I recently had the pleasure to attend the 2022 National Lawyers Guild Mass Chapter Annual Dinner as a guest of New England Law I Boston student, Sara Malley. As I am an architect and most certainly not a lawyer, I expect that I may have been one of the few attendees who wasn’t either directly employed in the field of law or a family member of one of the honorees, so my perspective is quite unique in that respect. My initial impressions of the event were formed as I assisted with registration. And there was no better way to meet all the attendees than to help with check-in! The universal theme of the early evening was centered around gratitude and excitement for finally being able to gather as a group, post pandemic. I believe we honestly didn’t appreciate how much it means to us as humans to be able to celebrate significant events together during COVID, so seeing the joy on the faces of the NLG dinner guests as they greeted each other to start the evening was wonderful.
Unfortunately, I may have missed some of the speakers during the early evening of the event, because as you know, Urszula has rules, and these rules must be followed. Ha! However, my experience for the remainder of the event was very inspiring. Most awards events that I have attended have been quite exclusive. They are often a means for a small group of professionals to pat each other on the back and honor each other in the exclusive group with awards, likely for the purposes of future considerations at the next year’s awards ceremony. The NLG Mass Chapter celebration was different. With both student and professionals receiving awards, there was a great range of experience celebrated. In my past experience attending awards events, it is rare that those early in a profession are acknowledged at the same time as those who have dedicated their lives to a craft. I believe this approach serves both the NLG Mass Chapter and the profession well, as it provides hope in addition to the honors bestowed. It is inspiring to see people who are successful in their field at various stages of their professional journeys.
Members of the NLG Mass Chapter are doing important work and it is critical that these efforts are recognized and appreciated. Thank you, Urszula and the NLG Mass Chapter, for allowing a pesky architect to attend your wonderful event this year. Congratulations to each of the award honorees and the honors were all well-deserved. I gained knowledge, met some fantastic attendees, ate well, and certainly thoroughly enjoyed the evening!
Written by, Eric Bowen
Photos by – Sebastian Sokolowski
