WILLIAM J. O’GRADY
WESTFIELD – Attorney William J. O’Grady of Westhampton was appointed as an Associate Judge for the Chicopee District Court Wednesday by a unanimous vote of the Governor’s Council.
O’Grady is taking the Chicopee District Court bench vacated by Judge Mary Hurley, who also served as the mayor of Springfield from 1989 to 1991.
O’Grady, in his interview with the Governor’s Council last week, said he sees the role of a District Court Judge as treating all before him with dignity and respect.
“I have appeared enough in the courts of this Commonwealth to understand that virtually
every decision a District Court Judge makes has a profound impact on many lives. That impact extends much further than the individual standing before the court. Each and every decision made, and there are many, many decisions made daily by a District Court Judge, must be made with an acute appreciation of the impact of each of those decisions. Each of those decisions must be made with a sense of fairness, and while treating all the individuals that come before the court with dignity and respect,” O’Grady said in a prepared statement to the members of the Governor’s Council.
O’Grady has served with the city’s Law Department as a litigator for the past five years and prior to that performed a similar function in Chicopee, where he was Chief of Litigation. O’Grady served as a special prosecutor for the Northwest District Attorney when that office needed outside counsel because of a conflict of interest. O’Grady also served as a Criminal Justice Act Attorney representing indigent clients in federal court for 20 years.
O’Grady is currently a partner with his wife of 32 years, Cheryl Parker, in the firm of Parker & O’Grady, which has offices in Southampton and Springfield and for the past 34 years has been litigating and trying hundreds of cases, both civil and criminal, in virtually every District and Superior Court in the state as well as the Federal District Court of Columbia (Washington D.C.) and the Southern District of New York.
City Solicitor Susan Phillips, who hired O’Grady for both the Westfield and Chicopee litigator position, testified on O’Grady’s behalf at the Governor’s Council hearing last week.
“I’m so happy for him. I can’t wait for his swearing-in ceremony,”” Phillips said. “He’s that rare combination of lawyer who is confident, but not brash. Bill is very gifted in spotting legal issues and developing a strategy to resolve them. Not many lawyers have both of those skills.”
“He’s going to be very hard to replace here,” Phillips said. “He’s been fantastic in developing the younger members of the department into lawyers and litigators.”
Phillips said Tuesday that she has hired Attorney John T. Liebel to assume O’Grady’s current caseload, while searching for another litigator to replace O’Grady in the Law Department. O’Grady has a caseload which includes a case pertaining to construction of the proposed Ashley Street elementary school.
O’Grady has argued the Article 97 case, brought by a group of Cross Street property owners and residents, in Hampden Superior Court.
Ironically, that case was before Superior Court Judge Bertha Josephson Wednesday where both side of the case agreed to facts. The Article 97 issue pertains to the taking of Cross Street Playground for construction of the 600-student, 96,000square-foot school building.
The City has contended that the Cross Street property was acquired through tax-takings and never identified through legislative action as park land, which has different restrictions and is required to be so designated.
Superior Court Judge Tina Page issued an injunction that has delayed the school construction project while the Article 97 issue moved through the court process. Several other courts, including the Land Court and the Supreme Judicial Court, have issued decisions pertaining to the Article 97 process, in one case lowering the level of Article 97 protection for playground.
“The parties have come to agreement on the facts,” Phillips said. “They disagree on the Article 97 categorization and submitted stipulations to the judge as to whether the city will have to go to the state Legislature (for the conversion process).
Liebel has offices at 73 Chestnut St., in the same building as Attorney Thomes A. Keneflick who is representing the Cross Street residents.
