MBF to Elect Angela C. McConney, Esq. as President

McConney Will Make History as First President of Color of the Organization

Angela C. McConney, Esq. will be elected as president of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF) at our annual meeting on June 7. Upon her election, McConney will be the first president of color in our 58-year history. The MBF is a philanthropic community of lawyers and judges working together through grantmaking and other charitable activities to expand the availability of legal services in Massachusetts.

McConney joined the MBF Society of Fellows in 2007 and joined the Board of Trustees in 2013. She most recently served as vice president and has chaired the annual Legal Intern Fellowship Program and Housing Grant Advisory Committee for many years. She is a Louis D. Brandeis Life Fellow of the Foundation.

McConney has held positions with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for more than two decades. She is currently an Administrative Magistrate for the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA), an independent agency that conducts due process adjudicatory hearings for other Massachusetts state administrative agencies. Before joining DALA, McConney was the General Counsel for the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney in the Roxbury and Central Divisions of the Boston Municipal Court and the Chief Legal Counsel of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Criminal Justice Committee.

“I’ve so enjoyed my work as a Trustee of the Mass. Bar Foundation over the years and I am excited to take on the role of president,” said McConney. “I’m eager to move forward on the initiatives we were unable to pursue because of the COVID pandemic. One of my priorities is reaching out to attorneys outside of Greater Boston to increase their involvement in the Foundation and in our grantmaking activities."  

In addition to increasing geographical diversity, McConney will work to engage and involve young lawyers, attorneys of color and those not fully represented in the MBF community. “I plan to reinforce the message that everyone committed to access to justice is welcome at the MBF. Becoming an MBF fellow is a way to engender a culture of philanthropy among all attorneys and to provide opportunities for growth and advancement in the field.”  

According to Richard J. Grahn, Esq., current MBF president, “In my view the primary function of a board president is to assess the capabilities of the organization, determine how it might be improved, and perhaps more importantly to look strategically at where the organization needs to go and make sure it gets there. Angela is well prepared to take on this task. At her suggestion, we've created a membership committee to ensure its members reflect the greater community of lawyers in the state.”

Grahn adds, “Angela’s character and personality are just what the MBF needs in this moment. I'm appreciative of not only what she's done in the past for the organization, but I am delighted to have her as my successor. The Foundation will be in excellent hands.”

An active volunteer dedicated to public service, McConney has served within the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) on the Executive Management Board, the Budget and Finance Committee, and the House of Delegates. She was appointed to the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Committee by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2020. She is a member of the National Association of Women Judges, has served as a hearing officer for the Board of Bar Overseers, and has volunteered as a trained mediator in the Small Claims sessions of the Boston Municipal Court. She is also a past president and treasurer of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association.

McConney received the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Award for Excellence in Diversity in 2012. She received the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys 2021 Public Interest Award for her myriad contributions to the Massachusetts legal community, and her leadership in public interest law. McConney Scheepers also mentors numerous law students and young lawyers.

McConney resides in Milton and serves as a town meeting member.

A graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Iowa College of Law, she also studied at the American University in Cairo and the London Law Consortium. 

RSVP here to attend McConney’s historic election.