2019 Volunteer Appreciation Event
2017-2018 Bi-Annual Report
Pro Bono Spotlight
Staff Case Win
New VLP Staff
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2019 Volunteer Appreciation Event
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Our 2019 Volunteer Appreciation Event Was a Hit!
On September 11th, we hosted the 2019 Volunteer Appreciation Event, and it was a great success!
Keynote speaker Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards
gave a powerful speech about her life and the hard work that has led to her success. Attendees raved about her speech afterward, with one attorney stating, “She has an amazing career trajectory ahead of her.” We couldn’t agree more. We thank Councilor Edwards for her support of VLP and our volunteers.
The other highlight of the night was our awards presentation. This year, VLP honored 5 volunteers for their pro bono work.
Karen Quandt, Esq. received the Senior Partners for Justice Gideon’s Trumpet Award
for her dedication to the Settlement and Early Resolution Volunteers project (SERV).
Attorneys Brian Dunphy, Joel Reck (Ret.), and Nina Parker were all honored with the Denis Maguire Award
for their contributions to VLP. Brian is a dedicated board member and volunteer who helps coordinate the statewide Civil Appeals Clinic with VLP. Joel volunteers regularly at the VLP Housing Court Lawyer for the Day Clinic. Nina frequently represents VLP bankruptcy clients who are looking for a fresh start. Our outgoing
Board Chair Ray Kwasnick received a special honor
for his leadership and guidance over the past three years. All of our awardees have made a tremendous impact on our clients and our organization.
We appreciate all of our volunteers who give their time to help clients who would otherwise face their legal problems alone. Thank you to all of our volunteer attorneys, paralegals, law students, and community members!
Be sure to check out all of the event photos on our
Facebook Page
!
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We've Made a Huge Impact Over the Past Two Years
Our annual report is live!
Our report this year covers the work we’ve completed over the past two years. Our annual report highlights both the big picture financials of running our organization and the stories about our clients, volunteers, and staff.
A few highlights include: Volunteers and staff at our clinics managed to discharge over $688,000 in consumer debt, almost $5,700,000 in bankruptcy debt, and return over $34,000 in stolen wages to exploited employees. Our volunteers donated over 30,000 pro bono hours and made enormous impacts on the lives of our clients. One such client was able to take back her life after being treated unfairly by her landlord. How does someone go from almost being illegally evicted from a rat-infested, dangerous apartment to safety and victory? You’ll have to read the report to find out how the story unfolds!
Read our annual report
here
!
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Pro Bono Spotlight: Sarah Richards
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Pro Bono Attorney Secures Financial Stability for Client's Young Child
Volunteer Attorney Sarah Richards
,
Counsel at Nixon Peabody
, completed a difficult and life-changing Family Law case. The client came to the VLP Family Law Clinic in early 2018, pregnant with the child of a man who died suddenly. She needed legal assistance to establish paternity of her child. Although the client had a strong DNA report proving that the deceased father was the father of the child, the NY-based estate refused to acknowledge paternity of the client’s child. This meant the child would not be part of the estate.
VLP Pro Bono Attorney Sarah Richards stepped in to take this case and represented the client in the paternity case and a related conservatorship for the client’s son. Attorney Richards successfully negotiated an agreement in the paternity establishing the child is, in fact, his father's, which gave the child a share of his father's estate. With paternity for her child established and a right to inherit secured, the client can continue to focus her college education.
Attorney Richards was moved by her client's story: “The client is a devoted mother and a hard-working student who is studying social work. The circumstances of the death of the father of the child during her pregnancy were particularly tragic. This child will not have the benefit of his father's care and love during his life, which is also a tragedy, but he will have a fair share of the assets owned by his father to help him through life.”
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VLP Attorney Saved Clients' Home
Staff Attorney Colin Harnsgate
won a complicated post-foreclosure housing case recently with help from his fellow VLP attorneys. Several years ago, our clients received a notice from their mortgage company that they were in default and that their home of 17 years was at risk of foreclosure
.
After the original notice was sent, a new
bank acquired the mortgage and sent a new
default notice. That new notice did not conform to the requirements of the mortgage under
Pinti,(
a 2015 SJC case won by Dick Bauer, of counsel to VLP). The
Pinti
case made it law for these notices to include very specific language, and the new bank did not use that language, confusing the clients about their rights in the foreclosure.
The clients’ home was foreclosed on, despite the defective notice. Attorney Harnsgate, with input from VLP Staff Attorneys Sarah Lee and Amy Anthony, argued that because the last notice the client received did not comply with
Pinti
, the foreclosure was void and the clients could not be evicted. Fannie Mae, who was opposing counsel, argued that the first notice was controlling. In a written decision, the Housing Court judge wrote that Fannie Mae’s position “defies logic” and found in favor of our clients. The judge declared the foreclosure void, meaning our clients would not lose their home!
Reflecting on the case, Attorney Harnsgate stated, “Legal services attorneys and their pro bono partners have done so much over the last decade to obtain favorable decisions in foreclosure cases at the appellate level in Massachusetts. This law they have helped create really benefited my clients. When large financial institutions don’t play by the rules, it is important that we hold them accountable – especially when people's homes hang in the balance.”
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Cate Brams
is a new
AmeriCorps Legal Advocate at VLP.
She spent the last year living in Ketchum, Idaho, where she ski raced professionally for the Sun Valley Gold Team and was a legal intern at the Law Office of Andrew Parnes. Cate graduated from Middlebury College with a BA in Philosophy in 2018.
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Derek Di Nardo
is one of
VLP’s new AmeriCorps Legal Advocates.
Derek graduated from UMass Boston in May 2018 where he received a BS in Math with minors in Public Policy, and Philosophy and Law. Derek is originally from Los Angeles, but has been living in Massachusetts for about 5 years. Before joining Americorps, he worked at State Street Bank, and he hopes to attend law school next year.
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Keishia Dormena
joins VLP as an
AmeriCorps Legal Advocate.
Keishia is a Brooklyn native and a law school hopeful. She has a passion for singing, traveling and helping others. In her spare time when she isn’t studying for the LSAT, she is attending concerts, finding new restaurants and reading books about human rights.
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George Huynh
is one of our new
Legal Advocates
at the Call Center
. George graduated from Yale University in 2018 with a BA in Political Science and was active in student government. In his spare time, George delivers the English sermon at the Vietnamese Assembly of God in Dorchester and works with the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence.
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Seumas MacNeil
is a recent graduate of Amherst College and he joins VLP as an
AmeriCorps Legal Advocate at our Call Center
. Seumas grew up in Scotland and moved to the US to explore the legal world and find a job helping under-serviced communities. In his free time, Seumas enjoys following and playing sports--especially basketball!
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Karla Mojica-Perez
graduated from UMass Boston in May with a BA in Criminal Justice and Criminology, as well as a double minor in Psychology and Anthropology. Karla is now a
Legal Advocate at our Call Center
. She has a passion for travel, child welfare, and helping others.
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