Susan M. Finegan ’91 is to receive the BBA Thurgood Marshall Award at the Annual BBA Voices of the Bar meeting on November 14. The award honors private bar attorneys in the Boston area who have significantly enhanced the human dignity of low-income clients in Massachusetts through long term commitment (at least ten years) to civil rights, liberties, and human rights issues.
Finegan has served as a litigation partner at Mintz Firm since 1999, specializing in representing victims of crime, particularly sexual assault and domestic violence, and the nonprofits that serve them. She’s also done work on numerous acclaimed cases, including leading the firm’s representation challenging President Trump’s first immigration executive order travel ban, handling passage of a restraining order law in Massachusetts for sexual assault survivors, and dealing with political asylum matters.
Mintz has dubbed Finegan a “pro bono pioneer” due to her extensive work in public service. She was appointed as the firm’s first pro bono partner in 2007 and has served on the Mintz Pro Bono Committee, an award-winning group handling over 300 cases in 2023 alone.
She currently serves as the committee’s chair and has spearheaded several high-profile cases as lead counsel. Additionally, she co-founded the Access to Justice Fellows program, placing retiring lawyers and judges in non-profits in need of legal assistance. The program has now devoted more than 200,000 pro-bono hours to clients in need of legal services, and has earned Finegan a certificate of appreciation by the Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice for her remarkable achievements in promoting equal justice.
“Susan turns her compassion into achievements that change people’s lives and that reflect, at the deepest levels, the value of human rights and liberty.”
BC Law Dean Odette Lienau
“It is such an honor to receive the Thurgood Marshall award from the Boston Bar Association,” said Finegan. “My time at BC Law laid the groundwork for my commitment to social justice. I’ve been so fortunate to have been able to dedicate much of my career to pro bono work in a variety of areas.”
Finegan is also the recipient of several other prestigious accolades such as Best Lawyers in America: Commercial Litigation; as the inaugural recipient of the Ralph D. Gants Award for Extraordinary Leadership in Pro Bono Service; and as an inductee into Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Hall of Fame. She currently serves as a trustee of the Boston Bar Foundation and is on the Board of Trustees at her alma mater, Dartmouth College.
Here commitment to others extends to Boston College Law School, where she has co-chaired the annual Law Day celebration, was honored by the Women’s Law Center as Woman of the Year in 2017, and is on the advisory board for BC Law’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy.
“Susan is a model of BC Law’s mission to do good in the world,” said BC Law Dean Odette Lienau. “She turns her compassion into achievements that change people’s lives and that reflect, at the deepest levels, the value of human rights and liberty.”