LYNN ― The Greater Lynn Bar Association has voted longtime board member Mary Ann Calnan as its next president.
Calnan, who was one of six kids, said she started thinking about a career in law when she was in high school at St. Mary’s.
Her father — the late William B. Calnan, who grew up in the Brickyard neighborhood — said the smartest girl he ever knew was Mary Lou McElligott, who was a court reporter at the Federal Court in Boston, a job he thought Calnan would be good at.
Calnan’s father helped coordinate a week during school vacation her junior year where she accompanied Mcelligott to trials.
Calnan said she really enjoyed this experience, but McElligott told her she didn’t have to be a court reporter, and could be one of the lawyers if she wanted to.
“There were no female lawyers in the courtroom during the trial,” Calnan said. “But, that kind of put the seed in my head.”
Calnan went on to graduate from Boston College and Suffolk University Law School.
While in law school, she worked as a conciliator at the Department of Industrial Accidents in Boston.
After graduating, she joined the law firm of Driscoll, Gillespie & Stanton, and then the law firms of Stanton & Lang and Mullen & McGourty, specializing in general litigation.
In August of 2017, Calnan — who concentrates her practice in the workers’ compensation field — became a founding partner of Calnan, Freeley & Pellegrini, a women-owned law firm.
Calnan’s career has included numerous national litigation conferences and legal seminars and training for a variety of clients. She has been a faculty member for the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education; a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association where she serves on its Workers’ Compensation subcommittee; a member of the Essex County Bar Association; a member of the Board of Trustees of her high school alma mater and chair of its Governance Committee; a member of the Ladies’ Division, Division 10, Ancient Order of Hibernians; and executive board member of the Greater Lynn Bar Association for more 25 years.
Calnan was elected to succeed former President Albert Conlon at the Greater Lynn Bar Association’s annual dinner, which was canceled last year due to the pandemic.
The dinner, which was held at The Continental Restaurant in Saugus and hosted more than 120 members, also acknowledged some members with awards.
Loring Fluke, a past president of the Association, was the recipient of the first annual Loring Paul Fluke Award for exceptional service to the group.
In addition, Thomas Schiavoni was the recipient of the annual John Jennings Award for Superior Advocacy.
The association also gave an award to a non-member, George Markos, owner of Brothers Deli on Market Street.
He was presented with the Richard Adamo Award for exceptional service to the legal community by a non-lawyer.
Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice David A. Lowy was also in attendance at the dinner as this year’s guest speaker.
Founded in 1890, the Greater Lynn Bar Association is a professional organization that runs programs in the community to increase awareness of their services, educate lawyers, and increase the presence of lawyers in the community.
The motto of the association is: “To further the cause of justice, to sustain and improve the law and its administration, to ensure conformity to a high standard of professional duty and to promote the professional and social interests of the Bar.”
The organization also hosts educational programs to increase membership.
One of the bar association’s biggest yearly events is Law Day, which is celebrated on May 1.
During this annual program, the association decides upon a legal theme; then, association members and court personnel go to Lynn schools to give presentations about that theme.
One year, the theme was Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that ruled against segregated schools in the American south.
“One of the big things we (the association) do is outreach to the community, and Law Day is one of them,” Calnan said. “We go around and try to educate students about the legal profession and how case law and laws affect everybody’s lives.”
This program was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Calnan said it is scheduled to resume again this year.
The association also hosts the John P. McGloin Memorial Lecture Series and offers seminars for lawyers throughout the year on a variety of topics that bring in judges for discussions.
The program is jointly sponsored with the Essex County Bar Association and is a primary source of continuing legal education in Essex County.
