Category | News

Fighting for Police Accountability:

2023 Retrospective and 2024 Agenda

            Mass NLG fought for police accountability through four public records-based projects in 2023—three of which will continue in 2024. The three continuing projects are comprised of two public records issues about notorious Boston protests involving right-wing extremists and wounded citizens, as well as Mass NLG’s broader inquiry into all complaints against the Boston Police … Read more>>

State of the Guild – Mass Chapter – 2023

As always, the Mass Chapter of the NLG has had a busy year.  With the support of our members, we have achieved several goals and are making progress on others.  See details below.

Our active Committees have been continually busy.  The Mass Defense Committee volunteer lawyers have provided legal advice to dozens of activist groups and free representation to arrested … Read more>>

Stop Cop City: Conversation with Local Activist

Imagine enjoying yourself at a music festival with your friends and comrades, and then cops swarm in and start randomly arresting people without any probable cause. What was the charge – domestic terrorism!

This is what Alex experienced when he went to Atlanta to stand in solidarity with fellow activists and organizers opposing Cop City. 

Prior to this gathering of … Read more>>

MASS DEFENSE COMMITTEE

Since mid-October, the NLG Mass Defense Committee has been working non-stop to assist local political activists, students, health care professionals, and interfaith organizations in providing them with everything they need, so they could continue their fight for ceasefire in Gaza and against the war.

Legal Observers served at over 30 actions related to the war on Gaza and the crisis … Read more>>

MASS DEFENSE COMMITTEE EVENT

DEFENDERS, UNITE!

On Thursday, October 19, the NLG-Mass Chapter’s Mass Defense Committee (MDC) welcomed nearly 40 NLG members and allies – lawyers, legal workers, law students, and activists – to its first ever “Defenders, Unite” social gathering at Beantown Pub in Boston.

The event provided a great opportunity for the MDC members to chat and discuss the Committee’s work with … Read more>>

540+ Legal Community Members Demand Action To Stop Racist and Unlawful Targeting of Palestine Advocates

The NLG-Mass Chapter is among nearly 550 signatories (legal professionals, firms, and organizations) on a call to stop targeting and attacks of Palestine advocates.

Read the Press Release and Full Coalition Letter Here

Palestine Legal continues to receive an unprecedented number of intakes that need referrals, and they especially need attorneys with expertise in employment matters, criminal defense, and civil rights, … Read more>>

Boston University School of Law Students and Alumni Stand with Palestine

October 16, 2023

“It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story from ‘Secondly.’” Mourid Barghouti

This “secondly” hovers over Dean Onwuachi-Willig’s response to the events of the past ten days, isolating these events from the context of over 75 years of brutal settler colonialism. The response denounces the violence of resistance while leaving … Read more>>

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

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Student Debt Crisis – Panel at Suffolk Law School

Panelists (left to right): Natalie Higgins (State Rep.), Max Page (President of Mass. Teachers Association), Eileen Connor (Director of Litigation, Project on Predatory Student Lending), Alyssa (student borrower), Renée Landers (Professor of Law & Faculty Director at Suffolk Law School); Moderators (center, left to right): Michell Fallon (Suffolk Law School student) & Tim Scalona (President of… Read more>>

NLG Student Brunch

NLG students met this past September to plan some exciting projects over brunch! A small group of students and members met at Andala Coffee House in Cambridge to enjoy some food and tea. We discussed some exciting new projects for the next year, brainstormed ways to expand our social media presence, and discussed ways to get more involved with local … Read more>>

Member Profile: Nadine Cohen

Nadine Cohen (third from the left)

1. What motivated you to go to law school?

I was an anti-war, racial justice and political activist and in 1972 was part of a women’s prison collective that visited and supported the women incarcerated at the Framingham prison.  We worked closely with Lawyers’ Guild lawyers who were part of a law … Read more>>

Mass Dissent – Mass Defense Committee Update

In the midst of daily heartbreaking news, we supported several powerful Palestine Solidarity actions this month.

On Monday, 10/9, our Legal Observers served at a rally and vigil in front of Cambridge City Hall, attended by people who are concerned with the decades-long plight of Palestinians.

On Thursday, 10/12, also in Cambridge, several activists chained themselves to the doors of … Read more>>

WELLPATH AND INADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE

By Stanley Donald

Senior Law Clerk for Prisoners

Norfolk Inmate Council Unit Representative

On January 10, 2023, the inmates of MCI-Norfolk prison declared Wellpath Medical Services inadequate. The Inmate Council of MCI-Norfolk, who represents the entire inmate population, took a vote and unanimously declared Wellpath provides inadequate medical care.

A survey was conduct and the results were troubling. It was … Read more>>

Return the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) Back to Health and Human Services

There are several issues which emerge from prisons in MA such as Lack of Health Care, Mental Health, Substance Use Disease (SUD) Programing, Education and failures in overall behavioral health treatment. The shift to the Executive Office of Public Safety & Security (EOPSS) from Health & Human Services {HHS) ushered in a Culture of Punishment. The attitude and approach of … Read more>>

Never Silent

By Roberto Mendes, W98774

Looking around this room I see so many stories and I want to say that you create greatness just in your presence. Whether it’s the trails and trials of what life ”had been” to the whirlwinds of the “should bes” or the ”what could have beens.”

Just know that they are not only written in mistakes … Read more>>

Wrongful First-Degree Murder Convictions in Massachusetts: Too Many and Justice Too Long Delayed

By Dirk Greineder

Over the last 14 years an eye-opening 7.2% (74 of an average of 1032) of all the Massachusetts prisoners convicted of first-degree murder sentenced to Life Without Parole ( LWOP) were ordered released by the courts because of wrongful convictions. 29 have been identified and have cumulatively served 911 years before release, for an average of 31 … Read more>>

The Massachusetts Chapter of the NLG opposes City of Boston Funding for BRIC

Dear Boston City Councilors,

The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) strongly opposes the City of Boston’s funding for the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) and enabling its spying and surveillance practices of citizens engaged in protected First Amendment political activities.

Since its inception in 2005, BRIC has not produced anything significant for the City of Boston in … Read more>>

Commentary on Recent Supreme Court Decision by Mason Kortz

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard realizes the conservative goal of ending affirmative action programs. In it, the Court sets down three requirements that affirmative action programs must satisfy: they must pass strict scrutiny, they must not use race as a “negative,” and they must have an explicit end date. The majority claims these … Read more>>

Commentary on Recent Supreme Court Decision by Barb Dougan

Groff v. Dejoy

Discrimination on the basis of religion is prohibited under the federal employment discrimination statute, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In addition, an employer may be required to grant an employee’s reasonable request for an exception to a workplace policy or practice – known as a religious accommodation – unless the accommodation would create … Read more>>

Climate Activists Supported by Mass Defense Committee

by Jeff Feuer

            The past eight years were the warmest on record globally, fueled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat, according to the World Meteorological Organization, and 2023 will be the Earth’s hottest year on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.  We are right now on the verge of extinction … Read more>>

Independent Organizing Network

We, recent Suffolk Law School graduates and members of the NLG-Mass Chapter – Nick Adams, Tyler Daguerre, and Dave Runkle, are working on a new project, the Independent Organizing Network (I.O.N.)

I.O.N. is an initiative seeking to build a network of lawyers and legal volunteers specializing in labor and employment law to satisfy the legal needs of budding independent union … Read more>>

NLG Condemns State Repression Against Atlanta Solidarity Fund Activists

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@nlg.org
May 31, 2023

On the morning of Wednesday, May 31, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and Atlanta Police Department (APD) raided the homes of and arrested three activists with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. These arrests are a clear attempt to silence protest and sever activists from legal counsel and community support.

National Lawyers Guild … Read more>>

NLG-Mass 2023 Testimonial Dinner Honorees’ Acceptance Speeches

Lawyer Award Honoree – Makis Antzoulatos

Lawyer Award Honoree – Josh Raisler Cohn

Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree – Ronald Fox

Rob Doyle Award Honoree – Massachusetts Law Reform Institute’s Housing Group

Legal Worker Award Honoree – Extinction Rebellion

Student Award Honoree – Ruchi Ramamurthy (Northeastern Law School)

Student Award Honoree – Nicholas Adams (Suffolk Law School)Read more>>

NLG-Mass 2023 Testimonial Dinner

Pictures courtesy of Lisa Gordon, Sara Malley, and Jonathan Messenger.… Read more>>

Lipou Laliemthavisay’s Experience at the 2023 NLG-Mass Testimonial Dinner

For the love of people over property —this is why I joined the NLG and collaborated with friends to start the student chapter of the NLG at Roger Williams University School of Law back in 2011.  I was warmly reminded of this sacred truth at this year’s NLG Testimonial Dinner and I felt my fire reignited by the dedicated comrades … Read more>>