Burnham Recognized, Trustees Elected at MBF Annual Meeting

Mar 18

The MBF’s Annual Meeting was held on March 5, 2026, at Suffolk University School of Law. Professor Margaret A. Burnham, Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law, was honored with the Great Friend of Justice Award. Also during the event, Attorney Melissa Langa of Bove Langa Witherell & Soiffer was elected President of the Foundation for the coming year and Attorneys Laura Rosi and Taylor Shutt of Housing Families delivered the Grantee Address. Over 100 MBF Fellows, grantees and friends attended the event.

The Great Friend of Justice Award recognizes individuals whose work advances the MBF’s mission to expand access to justice and strengthen the integrity of our legal system. Professor Burnham’s lifelong commitment to civil rights, institutional accountability, and the pursuit of fairness exemplifies that mission.

A former attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the first African American woman appointed to the Massachusetts judiciary, Professor Burnham has long been a leader in using the law to confront injustice. She is the founder and director of Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, which investigates racially motivated killings from the Jim Crow era that were never adequately addressed by the legal system. Through this work, and through her acclaimed book By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners, Professor Burnham has illuminated the role of legal institutions in both perpetuating and remedying injustice. To learn more about Professor Burnham, click here.

Also at the event, the MBF honored ten lawyers and judges who recently completed their financial pledges to the MBF Society of Fellows and elections were held for the coming year. The MBF elected the following officers and trustees:

Trustees