BishopAccountability.org
	Lawyer Stays — for Now By Steve Bailey Boston Globe [Boston MA] April 25, 2007 http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/25/lawyer_stays____for_now/ Kevin Phelan has been a well-respected player in Boston's business and civic life for years. But he lasted only one week after being named to become chairman of Caritas Christi Health Care System, the Catholic Church's hospital chain. His sin: wanting to replace Wilson D. Rogers Jr., the hospital's controversial long time lawyer and his firm. In February, Phelan was named chairman of the struggling Caritas Christi, the six-hospital chain that is scheduled to be absorbed by Ascension Health, a Catholic chain headquartered in St. Louis. Phelan almost immediately proposed replacing Rogers's firm, according to executives involved in the discussions. In a telephone call, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley told Phelan it was not the moment to replace Rogers with the Ascension deal pending, and instead replaced Phelan as chairman with James Karam, former chairman of the University of Massachusetts board of trustees. Phelan, a deal maker at Meredith & Grew, the Boston commercial real estate firm, declined to comment. He remains vice chairman of the Caritas board and chairman of Caritas's flagship hospital, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. Neither the archdiocese nor Rogers would comment either. Rogers was a pivotal player in the church's darkest hour. As the archdiocese's chief lawyer, Rogers negotiated many settlements with the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, confidential deals that helped mask the scandal and its magnitude for years. O'Malley eventually replaced Rogers as the lead attorney negotiating a broad settlement of claims after he was harshly criticized by victims and their lawyers for his hardball litigation tactics in some of the civil cases and accused of being not nearly so tough on the church's reluctant insurance carriers. His Boston firm, however, continues to represent the archdiocese and Caritas as it has for many years. In the past two fiscal years alone, the firm was paid $1.1 million by the archdiocese and another $5.8 million by Caritas, according to the archdiocese and the hospital chain. That is about $3.4 million a year, a good payday for a firm with eight lawyers and a single client. Rogers, 65, was part of a triumvirate, along with Bishop Richard Lennon and Chancellor David Smith, who were the closest advisers of Cardinal Bernard Law through that awful scandal. Law, Lennon, and Smith are all gone. You would think that Rogers's time has come -- and gone -- as well. Meanwhile, at what point are prominent, involved Catholic executives like Kevin Phelan and John Drew going to start asking whether they want to continue lending their reputations to boards of a church that listens only when it is convenient? ... Neighborhood news: Les Otten, who in January flatly denied to me that he was on his way out as a Red Sox partner, is in fact out now, according to two executives close to the team. Otten's departure follows that of former John Hancock chief executive David D'Alessandro and TJX chairman Ben Cammarata, who also sold their shares back to the partnership in recent months. It was Otten who originated the idea of putting together a bid for the team and saving Fenway Park. He met Tom Werner, a Hollywood television executive, on a ski slope and they later brought the eventual principal owner, John Henry, into the deal when the price spiraled out of their reach. But by all accounts, Otten wore out his welcome with Henry long ago. Otten, as usual, didn't return my calls. Lena Goldberg, Fidelity Investments general counsel for a decade, is stepping aside, at her request, according to an internal Fidelity memo. She is being replaced, effective June 4, by Marc Gary, who in January resigned as BellSouth's top lawyer after the merger with AT&T Corp. Goldberg is expected to move to a senior strategic role elsewhere in the company. Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902.
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