Submitted by Massachusetts Bar Association

Boston resident Thomas J. Barbar has been elected secretary of the Massachusetts Bar Association for its 2017-18 year, which began on Sept. 1.

Barbar is a partner at Deutsch Williams located in Boston. As part of his probate practice, Barbar specializes in estate administrations, allowance of wills, equity cases, guardianships and conservatorships. Barbar also litigates will contests and objections to appointments of administrators and guardians. His domestic relations practice specializes in all phases of divorce law, paternity and adoption cases.

He is a member of the MBA's Executive Management Board, the Budget & Finance Committee and the House of Delegates. He was the chair of the Law Practice Management Section, and he previously served as the co-chair of the MBA's Family Law Section. Barbar presently sits on the association's Renovations Committee and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship Committee. He has served on the Membership Committee, the ABA Nominating Committee, and the MBA Nominating Committee. Barbar was also a mentor in the MBA's Tiered Community Mentoring program.

In addition to his work with the MBA, Barbar is a member of the Boston Bar Association's Family Law Section and Trusts and Estates Section, a member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, and a co- founder of the Greater Boston Family Law Inn of Court. Barbar was a recipient of the MBA Volunteer Recognition Award in 2013.

Barbar has authored articles for the MBA's Lawyers Journal, including "Tips for Growing Your Law Practice" (February 2014) and "Yours, Mine and Never Ours: The Trouble with Some Prenuptial Agreements" (December 2011). He also co-authored a piece in the MBA's Section Review in February 2009: "Eyster v. Pechenik - A Miranda Warning for Prenuptial Agreements?"

Barbar graduated from Villanova University in 1986. He received his J.D. from New England School of Law in 1993.

Alongside Barbar, the other 2017-18 MBA officers include President Christopher P. Sullivan, Hingham; President-elect Christopher A. Kenney, Sudbury; Vice President Denise I. Murphy, Westwood; and Treasurer John J. Morrissey, Hingham. Martin W. Healy is the MBA's chief legal counsel and chief operating officer.