Community Legal Aid

Gender Identity and the Law Workshop for Western Mass LGBTQIA+ Advocates
2022-06-24 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual
The need for social and legal support for the LGBTQIA+ community in Western Massachusetts remains great. Come learn from local experts about the legal landscape affecting this community and how YOU can make a difference in assisting individuals in accessing gender-affirming care and services.
Community Legal Aid (CLA) is collaborating with statewide and local legal services providers to expand a network of attorneys trained to provide support in legal name changes. Partners of this initiative include GLAD, Gender Identity Validation Services (GIVS) based in Northampton, and the Gender Affirming Identification Project (GAIP), a project of the Center for Social Justice at the Western New England School of Law. Your involvement and support can provide a lifetime of gender affirming access for individuals in our community.
This 2-hour workshop will be comprised of two parts. First, a member of Transhealth Northampton (https://transhealth.org/) will explore family case studies of gender journeys to better understand the perspectives, experiences, and needs of this community. Attorney Jennifer Levi of GLAD will also provide a national political overview of pending and recent litigation and legislation which impact access to gender affirming care and services. During the second part of the workshop, experienced attorneys will provide a substantive training of the legal name change process and connect you to resources where YOU can make a difference.

Time

Jun 24, 2022 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

REGISTER: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqc-qvqTspHdGB6MvquhOiWgtvwAhBV-bL

Guardianship of Incapacitated Persons Training with Attorney Erin Bradbury
2022-06-23 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Please join Community Legal Aid (CLA) Pro Bono for our upcoming training on the Guardianship of Incapacitated Persons on Thursday, June 23rd from 1-2:30 PM presented by Attorney Erin Bradbury of the Law Offices of Attorney Erin Bradbury in Holden. Please register in advance to attend this training.
Attorney Bradbury is the founder and principal attorney with the Law Offices of Erin Bradbury in Holden, Mass. Bradbury’s practice focuses on Probate Court matters, including guardianships and conservatorship for incapacitated individuals. She has handled more than 450 guardianship cases in her career and is considered an expert in the field of guardianships.
Attorney Bradbury will share her professional experience and insights on:
• How to petition the court for guardianship
• Types of guardianships
• Necessary court documents including medical certificates and clinical team reports
• Associated filing timelines
• Hearing procedures
• Alternatives to guardianship
Please click HERE to register in advance for this training.

Expungement of Marijuana Convictions and CORI Sealing
2022-06-16 14:00 - 15:00 | Franklin County Courthouse, 43 Hope Street, 2nd Floor, Jury Selection Room, Greenfield, 01301
DOWNLOAD Expungement of Marijuana Convictions and CORI Sealing Flyer
Are you having trouble finding or keeping housing or employment because of your Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI)?
Join Community Legal Aid Staff Attorney Alyssa Golden as she walks through the steps to seal or expunge marijuana and other offenses.
Participants will learn:

How the CORI system works
How to obtain a copy of your CORI records
The steps to seal or expunge records
About your rights under the law

This event is a collaboration between Community Legal Aid, The Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region, and Flower Power Growers, LLC.
This event is happening in-person AND virtually. Register to attend on ZOOM.

Senior Partners for Justice Mentoring Chat
2022-06-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
The Mentor-Mentee Relationship of Mentorship
Join us on Wednesday, June 8th from 1-2:15 PM for a panel discussion about the value of mentorship
Panelists include members of the MBA Young Lawyers Division who will discuss their experience with promoting, engaging, and sustaining mentoring relationships. There will be opportunities for Q&A during the presentation. Don’t miss this Chat and the chance to connect with peers and potential mentors and mentees!
Moderator:
Batool Raza
Panelists:
Jordan Belliveau | Taylor Callahan | Peter Chandler | Shylah Maloney
Andrew Weissenberg | Nicole Cocozza
Click HERE to register for this event.

Senior Partners for Justice Virtual Luncheon with Attorney Joseph Makalusky
2022-05-18 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Join us for Attorney Joseph Makalusky’s talk on “A Look Inside the Mysterious Disciplinary Process Through the Lens of Social Media”.
A Short Biography of Attorney Makalusky:
Attorney Joseph Makalusky joined the Office of Bar Counsel as an Assistant Bar Counsel after practicing complex civil litigation for nearly two decades as a partner in the Boston firm Ellis & Rapacki LLP. His diverse legal background also includes experience as an insurance defense attorney with a large law firm, an Assistant District Attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and a law clerk to Justice Raya Dreben of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Mr. Makalusky is also an Adjunct Professor teaching Ethics and the Law of Lawyering at his alma mater, New England Law.
SPJ Virtual Luncheon (Zoom) – Wednesday, May 18th, 1 PM – 2:30 PM
Click HERE to register for this event.

Veterans Estate Planning Clinic
2022-05-16 13:00 - 16:00 | MA, United States
Community Legal Aid Pro Bono will host an Estate Planning Clinic for Veterans on Monday May 16, 2022 from 1 to 4 p.m. The clinic, held in collaboration with The Hanover Insurance Group Office of General Counsel, will offer basic wills, powers of attorney, and health care proxies for free to eligible Veterans. Space is limited, and advance registration is required by contacting Colleen Brady at cbrady@cla-ma.org or (508) 425-2831.
In connection with the clinic, CLA Pro Bono is offering a free training to attorneys who may be interested in providing pro bono legal services. The training on Basic Estate Planning will be offered on Friday, May 6 from 10 – 11 AM. The clinic is open to any attorney interested in volunteering with Community Legal Aid. Please register in advance by clicking HERE.

Basic Estate Planning Training with Attorney Tracy Craig of Mirick O'Connell
2022-05-06 10:00 - 11:00 | Virtual
Please join us on Friday, May 6th at 10 AM for a virtual training session on estate planning matters with Attorney Tracy Craig of Mirick O’Connell.
Simple Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Healthcare Proxies will be covered in preparation for our upcoming Veteran Estate Planning Clinic in partnership with Hanover Insurance Group, however all of our volunteers are welcome to come and learn with us. Registration is required to attend.
Please click HERE in order to register.

Worcester Probate and Family Court Lawyer for the Day Program
2022-05-04 09:00 - 12:00 | Court Service Center (Worcester District Court), 225 Main Street, Worcester, MA, 01608, United States
Community Legal Aid (CLA) and the Worcester County Bar Association (WCBA) sponsor this Probate and Family Court Lawyer for the Day Project in partnership with the Worcester Court Services Center.
The project aims to connect financially eligible litigants with volunteer attorneys to provide brief counsel and advice and/or drafting assistance in family law matters. This program uses a hybrid model, offering a simultaneous in-person and virtual option for litigants to access a lawyer. The program takes place at the Worcester Court Service Center, 225 Main St., 1st Floor, Worcester, MA 01608 every Wednesday morning between 9AM -12 PM. A laptop is provided on-site to offer Zoom sessions to remote participants. Designed with convenience in mind, volunteers will sign up to appear for a one-time counsel and advice session for pro se litigants navigating the divorce process during one of our weekly sessions. The program will provide increased access to legal services for low income litigants in a remote environment.
Please use the link below to sign up to volunteer with this project:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0444ACAB2CA0F58-worcester51
Questions and additional information requests should be sent to Pro Bono Coordinator Brittany Raposa at braposa@cla-ma.org

Senior Partners for Justice Virtual Luncheon with Attorney David Hoffman
2022-04-20 13:00 - 14:30 | MA, United States
Join us for Attorney David Hoffman’s talk on “Should Mediators Draft Settlement Agreements? The Impact of Reid v. Kroll”.
A Short Biography of Attorney Hoffman:
David A. Hoffman Esq., is the founding member of Boston Law Collaborative, LLC, where he serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and Collaborative Law attorney. He also teaches three courses at Harvard Law School, where he is the John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law: Mediation; Diversity and Dispute Resolution; and Legal Profession: Collaborative Law.
David was named Boston’s “Lawyer of the Year” for 2022 in the field of Arbitration by the book Best Lawyers in America and U.S. News & World Report, and also Boston’s “Lawyer of the Year” in previous years, including 2021 (Collaborative Family Law) and 2020 (Mediation). In 2021, he was named in Boston Magazine’s inaugural list of “Top Lawyers.” David has also been selected for the Massachusetts “Super Lawyer” list published in Boston Magazine every year since 2004, when the listing began. In 2014, the American College of Civil Trial Mediators gave David its Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015, the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution gave David its highest honor, the D’Alermberte-Raven award.
David’s practice is focused on resolving conflict in business, family, and employment cases. He has served as mediator and/or arbitrator in more than two thousand commercial, family, employment, construction, personal injury, insurance, and other business cases.
David has published three books on the subject of dispute resolution: Mediation: A Practice Guide for Mediators, Lawyers, and Other Professionals (Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2013); Bringing Peace into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution (with Daniel Bowling) (Jossey-Bass 2003); and Massachusetts Alternative Dispute Resolution (with Prof. David Matz) (Butterworth Legal Publishers 1994, 2d ed. 1996).
David is the past chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and a founding member of the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council. David is the former president of Kerem Shalom Congregation in Concord, Massachusetts, and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators.
Before founding BLC, David was a litigation partner at Hill & Barlow where he practiced for seventeen years. Before that (in reverse chronological order), David clerked for then-Judge Stephen G. Breyer on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, graduated from Harvard Law School (while serving as a research assistant for Professor Larry Tribe and an editor on the Harvard Law Review), worked as a consultant for the U.S. Small Business Administration, established a woodworking business in upstate New York, and pursued American Studies as a graduate student at Cornell. David lives in a co-housing community in Acton, Massachusetts, with his wife Leslie Warner (a career coach at Tufts); they have five adult children, an adolescent cat, and a rescue Golden Retriever from Serbia.
SPJ Virtual Luncheon (Zoom) – Wednesday, April 20th, 1 pm – 2:30 pm
Please click HERE to register for this event. You will receive a confirmation email with the zoom link after registration.

Senior Partners for Justice Virtual Luncheon with Justice Elspeth B. Cypher
2022-03-29 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Join us for Justice Elspeth B. Cypher’s talk on Language Matters: Femicide as a Case in Point.

A Short Biography of Justice Elspeth B. Cypher
Elspeth B. Cypher, Associate Justice, was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Charlie Baker. Justice Cypher was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on February 26, 1959. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Emerson College in 1980 and a J.D., cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School in 1986, where she served on the Suffolk University Law Review.
From 1986 to 1988, she was an associate at the Boston law firm of Grayer, Brown, and Dilday. In 1988 she became an Assistant District Attorney in Bristol County, where she served for the next twelve years. From 1993 to 2000, she was chief of the Appellate Division of that office and argued many cases before the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court. In 2000 Governor Paul Cellucci appointed her to the Appeals Court, and she took her seat as an Associate Justice on December 27, 2000.

For many years Justice Cypher was an adjunct professor at Southern New England School of Law (now the University of Massachusetts School of Law – Dartmouth), where she taught courses on legal writing; criminal procedure; criminal law; and women, law, and the legal system. She has participated in numerous educational programs for judges and lawyers and has written extensively about developments in criminal law in Massachusetts. Active in the Massachusetts Bar Association, Justice Cypher has served as co-chair of its criminal law section. She was the recipient of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s Lawyer of the Year Award in 2000 for her work in the long-running prosecutions of James M. Kater for the murder of Mary Lou Arruda.

In 2012, Justice Kent B. Smith asked her to co-author a fourth edition of his books in the Massachusetts Practice Series, Criminal Practice and Procedure. Before he passed away in October 2012, she assumed responsibility for the supplement in 2013, and the fourth edition was published in 2014.
Please click HERE to register for this event

Worcester Probate and Family Court Remote Lawyer for the Day Program
2022-03-02 09:00 - 12:00 | Virtual
Community Legal Aid and the Worcester County Bar Association (WCBA) sponsor this Probate and Family Court Remote Lawyer for the Day Project in partnership with the Worcester Court Services Center.
This service coordinates a virtual session over Zoom every Wednesday morning between 9-12 PM. The project aims to connect financially-eligible litigants with volunteer attorneys to provide limited assistance in the form of counsel and advice and/or drafting assistance in family law matters.
Designed with convenience in mind, volunteers will sign up to appear for a one-time counsel and advice session for pro se litigants navigating the divorce process during one of our weekly sessions. The program will provide increased access to legal services for low income litigants in a remote environment.
Please use the link below to sign up to volunteer with this project:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0444ACAB2CA0F58-worcester50
Questions and additional information requests should be sent to Pro Bono Coordinator Brittany Raposa at braposa@cla-ma.org or Pro Bono Coordinator Colleen Brady at cbrady@cla-ma.org

Worcester District Court Small Claims Session Remote Lawyer for the Day Program
2022-03-01 08:30 - 11:00 | Virtual
The Remote Lawyer For the Day program is a collaborative pro bono project with the Worcester County Bar Association (WCBA) that provides limited assistance to low-income debtors in the Worcester District Court, Small Claims Session. Held every Tuesday morning between 8:45 – 11:00 A.M. via Zoom.
Please use the following link to to sign up to volunteer in March, April, and May 2022. Thank you!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0444ACAB2CA0F58-worcester47
For information, please contact Pro Bono Coordinator, Choyce McIntosh at: cmcintosh@cla-ma.org

Senior Partners for Justice (SPJ) Monthly Meeting
2022-02-15 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Hampden Probate and Family Court Assistant Judicial Case Manager Kelly Flynn Zawistowski in her role as the President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

SPJ Mentoring Chat: The Many Faces of ZOOM: Consulting, Mediating and Litigating via ZOOM- How to Make it Work
2022-02-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
The Many Faces of Zoom: Consulting, Mediating and Litigating via Zoom-How to Make it work
Our panelists
Attorney Vickie Rothbaum is a family law practitioner. She is a founder of SERV, the Settlement and Early Resolution Volunteer Project established in the Suffolk Probate and Family Court in 2012 with the mission of providing on-site conciliation for pro se litigants to assist the Court with the high volume of these cases. Until COVID, SERV volunteers were present at the Court twice weekly to work with litigants resulting in a significant amount of settled cases. Since March 2020 SERV volunteers have attempted virtual conciliation.
The Honorable Joan Feeney (Ret.) served on the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts for over twenty-six years. Since her retirement, she participates as an arbitrator and mediator with JAMS, Judicial, Arbitration and Mediation Services in Boston. She is also an active volunteer with SERV.
Attorney John Fiske is a family law mediator with the law firm of Healy, Fiske and Richmond in Cambridge. He has been active in promoting family mediation in New England and nationally and has written extensively on the topic. He is a founder and director emeritus of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation and served as co-chair of the MCLE Family Law Conference from 2017-2019.
VLP Senior Staff Attorney Colin Harnsgate in VLP’s Consumer and Bankruptcy units since 2018. His practice focuses on debt collection, eviction defense, and affirmative consumer litigation. Colin graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 2016, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Suffolk Transnational Law Review.
Click HERE to register for this event

SPJ-W Luncheon with Attorney Erin Bradbury
2022-01-25 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Learn About Bonding Evidence in Custody Cases!
We are pleased to announce that attorney Erin Bradbury, will be joining us virtually for our luncheon. She will speak on a very important topic: Bonding Evidence in Custody Cases.
A short Biography of Erin Bradbury:
Erin Bradbury is a sole practitioner in Worcester County, where she has a litigation practice specializing in Guardianships of minors and adults, probate matters and appeals.
She is a graduate of Smith College and Suffolk University Law School and has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar since 1997. She is the past President of the Board of Directors for Elder Services of Worcester Area, Inc.
Click HERE to register for the event.

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Kristina Bordieri
2021-12-21 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Mark your calendars for our monthly luncheon. Kristina Bordieri, will be joining us. Don’t miss out!
About this event
Learn about the Massachusetts Guardianship Association!
We are pleased to announce that, Attorney Kristina Bordieri will be joining us virtually for our luncheon. She will speak about The Massachusetts Guardianship Association.
A short biography of Kristina Bordieri
Kristina Bordieri, Esq. is an Assistant Judicial Case Manager at the Hampden Division, Probate and Family Court. She currently serves on the state – wide Guardianship Committee which focuses on improving the forms and procedures relating to guardianships of minors and guardianships of incapacitated persons. She is also the Hampden Division Probate and Family Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Co-Coordinator.
Attorney Bordieri previously worked in private practice at the Law Offices of James M. Smith where she focused her practice in all aspects of family law including divorce, paternity cases, child custody cases, guardianships and appellate matters. In her practice, she handled a wide variety of cases including high conflict divorce cases with business evaluation issues, many of which were resolved through attorney-assisted mediation.
Attorney Bordieri received her Juris Doctor and LL.M in elder law and estate planning from Western New England University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in Criminal Justice, from the University of Connecticut. She is admitted to practice in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. In addition to her duties as President of the Board of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association, she is also a member of the Hampden County Bar Association.
Click HERE to register for this virtual event!

Senior Partners for Justice Mentoring Chat with Tracy Meyers
2021-12-14 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
Join us for an important conversation with Tracey Meyers! Test Negative, Stay Positive; Learning to Cope with Stress in the age of Covid-19.

About this event

Test Negative, Stay Positive; Learning to Cope with Stress in the age of Covid 19.
What draws law professionals to the field is that they are often are helpers. They solve problems, come up with solutions, and guide others through major upheavals and challenges. However, the impact of the pandemic and now the return to a “new normal” has created feelings of helplessness, confusion, and emotional distress among the entire population and law professionals are not exempt from these stressors. As a profession, lawyers and legal professionals are even more vulnerable to mental health and substance abuse difficulties than the general population due to the challenging nature of their work and these preexisting issues are exacerbated during these extraordinary times.
This interactive webinar focuses on developing a toolkit for wellbeing in and out of the workplace to manage stress including:
How lawyers are coping during the age of covid-19.
Learn about the impact of stress on professional satisfaction
Recognize the signs and symptoms of distress in colleagues and oneself.
Develop a robust tool kit for wellbeing in and out of the workplace.
Create a compassionate workplace
Learn about resources that are available to help
A short bio of Tracey Meyers
Dr. Tracey Meyers a licensed clinical psychologist in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. She joined LCL in August of 2020 following her work for the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services where she spent over 15 years working as a clinical neuropsychologist and most recently as the director of behavioral intervention services for inpatient services.   Tracey has a strong commitment to integrative medicine for mental health and wellness and leads mindfulness and yoga programs for groups, individuals, and professionals in the workplace.
Click HERE to register for this event

Worcester District Court Small Claims Session Remote Lawyer for the Day Program
2021-12-07 08:30 - 11:30 | Video conference (A link will emailed to participants upon registration), MA, United States
The Remote Lawyer For the Day program is a collaborative pro bono project with the Worcester County Bar Association (WCBA) that provides limited assistance to low-income debtors in the Worcester District Court, Small Claims Session. Held every Tuesday morning between 8:45 – 11:00 A.M. via Zoom.
Please use the link below to sign up for a specific session:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0444ACAB2CA0F58-worcester46
For more information about this program, please contact Pro Bono Coordinator Choyce McIntosh at cmcintosh@cla-ma.org

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Polly Crozier
2021-11-30 13:00 - 14:00 | MA, United States
Community Legal Aid and the Volunteer Lawyers Project present our November Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Polly Crozier!

About this event

Learn About Security for Children: MA Parentage & Adoption Bills!
We are pleased to announce that Senior Staff Attorney Polly Crozier, will be joining us virtually for our luncheon. She will speak on a very important topic: Security for Children: MA Parentage & Adoption Bills
A short biography of Polly Crozier
Patience “Polly” Crozier joined GLAD in October 2016 as Senior Staff Attorney. Polly came to GLAD from private practice where her work focused on LGBTQ probate and family law, including adoption, divorce, dissolution, guardianship, paternity, parentage, name changes, gender marker changes and assisted reproduction issues. Polly has engaged in cutting-edge trial court and appellate litigation involving assisted reproduction and parentage including Hunter v. Rose (2012), Adoption of a Minor (2015), and Partanen v. Gallagher (2016). At GLAD, Polly’s work focuses on youth and family issues, including parentage protections, adoption, transgender family law, juvenile justice, and child welfare. Most recently, she has successfully worked to help pass statutory family law reforms in Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Polly is a graduate of Yale University and Boston College Law School, and she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Irma S. Raker of the Maryland Court of Appeals and to the Justices of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.
Click HERE to attend this event

Community Legal Aid Board Meeting
2021-11-15 17:15 - 18:30, 2021-09-13 17:15 - 18:30, 2021-07-26 17:15 - 18:30 | MA, United States
If interested in attending, please contact: klee@cla-ma.org or 508-425-2809

United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts Pro Bono Awards Ceremony
2021-10-27 16:30 - 18:00 | Virtual
Join us on Friday, October 27th at 4:30 PM via Zoom to applaud this year’s bankruptcy pro bono attorneys, including spotlights of CLA volunteers Attorney Maegan Hurley and Attorney Wendy Mead.
*Registration details to follow

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Fern Frolin
2021-10-26 13:00 - 14:30 | MA, United States
Mark your calendars for our monthly luncheon. Attorney Fern Frolin, will be joining us. Don’t miss out!

About this event

Learn About The 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines!
We are pleased to announce that Attorney Fern Frolin, will be joining us virtually for our luncheon. She will speak on a very important topic: The 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines.
A short biography of Fern Frolin
Fern was most recently Of Counsel to Mirick O’Connell. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and an AAML trained Arbitrator and Mediator and court trained Conciliator. Fern was the appointed to both the 2009 committee charged with detailed evaluation and revision of the state’s Child Support Guidelines and the 2012 committee appointed to completely revise Massachusetts alimony law. In 2016 and 2020 she received reappointments to the state’s Child Support Guidelines review committees. She has conducted child support and alimony trainings for other lawyers in five counties and statewide. Fern has also worked on trial court drafting committees for Model Parenting Plans; Standards of Practice for Guardians ad Litem; Parenting Coordinator Standards and Representation of Children in High Conflict Custody Matters. She is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a Louis D. Brandeis Life Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation. In 2017 the international lawyers’ publication, Lawyer Monthly (UK) named Fern the United States Child Custody and Child Support Lawyer of the Year. Fern will join the JAMS nationwide panel of legal dispute resolution neutrals in January 2022.

Senior Partners luncheons are a good place to learn something new, meet other members of the Pro Bono community, and get involved in interesting volunteer legal opportunities. We look forward to working with you to fulfill the promise of access to justice for all. We hope you can join us!
– Eddie Ginsburg, Barbara Siegel, & Emelia Andres

Date and time

Tue, October 26, 2021
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

Location

Online event

Senior Partners for Justice - West Volunteer Appreciation Event
2021-10-14 13:00 - 14:30 | Virtual
Join us Thursday, October 14th at 1 PM via Zoom to present our Senior Partners for Justice–West (SPJ-W) Volunteer Appreciation Awards to four outstanding Hampden County volunteers. Congratulations to this year’s honorees: Attorney Helena Friedman, Attorney Marie Jablonski, Attorney Sheila Mulholland, and Attorney Mary Samberg.
Our guest speaker will be Attorney Laura Gal, Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and Managing Attorney for Family Law at Greater Boston Legal Services, who will discuss ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new opportunities and new obstacles to the challenge of providing access to justice for all in our Massachusetts court system.
Click HERE to register for this event.

Community Legal Aid's 70th Anniversary Event
2021-10-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Virtual
Join us Thursday, October 7th at 5 PM to recognize CLA’s 70th Anniversary Pro Bono Award Recipients. This prestigious award recognizes the long-standing commitment of two superstar pro bono attorneys: Attorney Rhonda Bachrach of Worcester, and Attorney Mary Samberg of West Springfield.
Click HERE to register for this event.

Community Legal Aid's 70th Anniversary Celebration
2021-10-07 17:00 - 18:00 | Virtual
This special celebration will commemorate Community Legal Aid’s 70th Anniversary of providing free legal assistance to low-income and elderly residents of Central and Western Massachusetts.
Our virtual event will celebrate the current and past achievements of the organization, and honor the staff, board members, volunteers, legal community and others who supported Community Legal Aid or one of its predecessor organizations. This will be a memorable evening that you will not want to miss!
Register today for CLA’s virtual event celebrating 70 Years of Fighting for Justice.
Event and speaker details will be added as the celebration approaches. Interested in being a corporate sponsor of CLA’s 70th Anniversary Celebration? Learn more.

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Judge Amy Blake
2021-09-28 13:00 - 14:30 | Video conference (A link will emailed to participants upon registration), MA, United States
Stay Safe and Connect Over Lunch!
We are pleased to announce that Appeals Court Justice Amy Lyn Blake, will be joining us virtually for the luncheon. She will speak on a very important topic: Trends in Family Law.
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/senior-partners-for-justice-luncheon-with-judge-amy-blake-tickets-171213252447
A short biography of Justice Blake
Justice Amy Lyn Blake graduated from the University of Rochester, New York, in 1987. She attended New England Law School and graduated, cum laude, in 1992. While in law school she was named a New England Scholar and awarded the Amos L. Taylor Award for Excellence In Achievement.
Admitted to the bar in 1992, she served as an Assistant District Attorney until 1994, prosecuting cases in the District Court bench and six person jury sessions while supervising the District Attorney’s Office in two district courts. From 1994 to 2008 she focused her private practice on domestic relations law with the firms of White, Inker & Aronson, Yasi & Yasi and Casner & Edwards, rising from associate to partner. She represented parties in all aspects of domestic relations proceedings. As part of her practice, she filled the roles of Guardian ad Litem, discovery master, attorney for the child and conciliator. She also served on the compensation and long term planning committees. She currently serves on the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal, and as an associate editor of the Massachusetts Law Review.
In 2008 Governor Deval Patrick appointed her to the Family & Probate Court, where she was named “Distinguished Jurist” in 2013 by the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers. In 2017, she received the Jurist of the Year Award by the Middlesex County Bar Association. Justice Blake is also a lecturer in Law at New England Law Boston.
Appointed to the Appeals Court by Governor Patrick, Justice Blake joined the Court on September 9, 2014.

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Attorney Annika Bockiues-Suwyn
2021-07-27 13:00 - 14:30 | Video conference (A link will emailed to participants upon registration), MA, United States
About this event:

Stay Safe and Connect Over Lunch!
We are pleased to announce that Attorney Annika Bockiues-Suwyn will be joining us virtually for the luncheon. She will speak on a very important topic: LGBTQ 101 – Creating a Welcoming Environment for LGBTQ Clients and Colleagues.
To view Attorney Bockiues-Suwyn’s biography and learn more about her work, visit https://dangerlaw.com/annika-bockius-suwyn/ .

Pro Bono Opportunities:
Answer and Discovery (“A&D”) Clinic: This clinic allows volunteer attorneys to help clients referred to VLP by the Eastern Regional Legal Intake Helpline. Clients have been served with a Notice to Quit and need help preparing an answer and request for discovery. CLICK TO SIGN UP FOR A&D CLINIC. For more information and to receive the required trainings for our A&D clinic email our Pro Bono Manager Emelia Andres eandres@vlpnet.org.
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Please note: This is a private event, please do not share the Zoom Invite information with others directly. If you know someone who would like to join, please have them email mvidal@vlpnet.org to be registered. This is to ensure cyber-security.
Please send any questions to mvidal@vlpnet.org.
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Senior Partners luncheons are a good place to learn something new, meet other members of the Pro Bono community, and get involved in interesting volunteer legal opportunities. We look forward to working with you to fulfill the promise of access to justice for all. We hope you can join us!

Senior Partners for Justice Luncheon with Judge Richard Simons
2021-06-22 13:00 - 14:30 | Video conference (A link will emailed to participants upon registration), MA, United States
Stay Safe and Connect Over Lunch!
We are pleased to announce that Judge Richard Simons will be joining us virtually for the luncheon. He will speak on a very important topic: Enhancing Families Through Literature: An Innovative Way To Decrease Conflict.
Judge Simons currently serves as the First Justice of the Berkshire Division of the Probate and Family Court. He was appointed to the Court by Governor Deval L. Patrick in March 2008. He serves as Chair of the Court’s Education Committee and is a Trustee of the Flaschner Judicial Institute. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the J2J Mentor Program for the Trial Court. In 2014, he and his Chief Probation Officer conceived of and implemented a program, “Enhancing Families Through Literature” based on a successful alternate sentencing program, “Changing Lives Through Literature.” The program works with families caught up in litigation before the Probate and Family Court to develop parents’ communication skills in a non-adversarial environment while at the same time, promoting the value of reading to children. In 2017, Enhancing Families Through Literature was recognized with the Irwin Cantor Innovative Award given by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts for innovative court-connected programs.
Senior Partners luncheons are a good place to learn something new, meet other members of the Pro Bono community, and get involved in interesting volunteer legal opportunities. We look forward to working with you to fulfill the promise of access to justice for all. We hope you can join us!
– Eddie Ginsburg, Barbara Siegel, & Emelia Andres
Please note: This is a private event, please do not share the Zoom Invite information with others directly. If you know someone who would like to join, please have them email mvidal@vlpnet.org to be registered. This is to ensure cyber-security.
Please send any questions to mvidal@vlpnet.org.
