the other side’s cross-examination. Topics include when and whether to cross; how to effectively examine your own witness; techniques relevant to specific forums (e.g., jury trials, bench trials, administrative tribunals, arbitrations); and a view from the bench.

Faculty for the event are as follows:

• Jeffrey N. Catalano, Esq. Program chair Todd & Weld, Boston
• Hon. Judge Kathryn Hand Barnstable District Court, Barnstable
• Alice B. Braunstein, Esq. Duane Morris LLP Boston
• Lauren Guth Barnes, Esq. Hagens, Berman, Sobol & Shapiro, LLP Cambridge

Monday, April 6th from 4-7 p.m. at the MBA (20 West St. Boston, MA).  The cost for sponsoring section MBA members: $80; MBA member paralegals, law students, recent admittees: $40; MBA members: $115; and nonmembers: $160.

For more information, or to register, call MA Bar Member Services at (617) 338-0530 or click here.

MA Trial Court Orientation Forum

Attention emerging Massachusetts litigators:

Trial Court Orientation Forum
Wednesday, March 25, noon-7 p.m.
John Adams Courthouse, 4th Floor, Special Collections Room

Gain insight into navigating your way through the courts with Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan, Probate and Family Court Chief Justice Paula M. Carey and Juvenile Court Chief Justice Michael F. Edgerton and more.

Specially priced at $25 for Massachusetts Bar Association members, this daylong program will feature judges, clerks and court officers from the District Court, Probate and Family Court, Juvenile Court and Boston Municipal Court sharing their expertise on a variety of issues, including jurisdiction, tips for working with the clerk’s office to get matters heard, best practices, and the role and resources of probation.

Click here for a complete program agenda.

To register, call (617) 338-0530 or click here.

MA Court Advocacy Day

The Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association will co-sponsor a State Court Advocacy Day on Tuesday, March 31, at the Grand Staircase inside the Statehouse. The event will further underscore the need for adequate funding to sustain the critical needs of the Massachusetts Court System. Many of the state’s county and specialty bar associations are actively participating in the lobbying effort. Participants are encouraged to follow-up with their legislators to urge for $622.7 million, which will cover core court functions.

“I encourage all MBA members and other attorneys in the commonwealth to support this cause in urging our legislators to approve necessary funding for our courts,” said MBA President Edward W. McIntyre.

Featured speakers at the March 31 event include McIntyre, BBA President Kathy B. Weinman, Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan and Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall.