On June 14, 2016, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL) presented our colleague, Atty. Anne C. Goldbach, with the Clarence Gideon Award, an honor not awarded every year, but presented to only those worthy to be recognized as champions of the noblest principle that all persons shall stand equal before the law.
Anne is currently the Forensic Services Unit Director for the Committee for Public Counsel (CPCS) and has been a CPCS champion for our indigent clients for the past 38 years. After graduating from Boston College Law School, she joined the Massachusetts Defenders Committee as a public defender in 1978. Upon creation of CPCS, Anne joined the staff of the Roxbury Defenders in January 1985, where she became a supervising attorney. She was selected as Attorney-in-Charge of the Boston office in November 1987 and, after running the Boston Trials Unit for ten years, became CPCS Director of Forensic Service. In this capacity, Anne acts as a resource on forensics issues and experts for public defenders and bar advocates across the Commonwealth.
Throughout her career, Anne has been actively involved in continuing legal education and criminal defense training programs, and has lectured on numerous forensics topics. She has been a guest lecturer and/or judge in mock trials at Boston College Law School, Boston University, Harvard Law School, New England School of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, University of Massachusetts Law School, and Suffolk University Law School. Anne has been a frequent lecturer, writer, and moderator for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), CPCS conferences and training programs, and other CLE training programs.
Anne’s other activities include serving on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Council for Public Justice and on the board of the Thomas J. Drinan Memorial Fellowship Fund at Suffolk University Law School. She is a past president and current board member of MACDL and is a member of the state’s Forensic Sciences Advisory Board.
In May 2000, Anne received the Hon. David S. Nelson Public Interest Law Award from the Boston College Law School Alumni Association. In 2013, she received the CPCS Edward J. Duggan Public Defender Award for Outstanding Service, which is given annually to the public defender who best represents zealous advocacy, the central principle governing the representation of indigents in Massachusetts. Additionally, in 2014, Boston College Law School honored Anne with their Woman of the Year Award.
Atty. Anne C. Goldbach has had and is continuing to have a remarkable and distinguished legal career, all of it dedicated to the defense of the indigent accused. We applaud her and we are extremely pleased and proud that her efforts are so widely appreciated and recognized.
CONGRATULATIONS!