Pro Bono Spotlight: Akosua Agyepong
Attorney Akosua Agyepong is a cornerstone in the Worcester County legal community. A family law attorney at Turco Legal, Attorney Agyepong specializes in custody-related matters, as well as child support, divorce, and guardianship cases.
Attorney Agyepong has been a volunteer with Community Legal Aid’s pro bono programs since 2018, and in that time has demonstrated an outstanding and exceptional commitment to providing pro bono legal services to Central Massachusetts’ most underserved and vulnerable community members.
In fact, Attorney Agyepong is a recipient of the 2024 Adams Pro Bono Publico Award, named by the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services. The Adams Awards honor Massachusetts lawyers, law students, law firms, and legal organizations that have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to providing pro bono services for the benefit of individuals of limited means over time. Attorney Agyepong was nominated in large part for her service with CLA’s pro bono programs, including the UMass Memorial Health Care Medical-Legal Partnership and the Worcester Probate and Family Court Lawyer for the Day program. Attorney Agyepong has also advocated on behalf of numerous CLA clients in education matters, guardianship cases, and family law matters, and she has not shied away from working on cases outside of her comfort zone.
As an immigrant from Ghana, Attorney Agyepong understands the particular challenges non-native English speakers and immigrants have navigating the justice system, as well as the particular legal challenges they may face. Attorney Agyepong demonstrates this compassion in her pro bono work. Attorney Agyepong’s first pro bono case with CLA involved a special education matter requiring advocacy on behalf of a 5-year-old Arabic student whose elementary school was not offering him necessary services. The second involved correcting inconsistent benefits payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to our client and her disabled daughter. This client did not speak English, and she was constantly turned away and advised to call into the SSA office because they did not have any available in-person interpreters. Attorney Agyepong exceeded expectations by sitting in the SSA office with her pro bono client for hours in order to speak with a representative and obtain necessary documents, which the client had been unsuccessful in doing on her own for two years. In both cases, Attorney Agyepong successfully advocated on behalf of her clients to resolve their legal issues.
Attorney Agyepong has also assisted dozens of pro se litigants through CLA’s Worcester Probate and Family Court Lawyer for the Day program. She has handled issues related to divorce, child support modifications, grandparent visitation, child custody, guardianships, and more–oftentimes in the same session. In some cases, the litigants attending the program are experiencing an emergency situation or have a hearing the next day. Attorney Agyepong handles those consultations with great care, often spending additional time with the litigant and assisting with court forms which the litigant can file the same day. Her participation in this program had increased access to justice for those pro se litigants who may not have gotten legal assistance otherwise.
CLA and the Worcester community have been fortunate to benefit from Attorney Agyepong’s pro bono service for the past six years. We are honored to have her continued support and thank her immensely for her dedication to serving Worcester County’s most vulnerable community members.
