About MLAC
The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) was established by the Commonwealth in 1983 to ensure that low-income people with critical non-criminal legal problems would have access to legal information, advice and representation.
MLAC is the largest funding source for civil legal aid programs in Massachusetts.
National Budget Proposals Would Harm the Poor; Pullback in Local Support Will Make Things Worse
/in Blog /by mlacThis post was first published on Huffington Post. By Lonnie Powers Across the country, recent headlines about the impact of the Trump administration’s proposed federal budget cuts to social safety net programs are dire and worrisome. “Analysis: Congregations can’t make up for proposed federal budget cuts,” read the header on a story in the national Catholic magazine […]
Community Legal Services and Counseling Center: A Hub for Justice and Healing
/in Blog, Program News - Archives, Program News - Current /by mlacBy John Carroll In the words of Executive Director Mojdeh Rohani, the aim of Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC) is simply “to respect and uphold human dignity.” It does this by providing free civil legal aid and affordable psychological counseling to low-income people so that they may meet their most basic needs for […]
The Law, Lawyers, And The Courts: The First Line Of Defense Against Donald Trump
/in Blog /by mlac(This post was first published on WGBH News.) by Lonnie Powers There has seldom been a time when the wisdom of John Adams’s separation of powers among the three branches of government has been more obvious. The doctrine was a crucial innovation of the Massachusetts Constitution and was incorporated into the United States Constitution. The […]
Prepare To Dig In To Preserve Civil Legal Aid
/in Blog /by mlacBy Lonnie Powers We don’t quite know what to expect from the federal government in the weeks and months ahead in terms of support for civil legal aid. For decades, support for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the nonprofit that administers federal funding to legal aid programs across the country, has been seen as a […]
Civil Legal Aid Can Help Veterans Struggling With Homelessness
/in Blog /by mlacBy Lonnie Powers On any given night in the U.S., close to 39,500 military veterans are homeless. Nearly 1,000 of them are in Massachusetts. These are men and women who have put their lives on the line in the deserts and mountains of Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the jungles of Vietnam. They fought in […]
Meeting The Civil Legal Needs Of LGBT People
/in Blog /by mlacBy Lonnie Powers In January, Legal Services NYC (LSNY) released the report “Poverty is an LGBT Issue: An Assessment of the Legal Needs of Low-Income LGBT People.” Analyzing survey data from more than 300 low-income LGBT New Yorkers about their experiences with a range of civil legal issues — non-criminal legal matters like access to […]
Want justice? Don’t be shy—grab the spotlight
/in Blog /by mlacBy Lonnie Powers Civil legal aid organizations are in the business of advancing one of the biggest, boldest ideas ever conceived in our nation: justice for all. It’s an idea with roots in our country’s founding principle that we are all equal participants in our society and thus deserving of equal rights, opportunities, and the […]
When Legal Assistance Can Improve Health
/in Blog /by mlacBy Lonnie Powers In April, The National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP), an organization dedicated to “leading health, public health, and legal sectors in an integrated, upstream approach to combating health-harming social conditions,” played host to more than 400 legal and health care professionals at its 11th annual Medical-Legal Partnership Summit in Indianapolis. The annual […]