“Our organization has attended several of these legal workshops, and we have always found them useful, practical, and a generous contribution to a small nonprofit with limited funds and a small staff. The Clinic in a Box® helps us understand the changing requirements as well as the process and policies we need to legitimize operations and minimize risk associated with non-compliance.”
Ron Moulton
Executive Director
South Sudanese Enrichment for Families
"We have been gratified to work with so many talented Boston lawyers to assist so many low-income litigants, and to collaborate to help fill a gap in legal services by providing much-needed appellate advice."
Sue Finegan
Chair, Mintz Levin Pro Bono Committee
Seedlings Yield Perennial Growth
Over the years, Mintz Levin has initiated and supported a number of ongoing pro bono partnerships involving collaborations with our firm alumni, clients, nonprofit organizations, and other law firms. These gratifying efforts leverage our collective resources, build community ties among participants, and amplify the impact of our work.
Clinic in a Box
Mintz Levin has hosted several Clinic in a Box® workshops for in-house legal departments. At the 2014 program, eight Greater Boston–area nonprofits worked individually with in-house counsel volunteers on three critical areas — conflict of interest, whistleblowing, and written information security program (WISP) policies — to ensure that they were meeting their organizations' evolving needs. This new approach for the clinic was so successful that it has been replicated in other clinics throughout the United States.
The workshop was developed by Corporate Pro Bono; the Association of Corporate Counsel, Northeast Chapter; Mintz Levin; and Lawyers Clearinghouse, and was hosted by Mintz Levin's Pro Bono Chair Sue Finegan, attorney Katy Ward, project analyst Pat Regan, and former project analyst Ana Lopez. "The program is a way to provide in-house counsel with an opportunity for meaningful pro bono work and the nonprofits with helpful legal insight," Sue says.
Access to Justice
Sponsored by the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission and Lawyers Clearinghouse, and created and supported by Mintz Levin's Martha Koster and Sue Finegan, the Access to Justice Fellows Program matches a select group of program fellows with legal services organizations and nonprofits to address the unmet legal needs of the state's low-income residents.
In 2012, the program's inaugural year, seven distinguished lawyers — all retiring or transitioning into retirement — were selected to spend a year or longer providing critically needed legal assistance to underserved populations. By 2014 the number of fellows had grown to 17, and included retired Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Herbert Wilkins. In addition, Mia Friedman was hired to serve as Access to Justice Fellows Program Director, located at the Lawyers Clearninghouse. The fellows' projects included combating Internet sex trafficking, addressing civil liberties issues, designing a volunteer court advocate program for domestic violence survivors, working with veterans, and more. Fellows have performed more than 25,000 hours of pro bono work to date.
NYC Clinics for Entrepreneurs
In September 2014 Mintz Levin teamed up with its alumni to staff a legal clinic in Harlem designed to help small business and low-income entrepreneurs address their business needs. At the clinic, a team of Mintz Levin and former firm attorneys helped dozens of people get started on realizing their professional dreams. They answered questions about incorporation, bylaws, leases, guaranties, disputes, and intellectual property protection. Organizational support and screening were provided by the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
New York attorney Narges Kakalia, who assembled the team of Mintz Levin attorneys and alumni, is organizing a second clinic in October 2015, with plans to make this an annual event.
Civil Appeals Clinic
Massachusetts residents who are disappointed with a decision reached in trial court or by a state administrative agency often try to appeal their cases on their own. But those who represent themselves pro se — without benefit of an attorney — are often at a significant disadvantage. Very few have legal training, and most have many questions about how to proceed. In fact, Massachusetts Appeals Court staff members report fielding questions from dozens of self-represented litigants each day.
In an effort to address the glaring need for legal help, a Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission committee developed the Civil Appeals Clinic. Managed by the Volunteer Lawyers Project and Mintz Levin, the pilot program provides pro bono legal consultation and representation to self-represented low-income litigants seeking assistance with appellate issues. In initiating this effort, Massachusetts joins more than a dozen other states that have established pro bono appellate programs. They take a variety of forms, from lawyer-for-the-day programs organized by legal services entities to pro bono appellate panels run by bar associations.
To help create and run the six-month pilot program, the Volunteer Lawyers Project and Mintz Levin joined forces with Association of Pro Bono Counsel members Foley Hoag; Goodwin Procter; Nutter, McClennen & Fish; Ropes & Gray; and WilmerHale. Together with the Mintz Levin organizers — Pro Bono Committee Chair Sue Finegan and attorney Kim Parr, assisted by former project analyst Emma Nitzberg and current project analysts Warren Crandall and Conlan Orino — they held clinics in Boston every Wednesday from May to October 2015. At each clinic, self-represented litigants who qualified for assistance met with volunteer attorneys from the participating law firms who screened their cases for ripeness, gave general advice concerning appellate issues and procedure, and provided and assisted with self-help materials.
In addition, the attorneys assessed whether litigants' cases should be reviewed for further representation. If so, the volunteer attorneys referred the cases to a panel of experienced appellate attorneys and legal services attorneys for closer examination, with the goal of sending several cases out to the law firms for representation on appeal.
Know Your Rights!
The Know Your Rights! Program educates Massachusetts nonprofits and their frontline staff on legal issues relevant to their clients. It is a collaboration between Mintz Levin, the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts, Inc., Women's Bar Foundation of Massachusetts, Inc., Massachusetts Bar Association, American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, One Family, and the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston. In 2014, participants from nonprofits that focus on helping low-income women and families attended a series of sessions about legal issues relating to the court system, criminal law, housing, family law, employment, education, and immigration. The sessions were coordinated by Mintz Levin and taught by attorneys from legal services organizations, corporations, government agencies, law firms, and the judiciary. Collaborators also drafted a blueprint and participated in a panel to help organizations nationwide start their own programs. Pro Bono Committee Chair Sue Finegan and attorney Katy Ward have led Know Your Rights! since 2011, when it was founded. Former project analysts Ana Lopez and Caroline Puckowski and current project analyst Max Fathy provided assistance in 2014.