President's Circle Member Larry Johnson Reflects on MBF Involvement

Laurence “Larry” Johnson, Esq. has forged a career spanning six decades as a business litigation trial lawyer, including at several of the area’s distinguished firms. “It’s hard for me to think of a field of business litigation that I haven’t been involved in at one time or another, including anti-trust, securities, products liability, executive compensation, construction, environmental litigation, technology, and mergers and acquisition,” he says. Many years ago, Attorney Johnson joined the Massachusetts Bar Foundation as a Fellow, and became increasingly involved in the Foundation’s work.

The work he did at the MBF was significant and rewarding, he says. “It was very, very fortunate that I became involved. I don’t exaggerate at all when I say that my relationship with the Mass. Bar Foundation has been one of the most professionally satisfying things that I’ve done.”

As a Fellow, Johnson participated in one of the key functions of the MBF, the grantmaking process: reviewing applications for funding from legal aid organizations, interviewing their staff members, making recommendations, and participating in final decisions as to where its financial support would go.

“There is a great need for lawyers to represent people who can’t otherwise afford assistance in a very broad range of public interest services, including tenants’ rights, family law and domestic abuse, immigration rights, and employment discrimination,” Johnson explains. “The Foundation fulfills two critical roles: it raises money to provide financial support for such organizations, and its members donate immense amounts of time in reviewing and evaluating grant proposals to make sure the money is spent as effectively and efficiently as possible, and that it meets the real needs of the people who need public service lawyers.”

Eventually, Johnson was invited to join the MBF Board of Trustees and served as President in 2008-2009. During his tenure on the Board, he helped to review and approve $33 million in grantmaking, helped to plan the Foundation’s 45th anniversary gala, and was instrumental in creating the President’s Circle, which comprises four higher levels of giving. According to Johnson, “The board leadership lent credibility to this new program by making commitments themselves to the extent we were able to do so.” Regarding his own donation, he adds, “It’s a question of putting your money where your mouth is, really.”

Today, Johnson stays active with part-time work as an arbitrator/mediator. While the octogenarian’s days as a high-altitude mountaineer – at one time climbing in the Himalayas and the Alaska and Teton ranges – have waned, he is also occupied tending to the animals at his farm on the coast of Penobscot Bay, in Maine.

Johnson continues to support the MBF’s vital mission: “My work with the Massachusetts Bar Foundation was so gratifying because providing funding for legal aid makes the law more than just a tool for the affluent, but a way of securing justice for all people. It makes the system of justice and its central goal of ‘equal justice under law’ a reality rather than just a piece of public relations. The Foundation’s lawyers who contribute their time and financial support are part of a noble enterprise.”

For more information about giving levels, including the MBF President's Circle, click here.

Article by: Michele Chausse, Above the Fold Communications: mcabovethefold@gmail.com