January 28, 2025

Attorney Kristen Williams named COO of Community Legal Aid

BY Berkshire Eagle

WORCESTER — Community Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services annually to over 8,000 low-income and elderly residents of Central and Western Massachusetts, has named Attorney Kristen Williams as chief operating officer.

In this role, Williams will help oversee the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of Community Legal Aid.

With a significant rise in demand for services since the COVID-19 pandemic, Community Legal Aid has hired new staff attorneys, paralegals, case managers and support staff, and the organization now employs approximately 185 staff across its five-county service area.

Williams will provide supervision for and resources to other legal managers throughout the organization’s six offices in Fitchburg, Worcester, Northampton, Springfield, Greenfield and Pittsfield. She will also work as part of Community Legal Aid’s management team on improvements and best practices in operations and systems to enable the organization to continue providing high-quality legal services as it expands to meet the needs of its client communities.

She joined Community Legal Aid in 2014 as an AmeriCorps member assisting tenants in eviction cases. She then became a staff attorney representing clients in public benefits cases, including Social Security and unemployment. She has also been an active member of Community Legal Aid’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which she currently co-chairs, and technology team.

Originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Williams attended Williams College and Boston College Law School.