Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Case Types:
AIDS/HIV

Founded in 1978, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression. Providing litigation, advocacy, and educational work in all areas of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights and the rights of people living with HIV, GLAD has a full-time legal staff and a network of cooperating attorneys across New England. When we go to court, we go there to win. But regardless of the outcome, each time we argue a case, we make a statement that chips away at outdated laws, challenges stereotypes, and helps further our cause: to ensure equal justice under law for all. The commitment to individual dignity and freedom is an intrinsic part of the American experience, yet for many of us, the way we are treated by society reflects a very different reality. GLAD has sought to create an American society true to its founding principles that all people are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights.

Counties Served:
Suffolk

Case Types:
AIDS/HIV, Adoption, Bankruptcy, CED, Consumer, Custody, Dissolution of Marriage, Domestic Violence, Employment, Housing, Immigration, Public Benefits, Real Estate, Wills and Estates

Counties Served:
Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk

Case Types:
AIDS/HIV, Bankruptcy, Wills and Estates

Case Restrictions:
Clients must be HIV positive.

AIDS Action has a twenty-year history of serving people living with HIV and AIDS in the state of Massachusetts. Our programs and services fall into three major categories, Client Services--which provides direct services to people living with HIV in Massachusetts; Prevention--which seeks to educate individuals about the spread of the virus; and Public Policy--which advocates on the state and national level for a broad range of policy issues around HIV and AIDS. For more information about the programs and services of AIDS Action click on the links to the right or read below.

Counties Served:
Statewide

Case Types:
Individual Rights, Wills and Estates

Each year, ACLU of Massachusetts lawyers provide representation in approximately 70 cases in the courts. In addition, we lobby for and against hundreds of bills filed in the state legislature that would have either a positive or negative impact of civil liberties in the Commonwealth. Our public education and organizing work mobilizes activists and students to fight for the rights and protections that are the hallmarks of our constitutional system.

Counties Served:
Middlesex, Plymouth, Suffolk And Parts Of Norfolk

Case Types:
AIDS/HIV, Adoption, Bankruptcy, Consumer, Custody, Dissolution of Marriage, Domestic Violence, Education, Elder Law, Employment, Housing, Individual Rights, Public Benefits, Real Estate, Wills and Estates

Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association was established in 1977 to provide legal representation in civil matters to the indigent of Boston through the pro bono services of private attorneys and paralegals. It is among the oldest organized pro bono efforts in the country. In 1996, VLP broadened its scope when it became the grantee of the federal Legal Services Corporation for the Greater Boston area. VLP also supports the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC) to operate a hotline to screen and refer clients to appropriate legal and social services and/or advise clients when services are not available or necessary. All efforts are augmented by a modest in-house case handling capacity.

Counties Served:
Statewide

Case Types:
Education, Employment, Housing, Individual Rights, Civil Rights and Discrimination

The Lawyers' Committee is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan legal organization that provides pro bono legal representation to victims of discrimination based on race or national origin. The Lawyers' Committee’s mission is to provide a safeguard for the civil, social and economic rights of residents in Greater Boston and throughout Massachusetts. We handle major law reform cases as well as legal actions on behalf of individuals. We also engage in public policy advocacy, community legal education, community economic development, and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.

Counties Served:
Suffolk

Case Types:
AIDS/HIV, Individual Rights

Case Restrictions:
No criminal cases.

MCLS was established in 1972 to provide civil legal services to people in Massachusetts prisons and jails. The office does not provide criminal defense services. The office focuses on four issues: health and mental health care, guard-on-prisoner violence, physical conditions of confinement, and segregation and isolation. MCLS addresses these problems through administrative advocacy, legislative advocacy, and litigation.

Counties Served:
Statewide

Case Types:
Bankruptcy, Consumer, Employment, Health, Housing, Immigration, Individual Rights, Torts, Entertainment

Case Restrictions:
Need to be an artist.

The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization established to meet the legal needs of the state's artistic community. Since its inception, the VLA has expanded its services to include legal services for artists and arts organizations as well as educational opportunities for artists, arts organizations and attorneys. VLA also assists local art and cultural institutions in finding attorneys to sit on their respective boards of directors who embrace the mission of the individual organization.

Counties Served:
Statewide

Case Types:
Education, Employment, Health, Housing, Disability Law

but is not part of the state or federal government. Our mission is to provide legal advocacy on disability issues that promote the fundamental rights of all people with disabilities to participate fully and equally in the social and economic life of Massachusetts.