By Beth Brosnan
Law community
Suffolk University Law School taught attorney George Keches JD’75 many things, but perhaps the most enduring lesson came from David Sargent, then the dean of the Law School and later president of Suffolk University.
“I had Dean Sargent for a couple of courses, and to me he represented the highest values of the law,” Keches says. “He taught me that the underdog should always be represented. Life is not a level playing field, and the only thing that makes it level is the quality of your legal representation.”
A drive to level the educational playing field has now inspired Keches and his wife, attorney Ann Maguire Keches, to pledge $1 million to Suffolk University Law School to create two new scholarships, including $950,000 to establish the George N. Keches JD’75 Term Scholarship Fund. The fund will support Law School students from Massachusetts who represent the first generation in their families to complete an undergraduate education and who have demonstrated financial need.
An additional $50,000 will establish a memorial scholarship in honor of Keches’s friend and fellow Suffolk Law alumnus, the late Thomas F. Healy JD’79, a former assistant district attorney for Bristol County and member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council. The Thomas F. Healy JD’79 Endowed Scholarship will also benefit Law School students with demonstrated financial need.
“George has been an extraordinary contributor to the Law School,” says Dean Andrew Perlman. “He has given back philanthropically for many years, and more recently he has offered his strategic advice as a member of the Dean’s Cabinet. With this latest gift, George and Ann are helping Suffolk Law deliver on its longstanding mission: Leveling the playing field for law students from all backgrounds and giving them access to an outstanding, practice-oriented legal education.”
George Keches is the founding partner of Keches Law Group, one of the largest plaintiff personal injury practices in Massachusetts, with 45 attorneys. A widely respected authority in the field of workers’ compensation law, he was the youngest commissioner ever appointed to the Department of Industrial Accidents, which oversees the adjudication of workers’ compensation cases. He also taught at the New England School of Law (now New England Law | Boston) for more than 13 years, and has lectured extensively for the Massachusetts Bar Association and Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
As one of the first female attorneys to practice medical malpractice law, Ann Maguire Keches is a legal trailblazer. After serving as a partner at another Boston firm, she joined the Keches Law Group in 1995 and founded its medical malpractice department. She has served as a member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. She is also a past member and president of the Board of Trustees of Southern New England School of Law (now the University of Massachusetts School of Law).
Image courtesy of the Keches
Two new scholarships will help level the educational playing field, thanks to a new $1 million pledge from attorneys George Keches JD'75 and Ann Maguire Keches.
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Law community
By Beth Brosnan
Suffolk University Law School taught attorney George Keches JD’75 many things, but perhaps the most enduring lesson came from David Sargent, then the dean of the Law School and later president of Suffolk University.
“I had Dean Sargent for a couple of courses, and to me he represented the highest values of the law,” Keches says. “He taught me that the underdog should always be represented. Life is not a level playing field, and the only thing that makes it level is the quality of your legal representation.”
A drive to level the educational playing field has now inspired Keches and his wife, attorney Ann Maguire Keches, to pledge $1 million to Suffolk University Law School to create two new scholarships, including $950,000 to establish the George N. Keches JD’75 Term Scholarship Fund. The fund will support Law School students from Massachusetts who represent the first generation in their families to complete an undergraduate education and who have demonstrated financial need.
An additional $50,000 will establish a memorial scholarship in honor of Keches’s friend and fellow Suffolk Law alumnus, the late Thomas F. Healy JD’79, a former assistant district attorney for Bristol County and member of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council. The Thomas F. Healy JD’79 Endowed Scholarship will also benefit Law School students with demonstrated financial need.
“George has been an extraordinary contributor to the Law School,” says Dean Andrew Perlman. “He has given back philanthropically for many years, and more recently he has offered his strategic advice as a member of the Dean’s Cabinet. With this latest gift, George and Ann are helping Suffolk Law deliver on its longstanding mission: Leveling the playing field for law students from all backgrounds and giving them access to an outstanding, practice-oriented legal education.”
George Keches is the founding partner of Keches Law Group, one of the largest plaintiff personal injury practices in Massachusetts, with 45 attorneys. A widely respected authority in the field of workers’ compensation law, he was the youngest commissioner ever appointed to the Department of Industrial Accidents, which oversees the adjudication of workers’ compensation cases. He also taught at the New England School of Law (now New England Law | Boston) for more than 13 years, and has lectured extensively for the Massachusetts Bar Association and Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
As one of the first female attorneys to practice medical malpractice law, Ann Maguire Keches is a legal trailblazer. After serving as a partner at another Boston firm, she joined the Keches Law Group in 1995 and founded its medical malpractice department. She has served as a member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. She is also a past member and president of the Board of Trustees of Southern New England School of Law (now the University of Massachusetts School of Law).
Image courtesy of the Keches
Two new scholarships will help level the educational playing field, thanks to a new $1 million pledge from attorneys George Keches JD'75 and Ann Maguire Keches.
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