News: MassLawReform

For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Christine Dunn, Seven Letter
christine@sevenletter.com
617.646.1044

BOSTON, MA (January 18, 2023) – The Lift Our Kids Coalition today announced that Representative Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) and Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) have accelerated the timetable for lifting kids out of Deep Poverty with the filing of House and Senate bills (HD 507, SD 501) at the start of the 2023-2024 legislative session. A launch event will be held Thursday, January 26, 2023 at 2:00 PM in the State House, Room 428.

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts (JCSEM) have released an innovative report analyzing the high rate of eviction cases where tenants default, or do not appear, at a court hearing. Statewide, tenants are defaulted in nearly 25% of eviction cases, with often disastrous results. The Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission, recognizing the high rate of defaults as a significant barrier to access to justice for many of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents, requested data to better understand the reasons for the high default rate and its consequences.

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, we are taking inspiration from Dr. King’s lifelong commitment to economic justice. Dr. King’s anti-poverty advocacy is often glossed over in the pursuit of a simple, sanitized story of King and his legacy – but there is no doubt his dream of justice included the eradication of poverty.

The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute has been fighting to build a just and equitable Commonwealth for over 50 years. This year was no different — along with our partners, we’ve continued advocating for those who are most often overlooked when navigating shifting realities.

Boston MA (December 21, 2022) – Thousands of low-income households across the nation have had their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) benefits stolen by criminals who use a “skimming” device to capture the households’ account information. Most states, including Massachusetts, have refused to replace the stolen benefits because the federal government would not cover the cost of replacement. In November 2022, MLRI filed a class action lawsuit challenging the state’s refusal to replace benefits stolen through no fault of the household.

Mass Law Reform is powered by our advocates – talented and committed individuals who work together to fight for the needs of low-income people. Our second advocate is Iris Gomez, a Senior Staff Attorney in Immigration.

Iris Gomez joined MLRI as an immigration attorney in March 1992. A nationally-recognized immigration law expert, she directs MLRI’s Immigrants Protection Project. She is the former chair of the National Immigration Law Center’s board of directors and has played leadership roles in numerous bar associations, government task forces, and community organizations, in addition to teaching immigration law at Boston area law schools. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Hyams Foundation. In addition to her professional accomplishments, she is the author of the Boston Globe best-seller TRY TO REMEMBER, an immigrant coming-of-age novel that won praise from prominent national magazines such as O, The Oprah Magazine as well as an International Latino Book Award.

Thousands of Low-Income Massachusetts SNAP Families Victimized by Theft Seek Justice

BOSTON, MA (November 4, 2022)– The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute filed a class action lawsuit today on behalf of thousands of low-income families whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits were stolen from their accounts. The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), which administers SNAP in Massachusetts, has refused to restore the stolen benefits on the ground that the federal U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which usually pays for SNAP benefits, will not cover the cost.

More than 8,000 questions have now been answered by over 300 volunteer attorneys on Mass Legal Answers Online (MLAO), the Massachusetts home of the American Bar Association’s Free Legal Answers project. This milestone was hit just as lawyers from across the country celebrate October as Pro Bono month to shine a light on important pro bono work.