Mass. Bar Association Applauds Kazarosian Police Board Appointment; Calls Choice ‘Inspired’

Staff of the law firm Kazarosian Costello. (Courtesy photograph.)

The Massachusetts Bar Association is applauding the appointment of Haverhill attorney Marsha V. Kazarosian to the state’s new Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission., saying she brings “much-needed perspective.”

As WHAV reported first Friday, Kazarosian is one of several appointments required of Attorney General Maura Healey to the Commission. The board will create a police officer certification system and processes for decertification, suspension of certification or reprimand in the event of certain misconduct. The law came in response to reform demands in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in police custody in Minneapolis.

“Marsha Kazarosian remains one of the most respected leaders at the bar — when she speaks, people listen. Coupled with her expertise and trial success in the areas of civil rights and police misconduct, Marsha is an inspired selection to represent the bar on this inaugural POST Commission,” said Massachusetts Bar Association President Denise I. Murphy. “As a tenacious advocate for her clients, she understands where the cracks are in our criminal justice system and knows firsthand the devastation wrought when there’s an absence of accountability,” Murphy added.

The police reform law, approved in December, required Gov. Charlie Baker and Healey to appoint three commissioners each and, together, appoint another three members. Baker chose retired Judge Margaret R. Hinkle, who served from 1993 to 2011 as a Superior Court justice, as chair of the Commission.

Bar Association Chief Legal Counsel and Chief Operating Officer Martin W. Healy called Kazarosian’s appointment “a natural extension of her many years of successful collaboration on state and federal efforts to promote equality and fairness in the justice system.”

Kazarosian is an experienced trial attorney who has been practicing in Massachusetts since 1982, handling multiple high-profile cases that have gained her recognition in New England and across the country. A partner at Kazarosian Costello, her practice areas include civil rights law, discrimination cases and police misconduct cases. She is a past president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys and Essex County Bar Association.

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