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12/27/2008 - Editors of the Boston Globe call for the Massachusetts government to support legal aid. The editorial describes the deep cuts MLAC and its programs have already experienced due to decreased revenue from the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program. The editors note that legal aid is a "'counter-cyclical' service" because it is needed most when funding is scarce.
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12/23/2008 - Marketplace ran a story about the cuts facing legal aid programs across the country due to the drop in interest rates. Massachusetts is highlighted as one state whose programs are turning away potential clients despite increased need. Staff from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Connecticut Legal Services and Texas Legal Services Center are quoted.
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12/5/2008 - Kudos to Meg Connolly, Volunteer Lawyers Project executive director, and Leslie Walker, Massachusetts Corrections Legal Services executive director, on being selected for the inaugural class of "Women of Justice." The award, presented by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the Womens Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, honors individuals who have made meaningful and inspiring contributions in the fields of social justice and advocacy.
11/19/2008 and 12/4/2008 - The drastic reduction in MLAC grants to legal aid programs throughout the Commonwealth generated two recent TV news stories. WGGB-TV, ABC 40 of Springfield, covered cuts to Western Massachusetts Legal Services and WCVB-TV, ABC 5 of Boston, covered cuts to Neighborhood Legal Services. Click the links below to view the clips.
Watch the story on Western Massachusetts Legal Services here
Watch the story on Neighborhood Legal Services here
12/4/2008 - Executive Director Tina Elzeneiny and Litigation Director Tina Sanchez were guests of the The Bill Dwight Show on WHMP FM out of Northampton, MA. They discussed the increase in demand for legal aid in western Massachusetts, combined with funding cuts to WMLS.
>> listen here
11/23/2008 - About 15-20 renters have been showing up in Boston Housing Court each week this fall with eviction notices from the bank that foreclosed on their landlord. Despite paying rent on time for months or even years, these renters are being forced from their homes. Attorneys from Greater Boston Legal Services and WilmerHale Legal Services Center at Harvard Law School are quoted in the article.
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11/18/2008 - Hundreds of former workers at a New Bedford company that was raided by immigration agents last year will share $613,000 in unpaid wages and overtime pay through a settlement agreement announced yesterday. “While we are very pleased with this settlement, we are certainly aware that for many whose lives were torn apart by the raid, this is only partial justice,” said Audrey R. Richardson, lead attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services.
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11/18/2008 - The former owner of a New Bedford leather goods factory raided by immigration officials early last year has settled a class-action lawsuit, agreeing to pay $850,000 to former employees who worked up to 16 hours a day but weren't paid overtime.
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11/16/2008 - When Lawrence CommunityWorks found out in April that the multifamily brick building at 121 Garden St. had been foreclosed on, the nonprofit group sought to buy it for affordable housing. Phone calls to Deutsche Bank, listed as the owner, led nowhere, as did calls to the company that handles foreclosures for the bank.
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11/16/2008 - The number of inmates in Massachusetts prisons is projected to reach about 12,000 next year for the first time, prompting the head of the prison system to call for sentencing changes that ease overcrowding and to proceed with a controversial plan to double-bunk inmates at a maximum-security facility.
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11/15/2008 & 11/16/2008 - An Associated Press story explores the effects the sharp cut in MLAC funding to civil legal aid programs will have on the most vulnerable families and individuals in Massachusetts. The story, "Legal aid to low-income Mass. residents drops," was picked up by about 35 media outlets, including the Boston Herald, the Boston Globe, WBZ Radio, NPR affiliates, WHDH News Channel 7, the Eagle Tribune, and MetroWest Daily News.
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11/13/2008 - MetroWest Legal Services (MWLS) is facing a 19% budget shortfall to a decrease in its MLAC funding. "It's a daunting outlook," said Betsy Soule, executive director.
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11/10/2008 - To the editor: We are quickly reaching a crisis point in the funding of civil legal aid in Massachusetts. In the last few months, legal aid programs funded by the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corp. have had their budgets slashed by as much as 30 percent. These steep cuts will have dramatic and devastating consequences for low-income people who need legal help with problems threatening their safety, housing, health care and employment. Even more frightening is the looming threat of additional cuts as economic conditions continue to deteriorate.
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11/5/2008 - MLAC Executive Director Lonnie Powers and Jayne Tyrrell, executive director of the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee, disucss how the decline in revenue from the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program has resulted in MLAC cutting program grants by 39%.
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11/3/2008 - A feature in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly describes how the combination of reduced real estate transactions and very low Fed target rate has resulted in a precipitous decline in IOLTA revenue for civil legal aid funding.
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10/31/2008 - The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC), the largest funding source for civil legal aid in the Commonwealth, is reducing its general support grants to the 18 legal aid programs it funds by nearly 40 percent, from $22 million last fiscal year to $13.5 million this year. Cuts will result in drop of 18 percent or more in client services
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10/31/2008 -Reporter Lisa Meyers speaks with Lonnie Powers about MLAC, the funding it receives through the IOLTA program, and how the drastic drop in IOLTA revenue will affect the delivery of legal aid in the Commonwealth.
>> listen here
9/17/2008 - The Massachusetts Legal Services Client Council has awarded scholarships to three client board members to attend The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) Annual Conference in November. Robbie Adjei, Elizabeth Anderson, and Timothy Lee were selected for their superior dedication to the boards and committees on which they serve.
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9/8/2008 - In a Boston Herald article, Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services (MCLS) Executive Director Leslie Walker criticizes the Department of Correction's decision to install bunk beds at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. According to Walker, "Double bunking maximum security prisoners is a huge mistake" which "creates an unnecessarily tense, unsafe environment for prisoners and staff in an already tense, violent prison."
>> read more
9/12/2008 - The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) and Foley Hoag LLP recently settled a longstanding civil-rights lawsuit between tenants of Lowell public housing and the Lowell Housing Authority has been settled. The lawsuit challenged the relocation of public housing tenants in Lowell following the demolition of their development in 2003.
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8/20/2008 - MetroWest Legal Services, formerly South Middlesex Legal Services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Elizabeth Soule as executive director.
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8/22/2008 - On August 21, the Massachusetts Client Council and Western Massachusetts Legal Services held a discussion at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, "The Intersection of Rural Poverty and Legal Aid." The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the challenges unique to the rural poor in western Massachusetts, and what impact rural poverty has on local legal aid organizations.
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8/20/2008 - On August 18, the Disability Law Center (DLC) welcomed Kathryn (Kathy) Joyce as its new Executive Director.
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8/15/2008 - Governor Deval Patrick signed the MassHealth Equality bill into law on July 31, ensuring that same-sex married couples are eligible for spousal benefits under MassHealth, the state/federal Medicaid program. Betsey Crimmins, Senior Attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) in the Elderly Unit; and Deborah Filler, Senior Attorney at the GBLS Cambridge & Somerville office, worked for nearly four years to bring this bill to the State House.
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8/2/2008 - The story featured the plight of Rommel Jones, a mentally ill man whom it mistakenly imprisoned four years too long. He recently received an apology and $100,000 from the state Department of Correction. Jones was represented in his lawsuit against the state by James R. Pingeon, director of litigation for Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services (MCLS).
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7/1/2008 - The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appointed Jacqueline E. Farrow of Indian Orchard to a five-year term on the Board of Directors of The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC), the largest funding source for civil legal aid in the Commonwealth.
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7/28/2008 - In a Boston Globe article, Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) managing attorney Donna McCormick details complaints from seniors with disabilities about misleading tactics used by UnitedHealth Group's sales team. An article in the Providence Journal refers to the work by GBLS lead attorney John Wilshire and his team to prevent six detainees from being transferred out of state.
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7/23/2008 -Patricia Baker of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and Sam Longnecker of the Center for Law and Education (CLE) weigh-in on the recent dramatic increase in food stamp applications and recipients in Massachusetts.
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The 2009 MLAC news archive
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