Law Day Awards Dinner

Robert D. Keefe grew up in Arlington, MA, was a student in the Arlington public schools, and graduated from Arlington High School in 1963. Mr. Keefe attended Phillips Exeter Academy for one year and upon graduation, he went to Harvard College where he graduated in 1968 with a B.A. degree cum laude. Mr. Keefe enrolled in Boston College Law School in 1969 and graduated in 1972 with a J.D. degree summa cum laude. He then joined the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division in Washington D.C. where he supervised several federal criminal investigations and prosecuted a number of corporations and individuals for violations of federal criminal laws throughout the United States and argued appeals in five federal appellate courts from 1972 - 1974. In the fall of 1974, Mr. Keefe joined Hale and Dorr’s Litigation Department where he had a complex general litigation practice, including internal corporate investigations, extensive white collar criminal defense work and large commercial disputes. Mr. Keefe remained at Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale) from 1974 to the present. Mr. Keefe retired as a Partner at WilmerHale in 2015 but remained with the Firm as a Senior Counsel until his retirement this year. 

About ten years ago, Mr. Keefe joined the Cummings Foundation as one of its first community volunteers, initially reviewing letters of inquiry and applications by non-profit organizations. In 2017, Mr. Keefe started to conduct site visits at non-profit organizations on behalf of the Foundation, and he now chairs its Suffolk Site Visits Committee. Mr. Keefe has also been involved with the Foundation’s Final Grants Selection Committee, NExT Grants Selection Committee, and 10-Year (Sustaining Grants) Committee. In addition to supporting a variety of other projects for the Foundation over the last decade, in 2022, Mr. Keefe was appointed to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. In November 2024, Mr. Keefe was awarded the Big Heart Service Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Massachusetts for being a leader, mentor, and advocate within the Cummings Foundation, especially through initiatives like the site visit program; Mr. Keefe was also declared a champion for the community for his thoughtful and compassionate approach to inspire others and for making a meaningful difference in the lives of so many.

Stacey is the Executive Director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Massachusetts, the lawyer assistance program in Massachusetts. LCLMA provides direct services to members of the legal community, their families, and law students through addiction recovery services, evaluations and referral to mental health services, well-being programming and practice support. LCLMA also provides education through partnerships with legal employers, bar associations, non-profit agencies, and C providers. LCLMA also provides substance use monitoring required by employers or orders issued to lawyers by tribunals of competent jurisdiction, and evaluations of practice management. 

As the executive director of LCLMA, Stacey represents the interest of LCLMA and participates with key stakeholders at various bar associations, and the Committees of the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), including the SJC Standing Committee on Lawyer Well-Being, and the Standing Advisory Committee on Professionalism to improve the quality of the legal profession. In 2025, the SJC appointed Stacey to a 3-year term on its Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct. 

Stacey joined LCL after spending 18 years with the Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) and the Office of Bar Counsel (OBC) as an assistant bar counsel. Before leaving the BBO join LCL, with her deep knowledge and strategic approach to attorney discipline, Stacey became the Inaugural Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion(interim) at the BBO. Stacey is interested in, presents, teaches, and coaches on the topics of ethics, lawyer wellbeing, DEI, and leadership.

Judith Gail Dein was appointed as a Magistrate Judge of the United States District  Court for the District of Massachusetts on July 31, 2000, and served as Chief Magistrate  Judge from 2009-2012. Since 2017, she has also served in the District of Puerto Rico as the  Magistrate Judge for PROMESA, the Puerto Rico reorganization statute. Judge Dein’s third  eight-year term as a Magistrate Judge expired on July 30, 2024, and she has continued to  serve in both Districts on a recall basis since then.  

In the District of Massachusetts, Judge Dein has worked closely with and helped  expand the Court’s Nelson Fellowship program – a summer program for high school  students, and the Lindsay Fellowship program – a summer program for college students  interested in going to law school. She is also an active participant in the Discovering  Justice Court Education Project based in the courthouse. Judge Dein is a recipient of a  Community Peacemaker Award from the Community Dispute Settlement Center in  Cambridge, Massachusetts, in recognition of her help in creating a program with the  Federal Bar Association that provides pro bono mediation counsel for pro se litigants appearing in the District of Massachusetts federal court.  

Judge Dein has served on various committees of the Administrative Office of the  United States Courts, the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, and the Massachusetts  Bar Association, and served on the editorial board of the Boston Bar Journal. She is a  Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation and the American Bar Association. She has  served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Union College, Schenectady, New York,  since 2012.  

Judge Dein graduated from Union College in 1976, and Boston College Law School  in 1979, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Boston College Environmental Affairs  Law Review. After clerking for the Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court (1979- 1980) and Robert Braucher, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial  Court (1980-1981), she entered private practice and worked as a civil litigator in state and  federal courts until her appointment to the bench.

Matthew Brooks is the Managing Attorney of the Consumer Rights Unitt Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS). He has been working there since 2016. Matthew focuses on helping low-income individuals fight against debt collection abuses and other consumer rights issues. He has provided representation to hundreds of individuals in debt collection actions and has been actively involved in advocating for changes to court rules that favor consumers. 

Before joining GBLS, Matthew worked as a Judicial Law Clerk for the US Bankruptcy Courts and the United States Courts. Matthew holds a Bachelor of Theology from Boston College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.