June 29, 2022

Community Legal Aid’s new leader eyes expansion, fundraising

BY Ellie LesterWorcester Business Journal

In his new position as a leader of Community Legal Aid, attorney Lyonel Jean-Pierre has an important goal in mind: to secure free legal aid for as many people as possible.

Jean-Pierre is the newest managing attorney at CLA in Worcester, where he oversees a team of attorneys, paralegals, AmeriCorps advocates, and support staff. Together they help the nonprofit provide civil legal assistance to low income and elderly individuals.

“My long term vision is to help [CLA]  get to a place where we’re not turning away half the folks that apply for our services,” said Jean-Pierre.

CLA is a free civil legal aid provider that assists with non-criminal matters such as evictions, foreclosures, domestic violence, unfair consumer practices, and access to disability benefits. It has offices in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester county.

Though managing attorney is a new role for Jean-Pierre, working with CLA is not. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University in Waltham and a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, followed by two years in the Massachusetts Legal Services Corporation Bart Gordon Fellowship, he spent nine years with the legal aid nonprofit as a full-time staff attorney, litigating cases of domestic relations and restraining orders.

“I just fell in love with the organization and with the Worcester community,” said Jean-Pierre.

As Jean-Pierre gets acquainted with his new role he started May 2, he hopes to expand the nonprofit’s presence in Worcester.

“The Worcester community invested in my development and my progress,” said Jean-Pierre. “And so, I feel like I’m at a point in my career where I’d like to give back and invest in both CLA and the Worcester Community.”

When Jean-Pierre began with CLA’s Worcester office, the staff hovered around 20. Now, Jean-Pierre joins an office of nearly 60.

“We’ve grown along with the city,” said Jean-Pierre. “Because of that we’ve been able, in our small way, to invest in the growth of Worcester.”

In addition to providing legal assistance, CLA runs a number of special projects to advocate for racial justice for vulnerable populations in Central and Western Massachusetts. Its Fair Housing Project, for example, educates tenants on the rights and defense against race-based harassment and discrimination.

In his return to CLA, Jean-Pierre hopes to continue and grow the organization’s role as an educational resource on matters relating to racism and poverty in particular.

“Because as [Worcester] gets bigger, and a lot more businesses come back to the city after the pandemic, there’s going to be a segment of the population that will experience some more poverty and struggles,” said Jean-Pierre. “If we continue to work with the community and educate folks, we can hopefully get closer to that goal of being able to help everyone that needs our assistance.

He would like to strengthen CLA’s Lawyer for a Day Program, which arranges for attorneys from the private bar to hold in-court counseling for individuals with questions or upcoming hearings for the day.

For the CLA to make itself amenable to a greater portion of people, Jean-Pierre believes that it would benefit from a more sustainable and robust source of income. CLA largely sources funding from grants; though the organization is in fit financial health, there is room to grow.

“The reality is that a lot of people apply for our services, and we’re turning away probably half of those people because we don’t have the resources to help everyone,” said Jean-Pierre.