b'has provided pro bono legal services to assist several dozen low- THE SCHWARTZ CENTER FOR COMPASSIONATE income immigrants with prescreened applications for citizenship.HEALTHCARE Attorney Derek Constantine oversees these workshop activities with Pro Bono Committee Chair Sue Finegan. Approximately 55The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare is a nonprofit Mintz attorneys, project analysts, and summer associates haveorganizationdedicatedtostrengtheningrelationshipsbetween worked directly with workshop participants to help them fill outpatients and caregivers with the goal of promoting compassionate the necessary paperwork to apply for citizenship. The workshopsend-of-life care. The center was established through the vision allow immigrants to sit down with a volunteer who can help themof Ken Schwartz, a former Mintz attorney who, while battling navigatetheprocessandaddressanypotentialroadblockstocancer, recognized how the human kindness he received from his citizenship before they present their paperwork to US Citizenshipcaregivers made his plight a little more bearable.and Immigration Services. Since helping to start the organization many years ago, Mintz has played a major role in the success of the Schwartz Center. Attorney RIZE MASSACHUSETTS FOUNDATION Steve Weiner serves as the organizations general counsel, and attorneys Peter Biagetti and Tony Starr serve on the board. In RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, Inc. is an independent nonprofitaddition, Health Section attorneys including Cassie Paolillo and foundation working to end the opioid epidemic in MassachusettsDavid Chorney have assisted the Schwartz Center with legal work and reduce its devastating impact on people, communities, andinvolving contracts over the past year, and attorney Susan Weller the economy. By tapping the commitment and resources of theand legal specialist Jacobo Dib have assisted the Schwartz Center private sector, RIZE Massachusetts makes informed investmentswith intellectual property matters.in innovative and comprehensive evidence-based treatments that can be scaled, expedited, and made accessible to people sufferingUS DISTRICT COURT PRO BONO PROJECT/BOSTONfromopioidusedisorderacrosstheCommonwealth.RIZE Massachusetts grants fund research into the human impact of theThroughout the years, through the US District Court Pro Bono opioid epidemic as well as the efficacy of programmatic and policyproject,thecourthasreferredlow-income,self-represented interventions on opioid use disorder care, and provide resourceslitigants to Mintz for representation. This past year, that team to community-based programs providing sustainable prevention,including attorneys Julia Ong, Matt Hurley, Dan Weinger, and harm reduction, treatment, and recovery interventions.Amanda Clairmont, and Pro Bono Committee Chair Sue Finegan, Mintz has provided legal counsel to RIZE Massachusetts sincealong with former project analyst Kayla Fries, assisted a federal itsfoundingin2017,supportingtheorganizationasitforgesprisoner with severe and unaddressed health issues. After a three-partnershipsamongthebusinesscommunity,thehealthcareday evidentiary hearing, the team prevailed in ensuring that the sector, research institutions, and community leaders to disruptclient was able to visit a medical expert at a specialty hospital.the status quo on prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder, raise awareness of this chronic disease, and reduce stigma thatVOLUNTEER LAWYERS PROJECT: APPELLATE PRO impedes recovery. In addition to general legal support to RIZEBONO PROJECTMassachusetts, in the past year Mintz worked closely with the organizationasittransitionedfromanunincorporatedentityThe Appellate Pro Bono Project is a statewide pro bono appeals with a fiscal sponsor to an independent 501(c)(3). Attorney Steveproject that provides legal consultation or legal representation to Weiner has served as RIZE Massachusettss main legal counselqualifying self-represented litigants seeking assistance with civil withassistancefromattorneysCassiePaolilloandKristenappeals. It was conceived of and developed in collaboration with Marotta,sectionparalegalmanagerAnne Leland,andformerthe Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Mintz attorney Kate Stewart.Access to Justice Commission, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and Mintz, with the assistance and support of other Boston law firms.(continued)PERSPECTIVES // Mintz Pro Bono Journal 43'