The Committee presented the awards at an in-person Awards Ceremony at Suffolk University Law School on May 21, 2024.
Congratulations to this year’s Award Winners.
CPCS Community Leadership Award
The CPCS Community Leadership Award will go to a person or organization dedicated to the work that we do and the communities that we serve. The winner of this award will have undertaken a forward-looking campaign, or be committed to an ongoing mission, that directly benefits our clients and the communities in which they live and embodies the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence.
Eleanor Wilkinson and Andy Cohen
Eleanor Wilkinson opened her legal career as a staff attorney in our Pittsfield CAFL office in 2009, but her CAFL work actually started years before. She interned with CAFL administration in summer 2007, doing considerable research and writing on a variety of topics. Even before that, she drafted a law journal note on the problems experienced by children in DCF custody in status offense cases as a result of the SJC’s decisions in C&P of Isaac and C&P of Jeremy. In other words, Eleanor was a zealous advocate for our clients for years before she was a licensed CAFL attorney.
From 2009-2022, Eleanor worked in our Pittsfield CAFL office, including a five-month stint as Interim Attorney in Charge in 2020, where her hard work and talent as a trial attorney for parents and children were legendary. Moreover, Eleanor has been incredibly generous with her time, presenting trainings on trial skills, witness preparation, ethics, and motion-drafting – many of which she helped create – to attorneys throughout Massachusetts and nationally. In 2023, she joined the CAFL Trial Panel Support Unit, where she helps oversee the work of Western Massachusetts CAFL trial attorneys, mentors, and resource attorneys.
Jane Addams Award for Outstanding Social Service Accomplishments
The Jane Addams Award for Outstanding Social Service Accomplishments honors a staff social worker or social service advocate who exemplifies a commitment to clients through their advocacy, support, and dedication consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. The Addams Award recognizes the profound impact of social workers and social service advocates serving as members of a legal team. It is named for Jane Addams, a pioneer in establishing the field of social work and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize.
Sarah Derby and Anna Kelly
Anna Kelly has been with the CAFL Springfield office since 2013. During this time, Anna has proven that she understands that being a true advocate means working with clients where they are at, in their environment. Toward this end, Anna has honed approaches to help clients understand their journey through the Massachusetts Family Regulation System, ranging from using drawings and note cards to concretize unfamiliar concepts to complex discussions of how of racial bias affects the courts and DCF and the decisions they make, as well as working with clients on how to minimize the trauma they experience throughout the process.
Within her office, Anna models client centered zealous advocacy, checking that case plans are in keeping with the client’s ideal legal outcome, with no avenue of advocacy being overlooked. She ensures that planned interventions take into account a holistic understanding of the client’s wellbeing.
Within CPCS and the community at large, in addition to her direct advocacy she is a valued member of the Steering Committee for the CAFL Racial Justice Task Force, the Community Connections subcommittee and of the planning group for CAFL’s Client Advisory Board. We are delighted to honor Anna and her work with this award and look forward to her future accomplishments.
2024 EMERGING DEFENDERS
The Emerging Defender Awards are presented to one or more individuals committed to indigent defense who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, excelled when facing challenging situations, and shown they are highly motivated to continuously learn and improve. Recipients of this award will have been employed with CPCS or worked with CPCS clients for five or fewer years and demonstrated a commitment to the agency’s core values of courage, accountability, respect and excellence.
Anthony Benedetti and Emerging Defenders
Alexandra M. August, Trial Attorney, MHLD Brockton
Sophia Buono, Trial Attorney, PDD Holyoke
Krystal Delacruz, AAI, PDD Lawrence
Mingming Feng, Trial Attorney, PDD Quincy
Kristen Friedel, Private Counsel, New Bedford
Margaret Winchester Parent and Child Defender Award
The Margaret Winchester Parent and Child Defender Award honors a person who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the families of Massachusetts by protecting the rights of parents, children, and other parties in care and protection and other family regulation/child welfare cases, consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. The recipient is someone who, much like Attorney Winchester, is a champion for children, parents, and others, assuring that they are treated equitably and with dignity in the courtroom, in the community, and in their dealings with the Department of Children and Families.
Debbie Freitas, Amy Karp, and Cristina Freitas and
For the past fourteen years, Debbie Freitas and Cristina Freitas have represented children, young adults and parents at the trial and appellate level in care and protection, child requiring assistance, delinquency, youthful offender and education matters. They approach each new case and client with curiosity, creativity and courage. They continuously seek out new resources for clients and pursue cutting edge legal arguments.
Deb and Cris mentor new CAFL attorneys and regularly provide advice to colleagues. As members of CAFL’s Legal Response Team, they draft advisories, memos and model pleadings. They are frequent presenters, facilitators and coaches for CAFL, YAD and criminal defense training programs.
Deb and Cris are committed to anti-racist lawyering in CAFL cases. They are active members of the CAFL Racial Justice Task Force. They co-chair the SJC Court Improvement Program’s Cultural Humility working group, coordinating webinars for over 1,000 attorneys and other professionals working in the family regulation system. They have presented on antiracist lawyering at national conferences sponsored by the ABA and the NACC.
Deb and Cris show tremendous respect for everyone with whom they interact, whether that be clients, colleagues, judges or adversaries. Most strikingly, they are incredibly humble, always downplaying their contributions while uplifting the work of others.
Willie J. Davis and Edward J. Duggan Award for Outstanding Criminal Defense Advocacy – Private Counsel
The Willie J. Davis and Edward J. Duggan Award for Outstanding Criminal Defense Advocacy award is given to both a Public Defender Division and Private Counsel attorney and is named for two extraordinary leaders. The awards are presented to criminal defense attorneys who demonstrate exceptional skill, determination, compassion, and courage while zealously representing indigent clients in the trial courts of the Massachusetts criminal legal system consistent with the CPCS core values of care, accountability, respect, and excellence.
T
Matt Gilbertson and Colleen Tynan
Those who practice in Bristol County describe Attorney Colleen A. Tynan as a Super Star who is always free with advice and cares deeply about her clients.
After graduating from Falmouth High School, she studied Criminal Justice at Cape Cod Community College and went on to receive a B.A. in Psychology from UMass Boston.
While attending New England School of Law, Colleen worked with Roxbury Public Defender’s Office, Legal Aid in Brockton, Rent Equity Board in Boston, Boston Office of Consumer Affairs, and the Prisoner’s Rights Project at the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services Offices.
In 1991, she went to work at CPCS and she tried her first murder trial on Martha’s Vineyard. During her free time, she volunteered to help the NAACP.
Colleen left CPCS in 2002 to join the Bristol County Bar Advocates. At that time, she said, “I have devoted my entire legal practice to the representation of indigent clients and my life to the cause of the underdog. I am seeking to accept criminal law assignments on behalf of indigent clients because that is what I love to do.”
She has been doing it ever since.
Willie J. Davis and Edward J. Duggan Award for Outstanding Criminal Defense Advocacy – Public Counsel
The Willie J. Davis and Edward J. Duggan Award for Outstanding Criminal Defense Advocacy award is given to both a Public Defender Division and Private Counsel attorney and is named for two extraordinary leaders. The awards are presented to criminal defense attorneys who demonstrate exceptional skill, determination, compassion, and courage while zealously representing indigent clients in the trial courts of the Massachusetts criminal legal system consistent with the CPCS core values of care, accountability, respect, and excellence.
Arnie Stewart and Lynda Dantas
Lynda Dantas presently serves as the Public Defender Division Attorney in Charge of the Lowell Trial Court Office. Prior to her appointment, she served twelve years as the Attorney in Charge of the District Court Office in Lowell and seven years as a staff attorney with the Worcester and Lowell Superior Court Offices of CPCS. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law. She formerly served as a law clerk in the Juvenile Court prior to starting her career with CPCS. Attorney Dantas is past President of the Greater Lowell Bar Association, a 2022 recipient of the Normand D’Amour Lawyer of the Year award from the Greater Lowell Bar Association. She is also a member of the Criminal Law Training Sub-committee of the Greater Lowell Bar Association and has lectured on various topics relating to criminal defense practice for both the Greater Lowell Bar Association and the Concord Bar Association. She is a passionate and fierce advocate on behalf of every client. She truly embodies the core values of this agency: Courage, Accountability, Respect and Excellence, and is highly deserving of the CPCS Edward Duggan Award.
Teresa McParland Award for Operational Excellence
The Teresa McParland Award for Operational Excellence is presented to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to improving agency operations in service to our clients through enhancing agency performance consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. These attributes were all hallmarks of Terry McParland during her CPCS career. The award honors Operations staff who exhibit extraordinary dedication, action, vision, passion, and creativity in improving the services, systems, quality of life, efficiency, and environment provided to agency staff, clients, and private counsel.
Kevin Lucchetti and AJ Peters
AJ Peters is the Facilities Director at the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Prior to his current position with CPCS, AJ was the Director of Engineering for Marriott Courtyard Boston at North Station and also spent six years in Supervisory roles for Metro Marina Bay in Quincy. He holds a degree from Berklee College of Music in Music Production and Engineering. AJ, a member of multiple rock bands (Summoner formed in 2008 and Ballast formed in 2022), has talent that extends beyond the halls of CPCS.
AJ joined CPCS in 2018 and since that time he has been responsible for managing over 200,000 square feet and nearly 30 offices. He has opened our first regional warehouse, our first CAFL Conflict office and will be opening our first dedicated training center this summer. Throughout his career at CPCS, AJ has demonstrated his dedication to our clients and to our staff. His work ethic is unmatched, he is a team player and always willing to take on anything that is thrown his way. As Facilities Director, AJ is exceptional and his work ethic truly embodies the dedication of Teresa (Terry) McPartland.
2024 EMERGING DEFENDERS
The Emerging Defender Awards are presented to one or more individuals committed to indigent defense who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, excelled when facing challenging situations, and shown they are highly motivated to continuously learn and improve. Recipients of this award will have been employed with CPCS or worked with CPCS clients for five or fewer years and demonstrated a commitment to the agency’s core values of courage, accountability, respect and excellence.
Anthony Benedetti and Emerging Defenders
Kaitlyn Gerber, Trial Attorney, PDD Boston
Rebecca Hutchinson, Trial Attorney, PDD Malden
Carly Pedersen, AAIII, YAD Lawrence
Katuscia Pierre-Charles, Private Counsel, Boston
Skailer Rei Qvistgaard, Trial Attorney, PDD Holyoke
Carol A. Donovan Award for Exceptional Advocacy
The Carol A. Donovan Award for Exceptional Advocacy recognizes excellence in legal advocacy and is given to attorneys – public or private – whose zealous advocacy has had a lasting impact on the legal and/or life outcomes experienced by our clients. Recipients will demonstrate the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence through appellate or other strategic litigation while addressing systemic injustice affecting CPCS clients and the communities in which they live.
Carolyn McGowan, Amy Smith, David Meade (not pictured), Raquel Calderon, and Arnie Stewart
In 2021, YAD and PDD assembled a team to defend a 16 year old charged with first-degree murder and other offenses arising from a shooting death. In 2023, our client was acquitted of all charges except unlicensed carrying of a firearm, conceded at trial. Carolyn McGowan and Amy Smith were counsel throughout extensive pretrial litigation, trial, and sentencing. They obtained a grant of bail shortly after arrest, severance from the adult codefendant, and favorable results in complex suppression and in limine litigation. The bail allowed our client to live at home and return to high school remotely until trial. Raquel Calderon was involved from the date of arrest and became even more integral in our client’s life upon his release. She managed his educational programming and provided him other extraordinary supports on a near daily basis. David Meade spent innumerable hours researching involved individuals, brainstorming firearms issues, and returning repeatedly to the shooting scene, always looking for new insights. YAD helped prepare Carolyn and Amy to persuade the Superior Court judge that he must treat the firearm verdict as a delinquency rather than YO adjudication, as the Commonwealth had argued, and the client was committed to DYS, for six months, until his 19th birthday. The team is forever grateful for CPCS’s recognition of the power of cross-divisional integration in the representation of our youngest and most vulnerable clients.
Maura Mellen Administrative Professional Award
The Maura Mellen Administrative Professional Award honors an administrative staff member who has made an outstanding contribution to the delivery of zealous and effective advocacy for CPCS clients consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. The award recognizes that administrative staff members perform many critical roles in the provision of zealous representation to CPCS clients.
Carol Cahill and Paula Cain
Supervising Administrative Assistant Paula Cain joined the agency in May 2013 as a secretary shortly after the Lawrence office opened. She very quickly became the face and often the voice of the office. As many clients will attest, her kindness and compassion toward them has made a significant difference in their individual lives. She taught herself enough Spanish to be able to direct clients — not just the English speakers — on what to do, where to go and how to get there. This was no easy task in an office that, when fully staffed, has 17 lawyers in 2 units which cover 6 different courts.
She remembers specific client issues, problems and even the names of client family members. Her calm and caring persona instantly sets frantic callers and visitors at ease, while also instilling invaluable trust and fostering a meaningful relationship with the entire Lawrence Trial Office. She is unfailingly loyal to both the office, and the agency. She readily breathes life into the core values of our mission, particularly when she treats every single client with the utmost respect and unyielding patience.
2024 EMERGING DEFENDERS
The Emerging Defender Awards are presented to one or more individuals committed to indigent defense who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, excelled when facing challenging situations, and shown they are highly motivated to continuously learn and improve. Recipients of this award will have been employed with CPCS or worked with CPCS clients for five or fewer years and demonstrated a commitment to the agency’s core values of courage, accountability, respect and excellence.
Emerging Defenders and Anthony Benedetti
Flannery du Rivage Rogers, Trial Attorney, PDD Hyannis
Martin M. Ryan, Private Counsel, Somerville
Lauren Simard, Trial Attorney, PDD Springfield
Meaghan Sheridan, Trial Attorney, PDD Springfield
Kara-Jane Walker Gipstein, Trial Attorney, CAFL Salem
Paul J. Liacos Mental Health Advocacy Award
The Paul J. Liacos Mental Health Advocacy Award recognizes a staff or private attorney whose advocacy on behalf of persons involved in mental health litigation proceedings exemplifies client centered zealous advocacy consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. The award honors a person whose advocacy has made a meaningful impact in furtherance of our clients’ interest in due process of law, personal autonomy, and the ability to live an independent life.
Laura Sanford and Shain Neumeier
Shain M. Neumeier has been a staff trial attorney in the Worcester office of the Mental Health Litigation Division for the last three year. As a person with disabilities and a survivor of forced treatment, they have focused their efforts since beginning law school on ensuring that other people in their community are able to exercise their rights to bodily autonomy as well as freedom from institutional confinement and abuse. As a trial attorney first on the MHLD private panel and later as a CPCS staff attorney, Shain has built rapport with and advocated on behalf of clients based on a deep understanding of where their clients are coming from and what’s at stake. Shain has also been advocating for an end to the use of aversive interventions such as the use of electric skin shock as a form of behavior modification at the Judge Rotenberg Center for over fifteen years. In working to end the use of aversive behavioral control, Shain has submitted comments and testified before bodies including the Massachusetts state legislature and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, created an action alert to encourage the public to submit their own comments on a federal ban of electric shock devices; and represented a family in a suit for abuse against JRC. When not working, Shain enjoys crafting, playing Dungeons & Dragons, listening to history podcasts, and watching science fiction shows with their partner and four feline roommates.
Maria Souto–Armand Goyette Investigator Award
The Maria Souto–Armand Goyette Investigator Award honors a staff investigator for outstanding investigative work consistent with the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence. Maria Souto, an indefatigable CPCS investigator in the Boston Trial office, and Armand Goyette, the first investigator at the Massachusetts Defenders Committee, established a standard for zealous, insightful, and skilled investigation that is still the national gold standard.
Merrilea Place
Merrilea Place has been an investigator for public defender offices for the past 10 years. She began with the Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia, investigating mid-level to high level felonies for that office. It was there she became certified as an expert in social media investigations and open-source investigations. She then moved to Georgia to become an investigator for high-level felonies with the Georgia Public Defender Counsel in Augusta. Her next stop was an investigator for the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases in Angleton, Texas where she was responsible for investigating on behalf of clients facing the death penalty. In 2022, Merrilea brought her breadth of investigative knowledge to CPCS, when hired by the Northampton PDD Trial Office. Since then, she has not only provided exemplary investigative services to her office but has also provided support and training for all of the PDD offices throughout Massachusetts. Further, she has shared her wealth of investigative knowledge to any office who reached out for assistance. Merrilea has provided a depth of knowledge for the entire CPCS agency, especially in the areas of expertise mentioned above. We are fortunate to have her in our investigative ranks.
Jay D. Blitzman Award for Youth Advocacy
The Jay D. Blitzman Award for Youth Advocacy is presented to a person who has demonstrated a commitment to courageously advocating for the rights of children and youth, which was the hallmark of Judge Blitzman’s long career. The award honors an advocate who exemplifies the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence and has exhibited extraordinary dedication, compassion and skill to assure that children accused of criminal conduct, or otherwise at risk, are treated fairly, equitably, and with dignity in the courtroom, in the community, and in the custody of the state.
Duci Goncalves, Stephanie Stolk Ormsby, and Charity Kruzel
Stephanie Stolk Ormsby began her career as a youth defender over 20 years ago. Stephane is a fierce and zealous advocate, as well as a gifted trial attorney, who has tirelessly worked her entire career to ensure that children’s rights are upheld against the great power of the government. In 2011 she became the senior staff attorney in the new YAD Springfield office and helped to bring new staff attorneys into the practice, taking them under her wing, and showing them how to litigate cases to win. She fought the hardest cases, took on impossible trials, and did it all with masterful strategy, skill, and poise. Stephanie has helped change the landscape of juvenile defense in Massachusetts. Most notably, she was trial counsel on Hanson H, and because of her incredible work, children who are adjudicated delinquent on sex offenses are not subjected to the mandatory provision of G.L. c. 265, § 47, requiring GPS as a term of their probation. Stephanie’s commitment to youth defense, passion for the law, strong work ethic and desire to always keep learning, pushing, and growing is an example for all youth defenders in the Commonwealth.
Thurgood Marshall Award
The Thurgood Marshall Award honors those who champion the cause of zealous representation and the right to effective assistance of counsel on behalf of the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable and, in so doing, contribute to building a more equitable and healthy community for all. This award is given to an individual or group who pushed for lasting, equitable changes in the legal system and/or the societal structures that affect CPCS clients and client communities. Recipients will embody the CPCS core values of courage, accountability, respect, and excellence.
Arnie Stewart and Carols Brito
Carlos Brito, born a natural public defender. In 1992, he began his legal career as a staff attorney in the CPCS Public Defender Division’s New Bedford office and has recently celebrated his 31st year anniversary with the agency.
Throughout his career, Carlos Brito has been considered one of the consummate and unsung hero trial attorneys with the Public Defender Division, here at CPCS. Carlos Britos enjoys a solid reputation within both the agency as well as the legal community at large. He is well known for his steady and measured resilience and is willing to go the extra distance to ensure that every client is zealously represented. He is well regarded as a respected litigant, by both the Courts and prosecutors.
Carlos Brito has handled some of the most challenging cases in Bristol County, including the recent case of an 80-year-old Khmer man who spoke no English who was charged with rape. Because of Carlo’s calm and reassuring demeanor, he has been able to genuinely connect with our unique and diverse client base and he will tell you how that ability has made him not only a better lawyer, but a better human, as well.
Chief Counsel Award for Outstanding Service to the Agency
The Chief Counsel Award for Outstanding Service to the Agency recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional dedication, reliability, and a willingness to go above and beyond their assigned duties to support the agency’s goals. This award serves as a poignant reminder of the collective effort required to achieve the agency’s mission and acknowledges the invaluable contributions of those whose work may not always receive the spotlight. Through their unwavering commitment and selfless dedication, recipients of this award exemplify the highest standards of service at CPCS. This award will periodically go to people or organizations that do not naturally fit in other categories.
Anthony Benedetti and Bill Shay
William Shay is currently the Director of the Audit and Oversight which is responsible, by statute, for the oversight of expenditures from the legal services and Indigent Court Cost Act appropriations made annually to CPCS and has successfully steered the agency through the intricacies and complexities of numerous multi-year state audits. He has been a speaker at the American Bar Association Public Defense Summit and participated in the Financial Oversight Panel in 2022 and has consulted with and advised several state public defender programs around the US.
Bill began his legal career 1996 in a three-person general practice of law where he represented clients in criminal and civil cases, child custody, divorce, personal injury, landlord/tenant, discrimination cases, administrative hearings, and worker’s compensation matters. At CPCS, Bill has represented clients in sex offender cases.