Community Involvement

Community Involvement

The charitable work by G&B employees is in keeping with the firm mission to help put lives back together in any way that we can. Some examples of the charities to which the firm has been committed are listed below.

Civic

The G&B Open – For more than twenty years, Michael Gillis and David Bikofsky have co-chaired an annual golf tournament, the proceeds of which go to charity. Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised for a various philanthropic pursuits including The Hoyt Fund, Greater Boston Boys & Girls Clubs, The Jimmy Fund, Suffolk University Law School, and The Crudem Foundation

Team Hoyt – For more than a decade, Attorney Michael Gillis served as the Chairman of the Hoyt Fund. Team Hoyt, named after the father and son duo, Rick and Dick Hoyt, seeks to integrate the physically challenged into everyday life by educating the able-bodied so that they are more aware of the issues that the disabled face daily, and by assisting the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Dick and Rick Hoyt are well known for their marathon and triathalon skills and are a yearly fixture at the Boston Marathon where Dick has been pushing his son, Rick, in his wheelchair for more than twenty years, which is an inspiration to many. Dick and Rick also give motivational speeches and race throughout the country and abroad. Michael Gillis has accompanied the Hoyts and competed with them at the New York, Disney, and Boston marathons as well as many triathalons including the Japanese Ironman and the Cape Cod Ironman.

Current Team Hoyt activities include developing a teaching curriculum at Boston Children’s Museum to teach disabled children, consulting with manufacturers to develop improved equipment for people with a disabilities, and providing educational materials, workshops, and seminars to support the vision of mobility and life enhancement of people with disabilities.

Suffolk University – Michael Gillis served as President of the Law School Alumni

Association Board of Directors as well as President of the University Alumni Association. Subsequently, he served as a Trustee of the University while it built its new law school on Tremont Street in Boston. He was awarded the Alumni Service Award for his work with the school. He currently serves on the Cameron Scholarship Committee at the law school.

Pike’s Peak Club – For more than a decade, Michael Gillis has and continues to serve on the board of the Pike’s Peak Club which supports the Boston College Men’s Varsity Hockey team. Named after the 1949 National Championship Team that won the school’s first national collegiate championship at Pike’s Peak, Colorado, the club was opened up to hockey alumni at Boston College and seeks to promote and enhance BC hockey which now boasts additional national championships in 2001 and 2008.

Coaching – Previously, Michael Gillis served as the head coach of the Boston College Women’s Ice Hockey Team, leading the team to the finals in the first ever Women’s Beanpot Tournament. For four years, he served as an assistant coach of the Boston College Men’s Varsity Lacrosse team. For the past six years, he has been active coaching youth sports, in particular, his daughters’ youth soccer teams in his home town.

Elected Office – While residing in Milton, MA, Michael Gillis was elected and served nine years as a town meeting member. He was also elected to and served six years on the Board of Trustees of the Milton Public Library and served three years as its chairman.

Pro Bono

Often times, attorneys at Gillis & Bikofsky, P.C., will take on specific cases at no fee or a reduced fee basis. Both Attorney Michael Gillis and Atorrney David Bikofsky periodically takes cases on a pro bono basis for organizations such as the Boston College Elder Law Center, the Christian Legal Society, and the Bet Tzedek Legal Panel of the Jewish Family and Children Services. In addition, both have taken on many individual matters on a case by case basis for entities and elderly/disadvantaged individuals that need but cannot afford legal assistance.

G&B attorneys have been active in the legal community. For example, both Michael Gillis and David Bikofsky has served for more than twenty years on the Baord of Governors of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys (MATA). Both have served as the organization’s president and sat on its Executive Board.

Michael Gillis has served as Chair of the Finance, Charity, Budget, and Membership Committees and was elected Secretary, Treasurer, and President of MATA He has also werved on the Council of Presidents for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), which is the national association of trial attorneys to which MATA is associated. He has for more than ten years chaired the ATLA Liquor Liability Litigation Group, and is one of the two State Delegates representing MATA at ATLA. MATA is the state’s largest bar association specifically for trial attorneys, and it is the state affiliate for the 50,000 member Association of Trial Attorneys of America (ATLA), which recently changed its name to the American Association for Justice (AAJ).

In addition to his work with MATA and ATLA, Mr. Gillis served on the Board of Delegates of the Massachusetts Bar Association and on the Board of Governors of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of the Archdiocese of Boston. He is a chapter author in several legal books published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), American Bar Association and American Law Institute ALI/ABA), and he has lectured at trial practice seminars for the American Bar Association, MATA, ATLA, Massachusetts Bar Association, Suffolk University Law School, and Norfolk County Bar Association.

Religious

The attorneys and staff at Gillis & Bikofsky, P.C., are proud of their broad and diverse background, and each has worked to give back to his or her particular faith. Attorney Michael Gillis served for twenty years as a religious education teacher and currently serves on the pastoral council at his church. He is a Fourth Degree Knight and currently is serving his second term as Grand Knight of his local council. Before serving as Grand Knight, he served the Council as its Advocate. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Little Brothers of St. Francis.

Michael has come together with the Crudem Foundation to volunteer himself to HÔPITAL SACRÉ COEUR in Haiti where he writes about some of this experience.