BOSTON, May 14 – On Tuesday, May 13, the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) held its 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Nearly 300 guests attended including current and former staff of Massachusetts legal aid programs; current and former MLAC board members; several federal judges; and state legislators, Rep. Peter Koutoujian, Rep. Charles Murphy and Sen. Marian Walsh.

Three MLAC-funded programs have partnered with the South Middlesex Opportunity Council to create a Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Office (SMOC) in Framingham to help families in the area avoid foreclosure. The three programs that will work with the SMOC are South Middlesex Legal Services (SMLS), Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) and the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts (LACCM).

In an op-ed in The New York Times, a third-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center writes about the need to eliminate regulations that are preventing federally-funded legal aid programs from providing more help to victims of predatory lending and foreclosures.

A study released by the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children (MLPC) at Boston Medical Center (BMC), partially funded by MLAC, was featured on the April 10 edition of Marketplace.

BusinessWest magazine, a business magazine covering the Pioneer Valley area of western Massachusetts, has written a profile of Western Massachusetts Legal Services (WMLS) attorneys.

On February 28, nearly 600 attorneys from across the Commonwealth convened at the State House to ask their legislators for a $5 million increase in legal aid funding in the 2009 budget. The City & Region section of the February 29 Boston Globe ran a photo of the standing-room-only crowd that gathered in the Great Hall to hear comments by Massachusetts Bar Association President David White, Boston Bar Association President-Elect Kathy Weinman, and a foreclosure victim helped by legal aid.

The Disability Law Center is suing the Department of Corrections in federal court for subjecting mentally ill inmates to cruel and unusual punishment. The suit demands, among other things, the creation of residential treatment centers where none exist in maximum security prisons.

The South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston has named Manisha Bhatt their "Member of the Year" and "Board Member of the Year". Manisha is an attorney in the Family Law Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services.

The Worcester office of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has re-opened, and the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts has been given a $230,000 grant to work on the Worcester Fair Housing Project, which is aims to enforce laws against housing discrimination.

Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation Board member Peggy Santos has been nationally recognized for her longstanding commitment to civil legal aid.

In light of the rising foreclosures in Massachusetts, the National Consumer Law Center estimates that thousands of people across the country have been taken advantage of in scams to save them from foreclosures.

In a suit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services is representing an inmate who was released from prison four years late.

As the price of crude oil rises, many Massachusetts families are bracing for increased heating costs. Channel 5 reports that during this same time, federal and state home heating assistance available to low-income families has been dropping.

The Massachusetts Justice Project (MJP) and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), both legal services organizations, are seeing an increasing number of renters who are being affected by the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

The manager of a condemned condominium complex in Springfield was found in contempt of court and sent to jail for not providing sufficient funds to shut down the complex. Some of the condo tenants are being represented by Western Massachusetts Legal Services (WMLS) in an effort to save their homes.

Buy your groceries at Whole Foods stores in Bedford, Bellingham, Cambridge-Fresh Pond, Cambridge-Prospect St., Cambridge-River St., Framingham, Hingham, Newton, Newtonville, Swampscott, Wayland, Wellesley, and Woburn, and each store will donate 5% of your shopping bill to Massachusetts Advocates for Children’s (MAC) Autism Special Education Legal Support Center!

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) has hired Nadine Cohen to lead its new Consumer Rights Project. She re-joins GBLS after an absence of over 20 years. Ms. Cohen is a prominent civil rights attorney and nationally-known expert on fair housing issues, who has practiced law since 1977. She most recently worked at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, serving as lead attorney in such areas as fair housing, mortgage lending discrimination, school desegregation, employment, affirmative action and other civil rights issues. She also led the Committee as Interim Director for 2 years. From 1996 to 1999, she was in private practice handling employment discrimination case litigation, wage and hour cases, and housing discrimination cases.

Six legal aid attorneys representing workers detained in last spring’s New Bedford immigration raid were recently invited to participate with their clients in a traditional Mayan thanksgiving celebration.

South Coastal Counties Legal Services is encouraging parent involvement in the Brockton school system and is taking part in a public forum in Brockton to learn how parents feel about their children's education. All parents in the Brockton school system are invited to attend the forum, which will be held on Wednesday October 3rd at the Cape Verdean Association at 575 North Montello Street, Brockton, MA 02301.

While individuals accused of crimes have the right to an attorney, those living in deep poverty often cannot afford legal help to meet basic human needs for health, safety and housing. The legal system is often the only way, for instance, to fight illegal eviction, obtain restraining orders against abusive spouses or ensure that health care rights are obtained.

Western Massachusetts Legal Services (WMLS) is representing tenants of Longhill Gardens condominium complex as it is seeking to shutdown the complex because of insufficient funds.

The Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association have been honored with the prestigious American Bar Association 2007 Harrison Tweed Award. Both the BBA and MBA have championed civil legal aid for many years, committing significant time, energy and resources to this cause. These efforts have dramatically helped to ensure civil legal representation for many families and individuals living in poverty.