Ann Hartner awarded by Women's Bar Association
[September 15, 2009]

The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA) has announced this year’s two Lelia J. Robinson Award recipients, one of whom is our own Ann Morse Hartner, long-time research attorney with the firm. The Award will be formally presented at this year’s WBA Gala on October 14, at the Westin Copley Hotel.

The Lelia J. Robinson Award has been presented since 1994. Named for the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts bar, the award recognizes women who, like Robinson, have blazed a trail in the legal profession and have served as role models and mentors for other women attorneys.

As the WBA stated in its press release, “Ann Morse Hartner is a valued leader and legislative advocate in the Massachusetts legal community. Hartner is currently a research attorney with Rosenberg, Freedman, & Goldstein, specializing in disability and elder law. A former WBA Board Member and longtime chair of the organization’s Legislative Policy Committee, she has worked tirelessly to better the circumstances of those in our community without a voice. Hartner’s efforts have raised the profile of the WBA in our state government. In addition to her work with the WBA, she has volunteered with the League of Women Voters, including serving on that organization’s Massachusetts Board of Directors in the early to mid-1980s. She was critical to the national organization’s adoption of a pro-choice position in 1982. Hartner’s other roles have included serving as a founding board member of the Women’s Statewide Legislative Network, on the Organizing Committee to increase awareness of the state ERA, and as a member of the Steering Committee of “Women in Politics ’84.” In addition, she worked towards the creation of the Dukakis Administration’s Governor’s Advisor and Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues. Hartner is also a devoted mentor to other women attorneys, whether they are in her firm or other advocates seeking to contribute to society. She is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University School of Law.”

About the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts.

Founded in 1978 by a group of activist women lawyers, the Women’s Bar Association is one of the oldest and largest bar associations in the country. Today, the organization boasts a membership of nearly 1600 women lawyers, judges and law students across Massachusetts. The WBA is committed to the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society. The WBA works to achieve this mission through committees and task forces, and by developing and promoting a legislative agenda to address a society’s most critical social and legal issues. Other WBA activities include drafting amicus briefs, studying employment issues affecting women, encouraging women to enter the judiciary, recognizing the achievement of women in the law, and providing pro bono services to women in need through supporting its charitable sister organization, the Women’s Bar Foundation. For more information, visit www.womensbar.org.

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