The Massachusetts Bar Association's Access to Justice Awards
will honor seven attorneys and one law firm, recognizing their
exemplary legal skills and service to the community. The awards
will be presented at the sold-out 2017 Annual Dinner at the Westin
Boston Waterfront hotel on Thursday, May 4.
New this year, we invite you to hear the 2017 Access to Justice
honorees' inspiring stories in their own words on the Massachusetts
Bar Association's podcast, the MassBar Beat. MassBar Beat
podcast episodes are available to listen to and download for free
on many of the most popular podcasting platforms, including
Soundcloud, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and TuneIn Radio. Better
yet, subscribe so you don't miss a "Beat."
Defender
Award
Rebecca Jacobstein, Committee for Public Counsel
Services
As a staff attorney in the Appeals Unit of the Committee for
Public Counsel Services, Rebecca Jacobstein has been relentless in
the pursuit of justice for both her clients and thousands of others
affected by the Sonja Farak drug lab scandal.
When she joined the Appeals Unit in April 2014, she was assigned
to represent on appeal Erick Cotto and Jermaine Watt, who were both
convicted of drug offenses in which Farak, a chemist at the state
drug lab in Amherst, conducted the chemical analysis.
She has worked for three years on these appeals. Through her
persistence and determination, one of the cases was recently
dismissed; the second is awaiting a ruling on both a new trial
motion based on Farak's misconduct, as well as a motion to dismiss
based on alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
Jacobstein acknowledges that in cases such as these, it's
important to have diligent public defenders who often function as a
system of checks and balances for state prosecutors.
"In terms of indigent defense counsel, you need to have a
counter weight to the government because they don't always do what
needs to be done," said Jacobstein.
To hear the honoree in her own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Prosecutor Award
Kevin J. Curtin, Middlesex District Attorney's
Office
Kevin J. Curtin is a 22-year veteran of the Middlesex District
Attorney's Office, where he currently serves as senior appellate
counsel and grand jury director. He is widely respected for his
work ethic and fairness, as well as his commitment to victims and
the community he represents.
Curtin's strong moral compass has guided him beyond his
traditional prosecutorial role to take on more global issues of
justice through his work with the Massachusetts Bar Association's
Civil Rights & Social Justice Section Council and the American
Bar Association.
Last year, in the wake of a failed coup attempt by the Turkish
military, Curtin was instrumental in getting the ABA to adopt an
MBA-backed resolution condemning the Turkish government's arrest of
thousands of lawyers, judges and journalists in the country without
charges or access to counsel. Earlier this year Curtin helped the
MBA become the first state bar association to co-sponsor the ABA
resolution that spoke out against the travel ban created by
President Donald Trump's executive order.
Curtin says he gravitates toward these issues because he
believes standing up for justice is part of a lawyer's professional
duty.
"The Reverend Martin Luther King said that 'injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere.' And I guess I agree with that,"
says Curtin. "I love to see lawyers who have a passion for justice
and are willing to act on it. ... Anytime a lawyer stands up for a
worthwhile principle we're all the better for it."
To hear the honoree in his own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Pro Bono Publico Awards
Andrew Troop, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Christopher Mirick, Harvest Power Inc.
While colleagues at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, attorneys
Andrew Troop and Christopher Mirick worked together with Greater
Boston Legal Services (GBLS) to achieve successful outcomes in two
notable pro bono cases.
In the first case, Troop and Mirick worked on behalf of 15
Chinese immigrant workers who were unfairly deprived of wages by a
Boston daycare facility that attempted to discharge its financial
obligations through a bankruptcy filing. When the case went to
trial, the court ruled against the company's bankruptcy claim, and
efforts are now underway to return the wages to the workers -- a
sum that was originally $50,000, which tripled to $150,000 under
the Massachusetts Wage Act.
Troop and Mirick also teamed up with GBLS on an important
affordable housing case, which led to a groundbreaking victory in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The duo ultimately helped facilitate a
Chapter 11 sale of two Boston apartment buildings to a nonprofit
that dedicated the properties to affordable housing for the next 50
years, ensuring adequate living conditions for many low-income and
disabled residents.
"Each of these clients [has] an absolute appreciation for the
fact that our judicial system gives them a voice and pro bono gives
them a way to use it," said Troop.
"As lawyers we have a monopoly on providing legal advice -- no
one else can do it," added Mirick, who now serves as senior vice
president and general counsel at Harvest Power, Inc. "That monopoly
gives us incredible power, but in my view it comes with an
obligation to give back and to give access to that power and to
that system to people who can't afford it."
To hear the honorees in their own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Legal Services Award
Brian Flynn, Greater Boston Legal Services
Brian Flynn has been an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services
(GBLS) for more than 20 years. An expert in welfare and
unemployment law, he has dedicated his career to advocating for
low-income workers with disabilities and recipients of public
benefits.
During his time at GBLS, Flynn has been a staff attorney in the
Benefits Unit, a senior attorney in both the Welfare and Employment
Law units, and is currently managing attorney of the Asian Outreach
Employment Law Unit.
Flynn recently expanded his practice area to address wage and hour
cases, resulting in several large settlements for immigrant workers
who were not paid wages and legally required overtime payments. For
the last two decades, Flynn has been a constant leading voice in
the commonwealth for welfare and employment advocacy for some of
the state's most vulnerable populations.
He has been recognized for his unique ability not only to resolve
individual cases, but to also identify and resolve systemic
problems in the delivery of welfare and unemployment
benefits.
"We have an obligation to look at every case with the knowledge
that there might be five or 10 people, or more, with a similar
problem, who we're not going to see," says Flynn. "I feel strongly
that's why it's very important to do systemic advocacy based upon
individual cases."
To hear the honoree in his own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Pro Bono Award for Law Firms
K&L Gates, Boston
Committed to providing pro bono services on a global scale, as
well as locally through its Boston office, K&L Gates works on
hundreds of pro bono cases each year.
In Massachusetts, the firm has been recognized for its work with
the Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) program, representing
unaccompanied minors who have fled violent situations in their home
countries. Attorneys help separated families navigate the state
court system, establish custody and guardianship, and guide them
through U.S. citizenship and immigration services.
"The reward at the end of the case for the child and for their
families is just enormous," says partner Andrew Glass. "It's hard
to understand how happy the families are that they can remain
united and that their child can escape the kind of violence that
they often face."
In addition, the firm works with the International Refugee
Assistance Project to provide legal services on behalf of
individuals from Iraq and Afghanistan who face persecution in light
of providing service to the U.S. government during the wars in
those countries.
K&L Gates also recently partnered with Veterans Legal
Services to provide pro bono representation to veterans in need
within the greater Boston area. Attorneys assist veterans, many of
whom are homeless, with legal representation in civil cases.
"It's often difficult for lawyers to find the time to devote to
pro bono causes, but when the causes are the types of projects that
we work on, it's easy to find time," says partner Sean Higgins.
To hear the honorees in their own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Rising Star Award
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, Community Legal Aid
A specialist in public benefits, housing and family law,
Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies serves as a staff attorney with Community
Legal Aid in Worcester.
Nelson-Davies oversees Community Legal Aid's medical-legal
partnership with UMass Memorial Health Care, working with clinical
partners and medical providers to help represent low-income clients
seeking pro bono assistance with special education needs,
disability and public benefits, guardianship, and housing. In this
role, she trains providers on how to screen for various legal
issues that contribute to an individual's overall personal
health.
Throughout the last year, Davies has been instrumental in
facilitating a pro bono innovation grant from Legal Services
Corporation, which helps provide on-site consultation at several
primary care locations in partnership with UMass Memorial Medical
Center.
A graduate of Roger Williams University School of Law and Rhode
Island College, Nelson-Davies is a former Bart Gordon Fellow with
South Coastal Counties Legal Services. Even at the early stages of
her career, she has already developed a keen understanding of
what's at stake for her legal aid clients in their daily
lives.
"In legal aid, as attorneys, we understand that we are sometimes
the lifeline of our clients," she says. "If we cannot win an
eviction case, or negotiate for more time, or secure alternative
housing for our client, they could be homeless."
To hear the honoree in her own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.
Rising Star Award
Claire Valentin, Children's Law Center of
Massachusetts
Claire Valentin has always been interested in the overall
immigration experience. With parents of Romanian and French
descent, Valentin grew up in the U.S. with a green card and became
a naturalized citizen during law school. She even put together her
own naturalization application, but it ultimately got stuck in the
system and was delayed. Valentin knew she wanted to help others
facing similar immigration challenges.
"My own experiences and my family's experience made me want to
help other immigrants who were making the transition to a new life,
and to help navigate what's really a very complicated system and in
a lot of ways a very unequal system," says Valentin.
In her current role as a staff attorney at the Children's Law
Center of Massachusetts, Valentin advocates for unaccompanied
immigrant children from Central America who flee their home
countries seeking humanitarian protections in the U.S. Since 2013
she has been instrumental in transforming the organization's
Special Immigrant Juvenile Project, representing clients in state
Juvenile and Probate Court, as well as in federal immigration
proceedings.
A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, Valentin
is the recipient of Harvard's Irving R. Kaufman Fellowship. While
at Harvard she worked with the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project
and the Georgia Legal Services Migrant Project.
To hear the honoree in her own words on the MassBar
Beat, click here.