Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

99 Chauncy Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617-357-0700
Fax: 617-357-0777

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The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute was organized in 1968 "to receive OEO [Office of Economic Opportunity] funds for the establishment of a statewide center to provide support to legal services and other advocates who assist low income persons with their legal problems." Actually, the institute existed long before 1968: it was originally part of the Commonwealth's Voluntary Defenders Committee, Inc. (established in 1937) and the public defender program when the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute took over their work.

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Today, the institute's goals are twofold. First, and most important, it provides "support to advocates for poor people." The majority of its budget, of which 88 percent is derived from government funding, is allocated to administrative advocacy training and support for others.

Second, the institute provides legal representation to poor people on issues of general significance to them "including public benefits, disability and housing law." Typically, such cases will come to the institute's attention from other legal service programs. It then selects cases for direct representation that correspond to the needs of clients and legal service programs. For example, it recently has been involved in litigation to obtain emergency assistance benefits through retroactive payments. In another case, the institute worked to get a court to declare employment program sanctions illegal and, once again, to obtain retroactive benefits.

The institute also files amicus curiae briefs (approximately five per year) to support other lawyers and to "put forward factual information and perspective." Generally, its amicus curiae briefs, which it prefers to file at the state appellate court level, are co-sponsored with like-minded groups. In Howe v. Smith (1981), a case involving interstate prisoner transfers, it joined forces with Families and Friends of Prisoners, Inc., the Criminal Justice Program of the New England, American Friends Service Committee, and a Massachusetts state senator. In cases involving other issues, such as attorneys' fees awards, it has coordinated its amicus curiae activity with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Effron, E. (1984). "Poor Called Unsure of Legal Needs," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin 130:3, April 3.