New England Biz Law Update
In keeping with their mission of advocacy, pro bono work, and funding for charitable causes, the Northeast Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel not only conducted mediation training, but also awarded a charitable grant in the past quarter.
Pro Bono Mediation Training
In May, the Chapter concluded mediation and conciliation training for 50 attorneys in the Woburn and Dedham District Courts in Massachusetts. The training is funded by a grant from the Sheldon W. Rothstein Memorial Mediation and Conciliation Program, and is offered to attorneys working as counsel in local businesses who wish to increase their abilities in this area. The training is high quality and effective. The attorneys then use these skills to offer pro bono mediation services to the courts.
Then-First Justice of the Dedham District Court, Lynda Connolly, expressed her appreciation for the program, and commented, "The Sheldon W. Rothstein Mediation and Conciliation Program provides an invaluable service to our courts in helping us keep pace with our busy civil dockets. The professionalism of the participants, enhanced by their experience and training, helps to streamline the litigation process for both represented and pro se litigants. We are grateful to the individuals who serve as mediators for their time and efforts on behalf of our system of justice."
Connolly was recently appointed chief judge of the District Court in Massachusetts.
Donald Tobin, chief patent counsel for The Gillette Companies, and an original member of the program, remarked, "I am deeply committed to participating in this program. Helping to resolve the legal disputes that can so disrupt the lives of our fellow citizens is a lawyer’s highest calling. I can think of no better way for a corporate lawyer to serve pro bono publico."
Rachel McCarthy, general counsel of Unica Corporation, commented on her recent training experience by saying, "The training focused not only on the basic methods of conciliation but included real life examples of tough issues a conciliator might encounter. This program does a great service by providing high quality training free of charge, and significantly increasing the number of in house counsel participating in pro bono alternative dispute resolution services."
William Wise, chair of the Pro Bono and Advocacy Committee for ACC-NE, served as program director, and continues to look for volunteers to initiate similar opportunities for in house counsel to serve in other district courts.
“Providing mediation and or conciliation services to the district court is a win-win for the court and the volunteer attorney," Wise said. "The in-house counsel brings to the effort unique experiences as a business lawyer that translate into a high success rate of resolutions of disputes. It is an honor and a privilege to serve our community in this way. We hope to continue our efforts as long as we are needed."
Charitable Grant To Massachusetts Appleseed Center For Law And Justice
Additionally, the ACC Northeast Chapter awarded a charitable grant of $5,000 to the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Inc., which will allow Appleseed to hire a law student intern to assist in its projects.
Appleseed’s Executive Director Alan Rom explained, "The Massachusetts Appleseed Center harnesses the skills and resources of volunteer lawyers to address the unmet needs of vulnerable groups in Massachusetts, such as homeless children, foster children, pro se litigants, low income homeowners, and to benefit other low income persons who need access to the Commonwealth’s resources, such as its courts, schools, and other institutions. It pursues systemic reform through programs to improve access to legal assistance, seeks legislative reform, litigates law reform cases, files friend of the court briefs, and issues "white-paper" reports on issues of importance to the public."
Recently, the Massachusetts Appleseed Center succeeded in the trial phase of the remedy stage of a 26-year-old case, which seeks to ensure equal educational opportunities for children who live in property-poor school districts.
Another project seeks to implement the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal law to break down barriers (medical and academic records, transportation, etc.) so that children who become homeless can have the stability of going to the public schools they attended before becoming homeless.
A kinship care project seeks to find reform so that friends and relatives who are caring for the thousands of children, but are not legal guardians, can make educational and medical decisions for them, as needed. Still another project seeks to change the way the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are funded so that every resident has equal access to the courts. Since each court is currently funded by a separate line item, not all courts get funding equal to the number and types of cases pending in them.
Mr. Rom continued: "The Massachusetts Appleseed Center achieves these results with a subsistence budget, supported in large part with the good will of law firms, corporate counsel, and business people, who serve on its board and work on its projects and committees. It has found that law student assistance is an opportunity to make significant progress in its projects and the grant by ACC-NE will enable it to continue having that assistance into the fall and winter."
If you would like to participate in pro bono activities, please contact Louise Rothery, ACC Northeast’s Regional Administrator, at [email protected].
The contributions of Louise Rothery, Bill Wise and Alan Rom, the director of the Appleseed Center, in preparing this article are acknowledged with thanks.
