Evelynne Swagerty is a recent retiree from Bank of America. At Bank of America, Evelynne served as an Assistant General Counsel and Senior Vice President in the Bank’s Litigation Practice Group, with responsibility for the management of the Bank’s post-foreclosure litigation defense throughout the United States. Prior to her position with Bank of America, Evelynne served as Senior Counsel with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and then as a litigator and senior counsel with BankBoston Financial and FleetBoston Financial. Evelynne began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth in the office of then Attorney General Shannon.
In addition to her law degree, Evelynne also has a Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Smith College School for Social Work in Northampton, Massachusetts. Prior to practicing law, Evelynne worked for ten years as a psychiatric social worker (LICSW) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where she provided direct psychiatric clinical services to individuals, couples and families at MGH through several of its inpatient and outpatient departments.
Throughout her legal career, Evelynne has been engaged in many legal and bar-related activities. Specifically, she was appointed by Governors Romney and Patrick to serve as a Commissioner on the Commonwealth’s Judicial Nominating Commission, evaluating judicial candidates and then advising the governors on the candidates’ suitability for judicial appointment. She also served in leadership positions with the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys, the Women’s Bar Association, the Boston College Law School Alumni Counsel and the Boston College Law School Black Alumni Network. Evelynne has also served on several corporate boards, including the Client Security Board, the Executive Board of the Boston Lawyers Group, and the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Church of Sharon. Finally, Evelynne has been appointed to and served on several court and gubernatorial commissions, including the Commission on Gender Bias in the Courts, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Bias in the Courts and the Massachusetts Adoption Task Force
Evelynne’s work this year as a Fellow will be with Boston CASA, a nonprofit organization which recruits, trains and supervises volunteers from the community who are appointed to serve as children’s guardian ad litem (GAL). The Boston CASA program is designed to ensure that the needs in foster care are met and to aid the court in making difficult decisions that will impact the lives of children and their families forever. The focus of the work that these volunteers provide is to protect and promote the “best interest” of children who have been abused or neglected and who are court involved. Evelynne’s work at Boston CASA will involve assisting in screening potential volunteers and help in facilitating their training. She will assist the volunteers in their day-to-day work which will include collaboration with the Department of Children and Families, the Juvenile Court, and Children and Families Law (CAFL) attorneys. She will also assist the volunteers and the assigned youth in creating a workable plan for the youth to transition to adulthood. This plan will then be implemented by the youth and the team.