The Supreme Judicial Court today announced the appointments of seven new members to the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, including Lynne Parker, executive director of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation.

Other members of the civil legal aid community were also welcomed to the commission, including: Rachel Biscardi, supervising attorney with the Family Law Unit at Northeast Legal Aid; Leticia Medina-Richman, the director of the Central West Justice Center; and Elizabeth A. Soulé. executive director of MetroWest Legal Services.

First established by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2005, the Access to Justice Commission seeks to improve access to justice for people who are unable to afford an attorney for essential civil legal needs, such as cases involving housing, consumer debt, and family law.

“We are delighted to welcome these new members to the Commission,” said Supreme Judicial Court Justice Serge Georges, Jr., who co-chairs the Commission. “With representation from legal aid offices throughout the Commonwealth, the attorney general’s office, a law school, and the private sector, these new Commissioners will bring a range of critical perspectives to the Commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure equal access to justice.”

The new Access to Justice Commission members are:

• Rachel Biscardi, Esq. is the supervising attorney with the Family Law Unit at Northeast Legal Aid. Previously, Attorney Biscardi was in private practice after serving as the Deputy Director of the Women’s Bar Association & Foundation for twelve years. She has taught at Northeastern Law School and New England School of Law. Among her bar association activities, Attorney Biscardi has served on the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee. She is a member of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission’s Family Law Committee.
• Ariel Clemmer, Esq. is the Director for the Center for Social Justice at Western New England School of Law. Before this role, Attorney Clemmer was the Pro Bono Director with the Hampden County Bar Association. She has also served as a public defender and worked for the firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP. Attorney Clemmer is the incoming Chair of the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services and will serve as an ex officio member of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission. She is also the Co-Chair of the Commission’s Consumer Debt Committee.
• Leticia Medina-Richman, Esq. is the Director of the Central West Justice Center. Attorney Medina-Richman has overseen this Worcester and Western MA area legal aid organization, a subsidiary of Community Legal Aid (CLA), since 2014. She previously served as a staff attorney at CLA and its predecessor, focusing primarily on landlord-tenant, foreclosure and housing discrimination work.
• Lynne M. Parker, Esq. is the Executive Director for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) which is the largest funding source for civil legal organizations in Massachusetts. Previously, she served as executive director, deputy director and staff attorney at New Hampshire Legal Assistance. Attorney Parker served as a member of the NH Access to Justice Commission and was a member of the Judicial Selection Committee. Attorney Parker has also represented migrant farmworkers and served as a housing attorney for many years in several legal aid organizations. She is a member of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission’s Revenue Enhancement Committee and the Boston Bar Association’s Delivery of Legal Services Committee.
• Victoria Santoro Mair, Esq., is a shareholder at Meehan, Boyle, Black & Bogdanow, P.C. where she primarily focuses on civil litigation. Attorney Santoro Mair has been an active member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, serving as its Treasurer and on the Executive Management Board, House of Delegates, Board of Directors, Young Lawyers’ Division, Membership Committee and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Scholarship Committee. She is also involved with the Boston Bar Association and the Women’s Bar Association.
• Mychii Snape, Esq. is a Managing Attorney in the Consumer Protection Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Attorney Snape was an associate in the litigation department at Ropes & Gray LLP. She has also served as a board member of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and continues to serve as co-chair of the pro bono subcommittee of the Boston Bar Association’s Veterans and Servicemembers Forum, among other bar and community activities.
• Elizabeth A. Soulé, Esq. is the Executive Director of MetroWest Legal Services, an office that provides legal services to persons in 36 towns in south and central Middlesex and south Norfolk counties. Previously, Attorney Soulé was a supervising attorney, focusing on elder law and domestic violence cases, for South Middlesex Legal Services. She also serves as chair of the Access to Justice Section Council of the Massachusetts Bar Association and formerly served on the council of the Boston Bar Association.

Among other activities, the Access to Justice Commission coordinates with civil legal aid organizations to support their activities and develop new initiatives to address unmet needs. The Commission also works to increase the number of attorneys able to provide pro bono or limited assistance civil legal services and coordinates with the court system on initiatives that assist individuals to better understand and navigate civil legal proceedings. The Commission’s members include representatives from the court system, legal aid organizations, social service organizations, bar associations, law schools, businesses, and other stakeholders in the access to justice community.

More information about the Commission and its activities is available in its recently released Annual Report for 2020-2021, which is available on the on the Commission’s website, under the Resources/Library tab.

$6M increase recognizes severe Impact of pandemic on low-income people

BOSTON, May 11, 2021 – Today, the Senate Ways and Means Committee presented its Fiscal Year 2022 budget, including $35 million to fund civil legal aid through the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, line item 0321-1600. That is a $6 million increase over FY21.

“We are exceptionally grateful to Senate President Karen Spilka and Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues for this critical funding increase and for their leadership in recognizing that civil legal aid is an essential service,” said Lynne Parker, executive director of MLAC. “Even though COVID-19 infection rates are declining as vaccinations increase, the effects of the pandemic continue to be disproportionately impacting low-income people, who have suffered severe loss of income and profound threats to their housing, benefits, and safety. Legal aid staff have innovated to provide essential legal services to the most vulnerable people in Massachusetts since the first days of the pandemic, and the need for services shows no signs of abating.”

Parker thanked Majority Leader Cynthia Creem and Senate Judiciary Chair Jamie Eldridge and other members of the Senate for their support of this increased funding, noting that they have seen firsthand during the pandemic how legal aid organizations across the state have helped their constituents in crisis.

She praised the Equal Justice Coalition, which has championed essential work of civil legal aid, including the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association, managing partners of many of the state’s largest law firms, and advocates with social services organizations across the Commonwealth.

Budget season is underway on Beacon Hill — House lawmakers and aides are churning out amendments and preparing for debate later this month, reporters are scouring the House’s fiscal year 2022 proposal (H 4000) for the newsy nuggets not highlighted by budget writers, and advocacy groups are making their thoughts known and hoping to shape the final product….

….Lynne Parker, executive director of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation: “We are extremely grateful to House Speaker Ronald Mariano and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz for their leadership in providing critical increased funding for civil legal aid, an essential service that safeguards vulnerable people at risk of losing their housing, income, benefits, and other necessary protections.”

The House budget proposes $35 million to fund civil legal aid through the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, an increase of $6 million over the current budget.

“COVID-19 has not just threatened the lives and livelihood of the most vulnerable people in our communities. In many cases it has also limited their ability to reach out for civil legal aid protections and use the technology necessary to participate in remote court proceedings. Legal aid organizations have been engaged and innovative in responding to this urgent need.”…

Read more from State House News Service (subscription required).

Altered Landscape Fuels Push for $6 Mil State Aid Bump

The state’s largest funder of civil legal aid services is asking lawmakers to increase state funding by 20 percent in the fiscal 2022 budget to help fund services for low-income residents facing legal issues in areas like housing, employment, education, and government benefits.

Lawmakers and representatives from several of the state’s civil legal aid corporations gathered on Zoom Tuesday to press for the $6 million increase in the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation line item (0321-1600). Second Division Chair Rep. Ruth Balser said the Legislature “is deeply committed” to civil legal aid.

“There is no justice if people without means cannot protect themselves in our courts … and MLAC and the services they provide always help people who face unemployment issues, housing eviction issues, health care access issues, immigration issues, [and] domestic violence issues,” the Newton Democrat said during a virtual briefing. “I do have to say that while we always deeply appreciate the work of our friends in the legal services, nothing has been like the challenge they’ve faced during this pandemic.”

Read more in State House News Service (subscription required).

In remarks delivered today at Talk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd spoke of the need for increased state funding for organizations that provide civil legal aid to vulnerable low income Massachusetts residents, a need made more urgent during the pandemic. Walk to the Hill, an annual event in its 22nd year, was renamed Talk to the Hill this year and held virtually due to the pandemic.

“The tragic events of the past year have focused our attention on the many inequities in our society. The pandemic has created unprecedented disruptions in employment, education, childcare, and everyday life. And the resulting hardships have fallen most heavily on those who can least afford them,” said Chief Justice Budd.

Organized by the Equal Justice Coalition, the event called for increased funding for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC), the largest funding source for civil legal aid organizations in the state, by $6 million in the Fiscal Year 2022 state budget, for a total appropriation of $35 million.

According to MLAC, legal aid organizations in Massachusetts turn away 56% of eligible residents seeking help. Residents whose income is at or below 125% of the federal poverty level ($32,750/year for a family of four) are eligible for civil legal aid.

Chief Justice Budd said that data from the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC) shows that over half of the clients served by state legal services organizations receiving LSC grants are people of color.

“If we are truly committed to eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in our society, one of the simplest steps that we can take toward that goal is to make it possible for more people to receive legal aid,” she said.

“We are very fortunate to live in a state where the Governor and the Legislature understand these issues,” Chief Justice Budd said. “In recent years, the Legislature has provided steady increases in funding for legal services. As a result, we have seen significant improvements in the percentages of people receiving assistance.”

Still, Chief Justice Budd noted, legal services organizations must turn away over half of those who ask for help. “They do not have the resources to meet everyone’s needs,” she said. “And as you all know, those needs are especially great right now, with all of the problems caused by the pandemic. Employment, housing, family law, domestic violence, consumer debt, and immigration are all areas of particular concern.”

“For every dollar spent on civil legal aid, MLAC tells us, we reap roughly two dollars in economic benefits for the Commonwealth and its residents. But more importantly, the additional legal assistance that dollar provides may be the difference for someone between having a home and losing it, making ends meet or going without heat, staying safe or living in fear,” said Chief Justice Budd.

The program began with a tribute to the late Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, who championed civil legal aid funding.

In addition to SJC Chief Justice Budd, speakers included: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey; Michael Curry, Esq., President & CEO of Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers; Massachusetts Bar Association President Denise Murphy; Boston Bar Association President Martin Murphy; Lynne M. Parker, Executive Director of Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation; Jacquelynne Bowman, Executive Director of Greater Boston Legal Services; and civil legal aid clients who received assistance during the pandemic. Louis Tompros, Chair of the Equal Justice Coalition, hosted the event.

Following the speaking portion of the event, lawyers, law students, and advocates in attendance moved into virtual breakout rooms to speak directly to state legislators to encourage them to increase funding in the Fiscal Year 2022 state budget for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation.

The Equal Justice Coalition is a collaboration of the Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation was established by the state legislature in 1983 to ensure that low income residents with critical, non-criminal legal matters would have access to legal information, advice and representation. Civil legal aid organizations provide support to individuals in cases related to housing, employment, family law, domestic violence, health care, education, immigration, and protection of seniors, among other civil matters.