We are excited to announce that after three years of pandemic life, we are going back to our traditional schedule and will hold this year’s Annual Dinner in May! The dinner will be held on Friday, May 19, 6:00-9:00 pm, at the Arts at the Armory in Somerville (191 Highland Avenue).
At this year’s Dinner, we will be recognizing and awarding a thrilling group of legal professionals whose achievements are profound and immense!
Ronald Fox will receive the NLG Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions and his life-long involvement in the NLG-Mass Chapter. During his 60-year legal career, he started a community-based law firm in Lynn, helped legitimize divorce mediation; supported Palestinian human rights, co-founded the NLG-MA Chapter’s Lawyer Referral Service and the Association of Neighborhood NLG Law Clinics. Five years advising Harvard Law Schools students on public interest careers led him to efforts to reform legal education. For 30 years until his retirement, he advised dissatisfied lawyers seeking positions consistent with their professional goals and personal values.
Makis Antzoulatos and Josh Raisler Cohn will be honored with NLG Lawyer Awards. Makis is a supervising attorney at the Roxbury Defenders Unit of CPCS. He is the co-coordinator of the NLG Mass Defense Committee. In both roles, he works tirelessly to protect people from the violence of the criminal (in)justice system. When he isn’t working, he is usually drinking bourbon, listening to records, and trying to make sure his kids are skeptical of the state and the capitalist class. Josh works at the Committee for Public Counsel Services where he is a public defender at the Roxbury Defenders Unit, a Criminal Defense Trainer, and a member of the Race Equity Training Team. He co-coordinates the NLG Mass Defense Committee where he works to ensure organizers who end up entangled with the law get free and fantastic representation. Josh is also a parent, partner, youth soccer coach, and loves quick escapes as far into the mountains as he can get.
Housing Practice Group of the Mass Law Reform Institute (MLRI) will receive the NLG Rob Doyle Award. The MLRI, founded in 1968, is a nationally recognized nonprofit poverty law and policy center. MLRI’s Housing Practice Group focuses on achieving housing justice, stopping displacement, and preventing homelessness through multi-pronged, collaborative, community-driven advocacy. Its work includes advancing legislation, administrative initiatives and litigation to reform unjust policies and practices that deny due process to low-income people in unstable housing situations.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) will be honored with the NLG Legal Worker Award. XR is an international mobilization for non-violent direct action against governments’ criminal inaction on climate crisis and the wider ecological emergency. The Boston chapter was founded in April 2019 and executed dozens of colorful and disruptive protests to raise awareness of the urgency around the climate crisis and pressure stronger action from the state. The NLG has represented close to 100 non-violent XR political protesters and provided input to the planning of many more.
Nick Adams and Ruchi Ramamurthy will be honored with NLG Student Awards. Nick graduates from Suffolk University Law School this spring. He is currently the chapter representative for National Lawyers Guild–Suffolk University and has been very involved with Starbucks Workers United and organizing NLG events at Suffolk. Working at Pension Action Center led him to law school and he doesn’t care where he works as long as he gets to help people stand up for themselves. Ruchi is a 3L at Northeastern University School of Law, graduating in 2023 with a J.D. and a Masters in Public Health. She is the co-coordinator of NLG-Mass Chapter’ Street Law Clinic project, the co-chair of NUSL’s chapter of If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and an Articles Editor for Northeastern University Law Review. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in public interest.
Invitations to the event will be sent out at the beginning of March. We hope you will attend the Dinner and celebrate with us this year’s Dinner Honorees!
With questions, please contact Urszula Masny-Latos at nlgmass-director@riseup.net.
