Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The organization previously known as the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association is now the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association.
The change, which became effective on July 1, follows a trend among other states to adopt a name that makes clearer what the organization does, according to Jim Lampke, the organization’s executive director.
“The rationale was that there are a lot of people who don’t know what a city solicitor or a town counsel does,” Lampke said.
The former name dated back to the 1930s or ’40s, according to Lampke. He noted that a number of other statewide municipal attorney organizations, including the one in New Hampshire, have dropped their original names in favor of “Municipal Lawyers Association” or similar terms.
The Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (www.massmunilaw.org) has also incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.
“The activities and programs of the association will continue as in the past in the furtherance of [the organization’s] continuing mission to facilitate the highest quality legal services to our state’s cities and towns,” the association said in a statement about the name change. “This includes the filing of amicus briefs in our appellate courts in cases in which the interests of our cities and towns are implicated, and conducting legal educational programs for members and local public officials throughout the year.”
The organization has roughly 300 members.