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Former SJC Chief Justice Margaret Marshall supports civil legal aid funding

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Former Mass. SJC Chief Justice Margaret Marshall explains why she supports increased investment in civil legal aid.

Former Mass. SJC Chief Justice Margaret Marshall explains why she supports increased investment in civil legal aid.

 

Each year, hundreds of attorneys participate in Walk To the Hill, one of the largest lobby days at the Massachusetts State House. Ahead of this year’s Walk to the Hill, attorneys and advocates who support civil legal aid are taking part in #IWalkforJustice, a social media campaign in support of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation’s request for a $25 million state investment in civil legal aid.

In this photo,former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall explains why she supports increased investment in civil legal aid!

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  1. Jim Dolan is a former district court justice in Dorchester who now practices law, has his own reasons for supporting civil legal aid.

    From an oped in the Dorchester Reporter in part…..

    As a young lawyer, Jim Dolan was a legal services lawyer providing legal assistance to low-income clients as part of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty. Civil legal services were available in all Boston neighborhoods and he was the manager of the South Boston office of Greater Boston Legal Services.

    “A primary focus was on housing issues,” he says. “Without legal assistance, low income tenants were powerless to contend with unscrupulous landlords who demanded high rents for substandard apartments. The structural imbalance that existed between landlords and tenants was most evident in the courts, often resulting in families being evicted from indecent, unsafe, and unsanitary units in violation of the state sanitary code.

    “Thanks to the efforts of my colleagues in Greater Boston Legal Services, for the first time low-income tenants had a voice. Substandard conditions were challenged in court and landlords forced to bring their units in compliance. Failure to do so could result in fines and rent withholding. Thousands of units throughout the city were brought up to code thanks to civil legal aid.

    “The practice of burning rubbish in on-site incinerators by the Boston Housing Authority was challenged in court as dangerous to the health of residents and was stopped as a result of an action brought on their behalf by legal aid attorneys.”
    …

    http://www.dotnews.com/columns/2015/powerless-count-civic-legal-services-help-join-walk-hill

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